What Kind Of Smoke Alarm Do You Have??

16 years ago

If you have the wrong kind of smoke detector it can cause you your life. PLEASE read this article about a tragic event in Barre City, VT that killed 4 people. They had a working smoke detector, BUT it did not work! The best kind of smoke detector is a combination photoelectric and ionization.

Make sure you specify this type of detector when you review your bids or you may get the wrong type of detector. Most smoke detectors installed in homes are ionization because they are cheaper then photoelectric, so what do you think you will get if you do not specify?

http://cms.firehouse.com/content/article/article.jsp?sectionId=9&id=57586

Comments (7)

sniffdog
16 years ago
Great point!

I provided the electricians Kidde PI2000 units which have both Ion and Photo detectors. We have some friends who had a fire that started in the hearth of the fireplace - and was spreading through the basement. Their smoke dtectors never went off - luckily someone spotted the smoke and they got out safely.

I do not think there is any building code that mandates dual sensing smoke detectors - but there should be. The dual sensing detectors are a little more money - but well worth the price.
sierraeast
16 years ago
On our build it is required for the detectors to be hard wired in w/ a battery back up.

Thanks for the advise on the dual sensors, i will suggest this to our electrician.
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Tom
Original Author
16 years ago
I also have the Kidde PI2000 in my home, about $30 each, 120 volt with battery backup. I have had them for about 18 months, no problems with false alarms, except when the toast burns!

Below is the link to the story in my 1st post above.

Here is a link that might be useful: Smoke Detector Story
sierraeast
16 years ago
Sad but eye opening article! I will recommend the kidde pi 2000 to our electrician for sure!
Happykate
16 years ago
Our electricians just installed our ionization-only detectors yesterday (and then I read this.) I'm going to talk to them today and see if it'll cost much to switch them to the duals. I'll supply, if they'll do the labor. Hopefully not too pricey.
carolyn53562
16 years ago
Since we're talking about smoke alarms--be sure to read your owner's manual and learn how to turn off the smoke alarms when they go off and also how to tell which alarm has been activated because, with ours anyway, you have to find the one that was activated to turn the alarm off completely. We didn't read our owner's manual and they went off in the middle of the night shortly after we moved in--a bug set them off. Needless to say, it was miserable until we figured out how to turn them off. Ours had a hush button that would turn them off for 7 minutes and then they would start again. We kept pushing the hush button thinking that we were turning them off and they kept coming back on . . .
Tom
Original Author
16 years ago
If you have high ceilings changing smoke detector batteries is a pain, so consider a lithium battery, they are good for 10 years. In 10 years you can change the detector and battery at the same time, since smoke detectors are only good for 10 years. Now you just need to remember to do it 10 years from now. I date the smoke detector and battery with a sharpie pen so I do not need to look it up.