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False fire alarms are almost certainly an inconvenience that we have all suffered at some point in our lives, but when you stop to consider the cost of these needless call outs over the course of a year, the statistics make for staggering reading. The 1998 figures stood at 233 488 false alarms at a cost of over £21 million.

There is a control in the market place that could dramatically reduce the number of false fire alarms in residential properties, and its creator is keen to get the message out. Those of us who have experienced life in student accommodation will be familiar with the experience of having to stand in the cold while the fire brigade investigate in which kitchen the hob was left on. It was while working in student accommodation that the idea for the Cookermiser first came to Phil West. "I was working on a trouble shooting job at Nottingham Trent University, where they were using passive infrared devices to drive the fans to keep fat and toast particles in the kitchens. This system wasn't effective though. In the corridors they had ionisation and optical sensors, so if the fat particulate migrated into that area they would set off a false alarm."

After discovering that there was nothing on the marketplace that would solve the problem, West developed the Cookermiser, and in May 2002 it hit the market. The control senses current when an electrical appliance is turned on and automatically turns on the extract fan in that room. It then turns the fan off when the appliance is switched off, but offers the option of a 25 minute run on facility after the appliance is switched off. The unit comprises a main controller and one remote sensor with a 4 m cable length. The unit is housed in a white enclosure similar in style to that of a household switch socket outlet. The Cookermiser is suitable for 240 V single phase 50 Hz extractor fans up to 2 A or 500 W.

West says that the device is much more accurate than conventional humidity sensors: "Humidity control has always been the answer to this problem, but I've had electricians come to me for training who are having to go back to the same property time and time again because the client is complaining that their fan is on when it shouldn't be."

The control would also be of great benefit in sheltered accommodation, as West explains: "I'm in contact with a lot of the fire brigades in the UK, and they tell me that they have a lot of call outs when elderly people have left tea towels on the cooker and they have caught fire. With the Cookermiser, as long as the cooker is on, the fan will be on, and it should remind them that they have left the appliance on."

West also believes that his control is firmly in step with the industry focus on energy efficiency. By staying on only for the same amount of time as the appliance, the control ensures that energy isn't wasted by fans staying on longer than they need to. "There is a way we can get the control to turn a small light on as well, as a way of showing that the appliance is still on. This would be ideal in student halls where the occupants go home at weekends but might leave the cooker rings on. The security guard can then walk past the kitchen, see that the light is on through the window and go in and turn the cooker off." The control complies with ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ Regulations Part L and F and is compliant with BS 5839-1: 2002 Section 3 – Limitation of false fire alarms. A version has also been developed for use with showers that will have either a current sensor or a heat sensor that will clamp to the hot pipe.

The Cookermiser has the potential to work in a wide variety of applications but perhaps its biggest attraction to the industry should be the benefits it can bring in terms of saving money on both energy bills, and unnecessary alarms.