Aqara Smart Gas Detector

A natural gas detector for kitchens on a piped methane supply, with a local sounder and a phone alert through an Aqara hub. Check which gas you have before ordering, because this is the one product in this category people buy incorrectly. Natural gas is lighter than air and collects at ceiling level, so this detector mounts high, within about thirty centimetres of the ceiling and near the appliance. Many UAE kitchens instead run on LPG cylinders, and LPG is heavier than air and pools at floor level. A methane detector mounted at ceiling height in an LPG kitchen may not usefully warn you, and that is a serious enough difference to get right rather than assume. If your kitchen runs off a cylinder, ask for an LPG-rated detector mounted low instead of buying this one. Where it does apply it works well: mains powered rather than battery, since a gas sensor cannot be run on a coin cell, with a self-test cycle and fault reporting to the app. Paired with a hub it can also trigger surrounding actions, and the most sensible one is an alert to every phone in the household rather than anything clever.

• Warns of a natural gas leak locally and on your phone
• Mains powered so there is no battery to forget
• Reports its own fault status rather than failing silently
• Alerts the household while nobody is in the kitchen