Smoke Alarms - This Is Disturbing - Please Read

I know that this topic is not computer related, but I thought I would share this with all of you, since I was surprised last night when I saw this on our local news station. The broadcast had to do with smoke alarms and the differences in how they react to flames or smoke. The article posted on the TV station website states:

Working with the Springfield Fire Department, we set out to show how a room could get so smoky without a smoke alarm sounding. Our investigation clearly shows how different types of smoke detectors have different response rates, depending on the type of fire.

We installed two types of detectors: an ionization alarm, which is found in most homes, and a photoelectric alarm.

The first tests were with flaming fires. The ionization detector is designed to go off first. And it did. In three flaming tests, the ionization detector went off an average of 26 seconds after we set the fire. The photoelectric alarm didn’t sound until an average of almost two minutes after the fires began.

It’s a scary statistic. Even scarier are the results of our second test. In many fires nowadays, flames never break out.

“With today’s synthetics and plastics and things, the flames might not break out as soon as you thought, and now you’re just dealing with smoke,” said Springfield Assistant Fire Chief Randy Villines.

These smoldering fires can be just as dangerous but we found these alarms react very differently.

Firefighters used a soldering iron to simulate a smoldering fire. While ionization detectors typically go off first in a flaming fire, photoelectric alarms usually sound quicker in a smoldering fire — but you’d never imagine by how much.

At 16 minutes and 40 seconds in our test, the photoelectric detector sounded. Then we waited, and waited, and waited to hear the ionization detector: 25 minutes, 30, and then 40 ticked by. The smoke at that point clearly would have killed someone, yet still the ionization smoke detector is silent.

We waited as smoke and silence from the ionization detector continued to fill the room. Finally, after more than 50 minutes, the ionization detector went off — but only for a few seconds before it suddenly went silent. It wasn’t until more than 55 minutes that the alarm began sounding for good.

We have 4 smoke alarms in our house, one in each bedroom and one in the hallway leading to the bedroom area. These units are hardwired to our electrical system and also have a battery backup. So this morning I took down one of the units to find out what kind of smoke alarms they were, either ionization or photoelectric. Guess what? I have neither. The units that were installed are not even smoke alarms. I went to the manufacture website and found out that I have ‘heat alarms’, that only activate at 135 degrees.

On the manufactures web site it states:

Note: Heat alarms should always be interconnected with smoke alarms to provide early warning when fire is present. FireX heat alarms are designed to alarm when presented with a certain temperature at the alarm. They will not react to smoke and should not be used to replace smoke alarms, but as a supplement to a complete smoke alarm system.

Needless to say, I am going to be purchasing new alarms since it seems what I have in my home are useless in less the home is fully engulfed in flames.

Comments welcome.

Full article here.

[tags]smoke, alarms, heat, early warning, temperature, [/tags]