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To all of you talking about false alarms - Get photoelectric alarms instead of Ionization alarms ... They do cost more, but they are less susecptable to false alarms caused by things like showering, cooking, etc. If you do some reasearch, you will find that often times they are more likely to go off in the event of a real fire as well. They say that Ionization is better for "Flaming Fires" but photoelectrics are generally very quick behind the ionization for alerting of these types of fires - The photoelectric alarms are considered better for smoldering fires (often deadly due to the smoke alone), oddly, smoldering fires have been known to not cause Ionization alarms to sound at all.
So:
Photoelectric: Higher Cost, More likely to sound in event of fire, less likely to cause false alarms which often result in people disabling them due to annoyance
Ionization: Lower cost, considered slightly better for flaming fire detection, scary failure rate with other types of fires, more likely to have false alarms due to things like showers and cooking.
Here is a link to a fantastic news station investigative report about Ionization alarms and their failures:
And since people are talking about placement - I have in my 1900 sq ft house 9 alarms all photoelectric w/ carbon monoxide - One in each BR, one in each hallway, family room, living room (Near kitchen), and utility room... Also have 4 fire extinguishers in the house. I have been trained to fight fires in a past life, I feel quite well protected
To all of you talking about false alarms - Get photoelectric alarms instead of Ionization alarms ... They do cost more, but they are less susecptable to false alarms caused by things like showering, cooking, etc. If you do some reasearch, you will find that often times they are more likely to go off in the event of a real fire as well. They say that Ionization is better for "Flaming Fires" but photoelectrics are generally very quick behind the ionization for alerting of these types of fires - The photoelectric alarms are considered better for smoldering fires (often deadly due to the smoke alone), oddly, smoldering fires have been known to not cause Ionization alarms to sound at all.
So:
Photoelectric: Higher Cost, More likely to sound in event of fire, less likely to cause false alarms which often result in people disabling them due to annoyance
Ionization: Lower cost, considered slightly better for flaming fire detection, scary failure rate with other types of fires, more likely to have false alarms due to things like showers and cooking.
Here is a link to a fantastic news station investigative report about Ionization alarms and their failures:
That may explain an incident that happened in my home. One of my sons fell asleep with a lamp on next to his bed. Somehow he knocked the lamp onto his bed and the hot bulb scorched his down comforter enough that when I got up I could smell smoke, but the smoke alarm in the hallway next to his room did not go off. There were no flames.
It just doesn't make any sense why a smoke detector doesn't need to be in or near the kitchen.
If you put a smoke detector in the kitchen it's going to be going off all the time. The assumption is that people who are awake will smell smoke or see fire and do something about it.
They put smoke detectors in hallways and bedrooms to protect sleeping people and their path of escape.
If you put a smoke detector in the kitchen it's going to be going off all the time.
Only if you're a pretty lousy/careless cook! My restaurant detectors didn't go off once in 16 years (yes, they were regularly checked and it was a very busy kitchen) and the only time in the last several years that a home kitchen detector went off was when something spilled in the oven, started burning and sent up clouds of smoke.
Only if you're a pretty lousy/careless cook! My restaurant detectors didn't go off once in 16 years (yes, they were regularly checked and it was a very busy kitchen) and the only time in the last several years that a home kitchen detector went off was when something spilled in the oven, started burning and sent up clouds of smoke.
Some alarms will sound because your making toast - The type of alarm really does come into consideration with this... I personally would not put one in the kitchen and figure that if smoke hits the adjacent room the alarm in that room is enough.
I wouldn't want to wait until the kitchen fire gets really going before it wakes me up down the hall. In my current apt, which is a studio, it's a non-issue as it's in the middle of the space on the ceiling, and the carbon monoxide alarm is plugged into the socket at shin height in the same room.
But, to be honest, twice now I've left a burner on when I thought I'd turned it off. Nothing was left on the burner, and I noticed the light on the stove both times. But, my point is that, it would be entirely possible to have a fire start in a kitchen after you've gone to bed. My rice cooker for instance, will automatically turn itself to "warm" but won't shut itself off. So, I could forget about the rice cooker that's plugged in. A crockpot could malfunction that's plugged in. Heck, electrical fires can start from anything plugged in, like a toaster, right?
In my last apartment, the kitchen was open to the living room, which had a smoke detector, so if anything would catch fire in the kitchen, the nearby smoke detector would sound the alarm.
I like the idea of these photo-electric alarms. Thanks for the info. I know I have been bad in the past about disconnecting alarms that kept going off, and not re-connecting them right away. And I know tenants are bad about doing this, too. Sounds like these photo-electric alarms would be worth the money for landlords to install.
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