Twinflex Panel

[Stewbow]

I am waiting at the moment to see what Sensotec are going to do regarding nearly 20 detectors that have been returned to them (via my wholesailer).

They are faulty and are all less than 2 years old, and they have said that they are out of waranty.

However,,,,,,,,,, Rafiki say that they offer a 2 year waranty on detectors?????.

It's been over 4 weeks since I last heard anything, must give them a ring this week.

[John]

we (reluctantly) service about a dozen of these things. Each one we have taken on has had to have chambers replaced. All are less than a year old. Fitted by sparkies who bought them as the cheapest option from wholesalers and had no intention of maintaining them.

We have replaced 2 of them with Kentec 2 wire panels with Hochiki Savwire heads.

If they are better than they used to be then they must have been god-awful.

If you buy on price only, you deserve what you get!

(P.S. I think the idea is good but the kit isn't).

[magpye]

If you buy on price only, you deserve what you get!

You've obviously never heard of the Sale of Goods Act, and the term 'of merchantable quality', remind me never to buy from your company.

[barooga]

You've obviously never heard of the Sale of Goods Act, and the term 'of merchantable quality', remind me never to buy from your company.

Bit unfair, as i read it, poor fella was saying h reluctantly has to service them. Never said anything about selling them.

[magpye]

Bit unfair, as i read it, poor fella was saying h reluctantly has to service them. Never said anything about selling them.

Ok, I'll knock off 'remind me never to buy from your company', but the rest still stands

[John]

You've obviously never heard of the Sale of Goods Act, and the term 'of merchantable quality', remind me never to buy from your company.

""Sale of Goods Act, and the term 'of merchantable quality' ""

There is a world of difference between "of merchantable quality" and "quality".

[Number2]

So if they have improved tremendously they must of been poor to start with.

We use them & the early systems we installed were a pain in the bum. Last one was more reliable only replaces 3 faulty heads in the first year.

I know its been a while but (fit whatever excuse you like).

Hello Paul.

What i meant and im sure you know is they werent without problems but they have improved since those days and im proud to say i like the systems, company and the tech guys. Give them a break.

Problem with us Brits, were scared of new and wont help the weak.

Pete

*edited for PC'ness would you believe it!

[Guest Cerberus NI]

Credit where credit is due - I like the two wire concept (although our sales guys and the company in general think they're vile and should be drowned in a bucket) because it gives an option of the convenience of an addressable system in relation to the install without having to justify (1) the equipment cost of an addressable system in a small project or (2) the capability of adding sounders by upgrading existing equipment without additional wiring (which I have done on three projects lately and had to outsource the panels,much to the annoyance of the powers that be!!).

I think that the problem with the two wire systems in relation to attitudes is the fact that they are sold as "fire alarm systems out of a box" and are installed by certain electrical contractors just to get a job completed without having done any proper assesment of requirements or without a good working knowledge of 5839 - maybe the manufacturers need to change their marketing strategy??

[Number2]

Hi Cerberus. I think if a quality two wire panel had to be used id use the Haes Twin Wire system with Apollo sav-wire detectors and Cranford sounders, but as most of my work is HMO work and cheap is the in phrase, Rafiki have cornered the market very well. I disagree with the contractors packs that are about in general as its not only them that do sell their kit over the counter. I believe this is half of thier problem as to why its got to the state its at now.

[John]

My beef with Rafiki kit is its quality.

We have reluctantly taken over maints on a dozen or so Twinflex systems. these are a regular source of call outs, (usually smoke chambers failing).

The theory is great,but in practice there are lots of faults, one hotel with an 8 zone panel has had 2 replacement main PCBs (system only 14 months old), last week one of the zones failed (panel fault again), circuit has been moved to next zone up and old zone left in fault. Client now wants us to replace whole system with one of a different make.

We use Kentec 2 wire with Hochiki detectors and squashni sounders for our conventional installs, this kit is excellent. (just to show that I am not anti 2 wire systems!).

Rafiki support is very helpful, but you cannot make a silk purse from a sow's ear!

Round here, most sparkies are fitting this kit as its the cheapest they can get, and then leaving the likes of us to pick up the pieces when it goes wrong.