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My husband and I disagree so they are sitting in the box uninstalled week after week. He says in the kitchen and I have never seen one in a kitchen .Would it go off when I cook ? I thought in the hall and at the top of the stairwells. I wondered about the garage because who would hear it if it went off there??
Please don't answer if you are only guessing because I want our family to be
as safe as possible in case of fire.
We have one now in the upstairs hall that did not go off a few weeks ago when I had a grease fire on the stove. That made us realize we need better
alarms and more.
In some cities, code requires that smoke alarms be installed in every bedroom.
We have no need for carbon monoxide detectors but we have smoke alarms in each bedroom, every hallway, basement and one in our eat-in area of our kitchen....we also have one in our walk-in closet - why, I don't know, LOL.
My husband and I disagree so they are sitting in the box uninstalled week after week. He says in the kitchen and I have never seen one in a kitchen .Would it go off when I cook ? I thought in the hall and at the top of the stairwells. I wondered about the garage because who would hear it if it went off there??
Please don't answer if you are only guessing because I want our family to be
as safe as possible in case of fire.
We have one now in the upstairs hall that did not go off a few weeks ago when I had a grease fire on the stove. That made us realize we need better
alarms and more.
No, you don't put one in the kitchen. It will give all sorts of false alarms.
General rule is put one on each level of the house. Like basement, first floor, second floor. The prime thing is to have one either in the bedroom or in an upstairs hallway or some location that you can hear if sleeping. If you are a smoker, I would have it mounted directly in that bedroom where they are sleeping.
The best systems are the hard wired ones. Is what I have, one sensor in the basement, living room and outside the bedroom. If one sensor alarms, they all alarm. If like a fire occurred in the basement, I should get plenty of warning long before the smoke ever made it out of the basement. These type systems require connection to 115 VAC and are interconnected by wiring. When they alarm it is really loud all over the house. Not that expensive and you can have many sensor, if that is required, like one in each bedroom. One alarms, they all alarm.
Look in the smoke detector paks. They have a lil handout that gives typical mounting locations. One way is to think about your own home and what are the potential fire sources. Usually that is something like around the furnace or in a particular room. Usually you want to guard the pathways into areas were normally folks sleep. That is the time of greatest danger. If you are up running around, see smoke you can just escape or put it out.
You want to think about how smoke travels. Normally will fill up the room from the ceiling down, what is the path it will probably take in your house. Lots of times one critical location will detect movement from one level or location to another. Hallways can be good if they are in the path from many other areas.
Carbon monoxide is good to have at least one. Again best if it is 115 VAC powered. Can be in about any location. Some say close to the furnace, got mine outside the bedroom again.
In general you don't want them in the garage or attic. Lots of false alarms in garages, many do not work well if it is too cold like sometimes can happen if installed in an attic or even garages for some periods.
I do not trust those ones with battery power only. Too much messing around with batteries. The 115 VAC powered ones normally also include a battery that provides power in case of power failure to the home or that particular circuit. The hard wired ones just are better quality devices, will probably do the job well if ever required.
Many places it is required to have working smoke detectors installed if you are selling the home. Also lots of places the local fire department will come around and check. You can be fined if they are not working or not installed.
Code here for the past 15 years or so has been a smoke detector IN every bedroom, one outside sleeping areas and at least one on each level of the house. Our house has one in each bedroom, one in the hallway outside the bedrooms, one at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the 2nd level, one at the top of the basement stairs, one at the bottom of the basement stairs.
CO detectors should be on each level of the house. Ideally there should be one in each bedroom but you should at least have one outside the bedrooms, one on your main level in the living area and one in your basement but away from the furnace.
Our son has a bedroom in the basement so our basement CO detector is in his bedroom.
It is pretty much a local thing in the requirements.....
If you read thru a bunch of this, peeps will go overboard with the number of sensors. Some local codes are absurd, you could wind up with sensors in the dog's box. It can be a sense of false security.
