Introduction
Identifying the age of your detector is essential in order to ensure that the equipment is healthy and compliant with British Standards. Most detectors should have a life of around 10 years, however it is important to be able to check when the detector was manufactured, and when it will need replacing. Most brands indicate this through a batch number or serial number, however each manufacturer is different. To make things easier, we have compiled this information for our most popular brands to help you identify the age of your detector.
Note: This blog post is frequently being updated. If we don't answer your question here, email us at sales@firetradesupplies.com.
This blog features:
- Aico
- Apollo
- Hochiki
- Gent
Aico
All Aico alarms have a Date Code Label on the side with the recommended replace date (here, January 2030) and the year of manufacture (2018).
Hochiki
Products are labelled with a serial number or batch number. These numbers appear on the product label of all main line products containing electronic components.
A serial number consists of nine numbers (eg. 012400697):
The first digit is the year of manufacture (e.g. 0 = 2000).
The second and third digits are the month (e.g. 12 = December).
The fourth digit is the place of manufacture (e.g. 1 & 2 = Hochiki Corporation Japan, 3 = Hochiki Corporation America and 4 = Hochiki Europe).
The next five digits are the unique serial number.
A Batch Number consists of four numbers (e.g. 0124):
The first digit is the year of manufacture (e.g. 0 = 2000).
The second and third digits are the month (e.g. 12 = December).
The forth digit is the place of manufacture (e.g. 1 & 2 = Hochiki Corporation Japan, 3 = Hochiki Corporation America and 4 = Hochiki Europe)
Apollo
Below are the four formats that you might see in the field. All the serial number formats represent the same date (1st April 2002).
0402-25684 - The first two numbers represent the month and the second two represent the year.
020401 - The first two numbers represent the year, the second two represent the month and the third two represent the day.
020401/6A - This format is the same as above but with the addition of a build standard.
1502123 - This format is only used for sounders. The first two numbers represent the week of the year and second two represent the year.
Click here for more information regarding Apollo.
Gent
Gent generally recommend replacing their detectors every 14 years.
S-Quad
As circled in red, this reads 3222, which equates to the 32nd week of 2022 – August 2022.
Conclusion
Identifying the date on a detector differs between each brand and collection. We are constantly updating this blog post. If you have any requests for detectors you're struggling to date, please email us at sales@firetradesupplies.com.