Smoke/fire alarms for workshop/garage

14 years ago

I know this forum doesn't get tons of traffic so I may need to x-post, but please respond if you can help.

After the old models had exceeded their recommended time frames, we recently replaced all of the smoke alarms in our house with a variety of Kidde interconnecting alarms.

Then it occurred to us it would be nice to place another alarm in the detached workshop/garage behind our house that would work with the other alarms in our house. After checking with Kidde, however, we discovered the 200 ft. distance from our house to the workshop is at the far end of their 100-200 ft. range. In addition, Kidde doesn't recommend placing their alarms in locations that are dusty or where temperatures can reach below 40 or above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Since our workshop is used for woodworking and we only turn on the HVAC when the building is in use, these restrictions could be prohibitive.

Does anyone here have knowledge of any smoke alarm system that will alert us in our house if there were a problem in our workshop/garage under these circumstances?

Thanks for any expertise and guidance you can offer,

Laura

Comments (4)

hendricus
14 years ago
I would run it seperate from the house. You could wire up an interconnect smoke/fire alarm and connect the interconnect wire to a bell in the house.
hardee38
14 years ago
I would just check on some of the advertisements on these pages, I would think one of them should give you an answer.
You have a good idea that most people wouldn't even think about. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
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heimert
14 years ago
Yeah, I'd go with the interconnect idea. One other approach is to use a strobe light instead of a second smoke alarm.

Here is a link that might be useful: First alert
brickeyee
12 years ago
"below 40 or above 100 degrees Fahrenheit."

The alarms use low quality cheap electrolytic capacitors internally.

You are likely to need non-ionization detectors, and may need to put an incandescent bulb near them to keep them warm.