It is more important to understand what you are trying to accomplish. The most critical times are when you are asleep and in danger of being over come or trapped in a fire. The alarm should wake you with enough time to safely get out or fight the fire / call for help. Hopefully detection and effective alarming well before the fire has gone beyond it's small initial starting stages.
It is more critical that the sensors work properly, than the number installed. Too many of those cheap battery powered ones don't work well. You really want a system that any sensor alarms, the entire house is notified, with a very loud alarm.
It is also good to have a number of fire extinguishers placed around the home. Kitchen for sure. Many fires can be put out if you are there and catch them in the small initial phases. Your alarm system should be capable enough to catch the fires in their small initial stages, the faster the detection and alarm, the better. The entire idea of good home safety is so much more than a few idiot boxes tacked on the wall.
To add to what other folks have said, smoke detectors should be placed high because smoke rises and carbon monoxide (CO) detectors should be placed low (bed height is good) because CO is heavier than air and it sinks. A CO detector on the ceiling does absolutely no good because dangerous levels could have been reached before the CO ever gets that high (fills up a room).
Cosmic...you are so right about the extinguishers . When my wok grease went up in flames a few months ago I could not find our kitchen extinuisher. Later we realized it had been pushed to the back of the under sink cabinet. We got it out fairly fast but
I realized the extinguisher is useless if you can't find it fast.
I think alot of sensors isn't false security but being extra careful and there isn't any harm in that.
Poltracker .... I got the sensor/alarms that are carbon monoxide/smoke and never thought about the fact that CO should be low. I am glad you pointed that out .
In the 80' s I was staying with a friend in NY and they had had their heating
system switched and we all woke up with very bad CO poisoning. It was scarey
but at least we all got out. I have always beleived in CO detectors after that.
The night before when we went to bed everyone had a headache but we did not realize why.
Carbon Monoxide can be tricky. It is actually slightly lighter than air. Generally we assume it will rise if there is free moving air. You have to consider what are your potential sources. Natural gas, some type of flame appliance. The most common sources are probably gas ranges / oven /water heaters / dryers, etc. Wood stoves or boilers can be a source. Getting rid of any standing flame like pilot lights can be good, saves energy and reduces your risk. The Nighthawk brand is probably one of the best. Most of those sensors will have a working lifetime, they can have other restrictions like environmental temperature. They don't like it too cold. You probably can get all kinds of debate exactly where to install them. I tend to go with a location that might be representative of the air in the entire house. For me that is an upstairs hallway. My overall risk is quite small, have few sources of open flame.
The other thing is most of the sensors are badly impacted by any form of dust. The hard wired ones are particularly sensitive. You never install them in new construction or remodel situations until the house has been cleaned. Save the booties that come with them. Recover if doing major cleaning or remove them. If you remove them then be aware the battery starts being used. Same with the battery powered ones, they do not like dust either. I generally do not trust the battery powered ones much.
I am not a fan of zillions of sensors all over the place. In general more is better if they are maintained and actually working, I would prefer to spend more for fewer quality sensors than buy a lot of cheap ones for the same money. A few strategic ones are better in some cases, especially if your overall risks levels are lower. There will be a replacement cost over time. They don't last forever.
It is better to assess your own particular risks, not all situations are the same. One major risk is bad / old / inadequate wiring. Lots of house fires caused by electrical in my part of the country. As part of installing a system you want to identify the high risk factors and try to correct as many of those as you can. As in stop smoking,fix this or that, upgrade old appliances, replace anything with a pilot light, don't have a lot of junk stored around the house, care with flamables, etc, etc.
The fire extinguishers are important and you should know exactly where they are. The fire mounting stations directly on the wall are good, I like them big enough to be useful if needed. Must have for the kitchen. Got to know exactly where that puppy is when you need it and exactly how to use it. The old Navy dazes and damage control comes back fast.
Check your state and city codes. Here it states that Carbon Monoxide detectors have to be within 12 ft of a bedroom and smoke detectors in every room.
On a side note, I have a fire extingusher in my bedroom, in the family room in the basement and in the kitchen. All 3 are mounted to a wall without anything in front of them so they are easily reached and findable.
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It is pretty much a local thing in the requirements.....
