When beginning this review, I thought I would look up the name of my Guardian Angel. I felt a weird little shiver as I was informed that, because of my day of birth, my Angel is Uriel the Archangel of Justice. Uriel holds scales in his hands and I am a libran the star sign of balance and justice. So Wow!

Now that we know that it is idiotic not to have at least one and preferably more smoke alarms in the home, we put up with them sitting attached to ceilings somewhat like miniature Sky dishes and about as pretty. Despite testing mine regularly, I never really feel happy about the life of a battery. In fact, I replace the whole unit every now and again probably without good reason. Not because I am obsessive about fire, as I switch off everything I can before leaving the house or going to bed, but I do worry about my helpless dogs just as others do their family. A smoke alarm gives valuable time to everyone in the household should the unthinkable happen. Yet 40% of people have admitted that they disable an alarm by removing the battery. This means 6 million people have rendered their smoke alarms useless, so I am informed by the Fire Angel website.

I have not done this, but my cooking has been known to set off the ear-punishing sound of an alarm, with the addition of the dogs barking to let me know that their eardrums don't appreciate being perforated. The answer is the Fire Angel which needs no batteries and has a life of ten years. More, it takes no more than a few moments to fit and doesn't mar the ceiling.

The Fire Angel is approx 5"x 3" x 1 1/4" deep, surprisingly neat and fits snugly into a lampshade. Pale grey in colour it is a plastic material which feels as smooth as bakelite. All you need is a light fitting which is no more than 11" from the ceiling and open top and bottom (in other words not the bowl variety). An uplighter or downlighter are equally suitable. Make sure the light switch
is off and remove the bulb. The Fire Angel will have shipping tape over the business end which is easily pulled off.... after all the sound of constant bleeps from a few thousand smoke alarms would be enough to drive any lorry driver wild! The Fire Angel replaces the bulb (must be the standard bayonet type ) and the bulb then fits into the Fire Angel socket. That's it! No DIY, no stepladder and no unsightly lump of plastic on your newly-painted ceiling. Should the length of the alarm be obstructed by the arms of the lampshade, just carefully pull them apart and adjust. I needed to do this for the one on my landing and no damage was done. The maximum wattage of the light bulb should be 60w, longlife bulbs may be used and there should always be a bulb in place.

The Fire Angel has an ionisation type sensor which detects fast and flaming fires and the smoke produced. The clear and comprehensive booklet states that you should also keep a photo electric alarm somewhere to detect smouldering fires. An integral battery is kept charged by the light being switched on for an hour a day. Therefore you need to use a light which is in regular use and then will never need to change a battery. Incidentally, dimmer switches may be used for the alarm as well as the normal light switches.

Following the instructions of the booklet supplied, I left the light containing the alarm switched on for 8 hours and this fully charged the Fire Angel for me. After this period I tested the alarm by switching the light off then on again quickly. Two cycles of 3 bleeps ensued and I knew that all should be alright. However, since I knew I would write this review and have a sense of responsibility to my readers, I did something that I would not normally think off. You've got it! I took a deep bowl upstairs and lit a fragment of Jeyes type duster, before dropping it in the dish. This should not be done anyway, but too close to the alarm could contaminate and dam
age it. So, smoking dish in hand I stood a few feet away from the light bulb. A few seconds later the sound of about 50 rape alarms split the air around me in 3 pulse beats. There is a little literary licence here, but it would certainly wake the Kraken. Fortunately both my dogs are going deaf with age and I managed to stop the alarm before they reacted.

To silence the alarm I just switched the light on and off again quickly. Unfortunately, by this time the acrid smoke was not going to clear just because I had turned a light switch on and off, so I had to throw open the landing window to give my ears relief. Phew!! The alarm soon pulled itself together and is now quietly sitting in obedient attendance.

Should you not use your light for an hour a day, the integral battery will run down and you will hear a single chirp a minute until you recharge. It does seem that the manufacturers have covered everything.

"Where do I buy this interesting piece of technology?", you ask. I ordered mine from the find-me-a-gift website and it arrived the next day. The Fire Angel manufacturers, Sprue Aegis, intend total countrywide coverage and they may already be found in Tesco, Waitrose, Woolworth, B&Q and others listed on their website, http://www.fireangel.co.uk. I have also seen these in Sainsburys for the same price I paid. The warranty promises replacement free of charge for the first year after purchase and, for the remaining 9 years of warranted life, the alarm will be replaced for a charge no more than Sprue Aegis' cost.

Now for the price . This is not your £5 item. I paid £19.99 + £2.50 delivery. But over the 10 year life of the Fire Angel I know I would have bought quite a few of the cheaper standard smoke alarms. Anyway, I decided it was time to treat myself. I was tempted to take off a star as this is expensive, but decided it really is good value.

Many thanks to Carol (Barbieblonde) who announced
her find on chuckleweb and then said she didn't mind me writing an op on it before she did.