Check your fire/smoke alarms!

[RSKY]

I posted elsewhere about a nurse I talked to who got out of a burning house with the clothes she had on. Her smoke detectors never went off and a neighbor saw the fire and got them out. Fire started at one end of the house and she and her son were at the other end.

Our house is a one story with an added on utility room at the opposite end from the bedrooms. I have installed WIRELESS connected smoke/fire detectors all over the house. If one detects smoke they all go off. They are hard to find and I had to order mine from the manufacturer because no retailer in our area had them.

Only downside is that if something smokes in the kitchen and one goes off they all go off and will bleet (closest description I could come up with) for a minute or two all over the house until they calm down.

RSKY

 

[ultrarunner]

My biggest problem is residents disabling detectors so much so I carry a supply with me.

It use to be taking out the battery and now with 10 year units it’s destroy or remove…

Strange when the property manager cares more about you and your family than you do.

Some 3 bedroom rentals are required to have 5 detectors plus C/O

 

[HawkinsHollow]

We have hardwired smoke detectors in our house. I think they all will go off when one starts the chorus. They are brand new and have only gone off once in the last 6 months but if I remember correctly they all went off. That is a nice feature for sure.

 

[ponytug]

@RSKY sorry to her of your acquaintance's misfortune.

I think that the regulation around here is one alarm inside each bedroom, plus one smoke/CO outside of the bedroom(s), and one on every level of the home, including the basement.

It always seems as if our ten year battery smoke detectors decide that they are close to dying at 2am, when we aren't exactly at our best for trying to figure what the weird noise is, especially as we haven't heard it for ten years.

I've never understood folks who want to disable the detectors.

Probably a good reminder to look over things like circuit breakers and panels, and power cords. It is easy to get complacent.

All the best,

Peter

 

[bigtiller]

We have 4 hardwired together with a battery backup. This spring, they all went off. I called the fire dept. They found no emergency.
When one sounds off, they all sound off. 4 of them going off at the same time, what a racket. One would wake up the dead.

My new ones all have a 10 year battery and are NOT hard-wired together.

 

[ericm979]

We have 4 hardwired together with a battery backup. This spring, they all went off. I called the fire dept. They found no emergency.
When one sounds off, they all sound off. 4 of them going off at the same time, what a racket. One would wake up the dead.

I hate the ones that all go off when one goes off. That makes it hard to find the one that's malfunctioning. Or to figure out where the fire is if there is one.

If just one goes off, it will wake me up just fine. It'll wake my wife and she's hard of hearing.

My new ones all have a 10 year battery and are NOT hard-wired together.

We replaced all the ganged-together alarms in our house with ones that aren't. But I think it's code now so the new house will probably come with them.

 

[Doofy]

I use interconnected combo smoke and carbon monoxide in the house and unattached garage. Better safe than sorry.

 

[Mulder]

There are 2 types of smoke detectors ionization and photoelectric. The ionization smoke detectors have a lifespan of 10 years, there's a radioactive piece inside that degrades over time it actually " smells " the smoke. Whereas the photoelectric " sees " the smoke particles. Ionization smokes should have a manufacture date or replace by date, most people just keep replacing batteries if it beeps they think they're good to go. Depending on where you live some building codes require if one sounds they all sound. Others don't care if you even have one. One county near me requires all new construction to have a monitored sprinkler system installed. I've worked on a few of them.

 

[WM75Guy]

Being a retired firefighter/peace officer, we went for overkill. We have 2 separate fire detector systems in our house. One is the regular system with one smoke detector in each sleeping space, one outside the door, and all interconnected. The 2nd system is our burglar/fire alarm system. For the house burglary detection it has detectors on each window and exterior door, detectors on the attic pull down stairs, and internal and external sirens. In the house it has a smoke detector at each end of the house, heat detectors in the attic, and a siren. The stables has a door burglary detector on the tack room and a beam smoke detector covering the whole length of the building, 48'. The shop has door detectors, a glass break detector for the large window, and heat detectors. All are monitored 24/7 and can be accessed on our phones and computers.

We also have 11 video cameras covering the outside of the house and the interior of the stables. It is nice to be able to check on the horses from inside the house. In the event of an alarm all cameras record for 30 seconds. Plus any motion on a camera causes a 30 second recording and sends a notification to my phone. We define the trigger area so the horses don't trip the system. It is amazing how many feral cats and other critters, i.e. opossums, hogs, and deer visit every night. I was feeding the deer in the front yard until the hogs showed up.