Recent laws in France have made it mandatory for every home to include a smoke detector, even those that were not originally set up to accommodate one. In cases of older homes this can mean significant rewiring or a flaunting of the law altogether.
In a country that lags behind Canada, the US and the UK in fire safety, ensuring that homes have proper fire protection has been on the mind of designer Arthur Brault. Detecting an opening in the market, Brault has designed the LUM, a simple alternative to the common smoke detector.
Instead of being wired in separately to a home the LUM, which looks like a halogen bulb, is simply screwed into a light socket. The bottom surface of the LUM contains its own light socket where a standard illumination device can be placed. A 12V battery in the LUM draws and stores power when the light switch is turned on, and keeps the detector running when the light is off.
When everything is A-OK, the LUM glows a nice and peaceful green, but should things turn smokey the LUM will not only emit a piercnig howl but will also light up a jagged red to let all occupants of the home know what is happening.
In creating the LUM, Brault hopes to encourage fire detection installation through simple ease of use, and limit the amount of battery changing and other typical smoke detector hoo-hah that never seems to get done.
That, and the fact that the wiring used to install new smoke detectors will likely come off of the old, fire-prone wiring, giving rise to the distinct possibility that the device you've installed to save your life will instead burn your house down instead.
