Posted By Jane Blunt
Dear Martin

This advice seems a bit demanding. The publication 'Fire Safety - an employers guide' which is the Home Office/HSE guide book states that emergency lighting equipment should be checked

- weekly - operate torches and replace batteries as required. Repair or replace any defective unit

- monthly - check all systems, units and torches for state of repair and apparent working order

- annually - full check and test of systems and units by competent service engineer. Replace batteries in torches.

I keep an eye on the red light that indicates that the emergency lights are charging.

Later in the same booklet they suggest you should follow the manufacturer's recommendations, which seems an excellent idea.

I, personally, would request someone who suggest that I discharged them completely each month to justify this, on two grounds. First that emergency lighting is only normally intended for escape purposes, and would therefore be for short timescales. Second, that completely discharging them every month leaves a substantial period in each month when they are not performing properly, while they are charging up again.

Jane

Posted By John Webster
Martin
I agree with Jane. For my fire certificate, the local fire officer has approved the following for fixed, non-maintained emergency lighting units in stairways and escape routes

Monthly - functional check only
Annual - design duration discharge (3 hours in my case)
3 yearly - full discharge (must stay lit for at least 3 hours).

John

Posted By Nigel Singleton BSc
Hi Martin

I have been led to believe that the purpose of doing a monthly discharge test is to recondition the batteries and extend their life. Like camcorder batteries they develop a memory and should be run down and then fully recharged to keep them working at peak performance

Regards Nigel