Choosing the right type of smoke detector and finding a reliable one?

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Choosing the right type of smoke detector and finding a reliable one?

oliveoil: Apr 22, 2016

It seems like everything I've read says the following:

1. There are two types of fires: smoldering and fast-flaming. Seems like the first burns slowly with lots of smoke, while the other burns quickly.
2. There are two types of smoke detectors: ionization and photoelectric.
3. Ionization alarms can go off 30-50 minutes after a smoldering fire starts smoking, which makes them useless in the case of smoldering fire.
4. Photoelectric alarms typically go off in roughly a minute or less after a smoldering fire starts smoking.
5. Dual-sensor alarms, which combine both technologies, are still MUCH worse at detecting smoldering fires than photoelectric alarms by themselves, due to reasons*.
6. Ionization alarms can detect fast-flaming fires a little bit faster, but the difference seems to be like 60-90 seconds faster.

* - This site claims that manufacturers either (1) desensitize the ionization sensor of the dual alarm to reduce nuisance tripping, essentially making it very similar to a photoelectric alarm, or they (2) require that BOTH the photoelectric and ionization sensors trip before the alarm sounds, which defeats the purpose of including the photoelectric sensor to detect smoldering fires: http://www.propertyevaluation.net/Photoelectric%20vs%20Ionization%20Smoke%20Alarms%20-%20Deadly%20Differences.html

This news article says some local news service also tested some fire alarms and found that the photoelectric ones took roughly 60s to detect a smoldering fire, vs more than six minutes (firefighters in that article said you'd have been in trouble if you were breathing in the smoke that appeared in that time), and over 9 minutes for the ionization detector: http://www.news5cleveland.com/money...io-fire-marshal

I also looked up the Palo Alto fire alarm recommendations cited in the first link, and it seems like Palo Alto recommends photoelectric smoke detectors in bedrooms with a dual-sensor alarm in the hallways outside, if I understood correctly.

So it seems like photoelectric alarms are the superior type, but I'm really just going by that first link, which seems like some random dude's website, which seems like a poor thing to base safety decisions on. Does anyone else here know about this sort of thing? If so, how have you people found reliable smoke detectors from reputable brands?

# ? Jul 20, 2017 03:49

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# ? Apr 26, 2024 16:30

socketwrencher: Apr 10, 2012; Be still and know.

oliveoil posted:

It seems like everything I've read says the following:

1. There are two types of fires: smoldering and fast-flaming. Seems like the first burns slowly with lots of smoke, while the other burns quickly.
2. There are two types of smoke detectors: ionization and photoelectric.
3. Ionization alarms can go off 30-50 minutes after a smoldering fire starts smoking, which makes them useless in the case of smoldering fire.
4. Photoelectric alarms typically go off in roughly a minute or less after a smoldering fire starts smoking.
5. Dual-sensor alarms, which combine both technologies, are still MUCH worse at detecting smoldering fires than photoelectric alarms by themselves, due to reasons*.
6. Ionization alarms can detect fast-flaming fires a little bit faster, but the difference seems to be like 60-90 seconds faster.

* - This site claims that manufacturers either (1) desensitize the ionization sensor of the dual alarm to reduce nuisance tripping, essentially making it very similar to a photoelectric alarm, or they (2) require that BOTH the photoelectric and ionization sensors trip before the alarm sounds, which defeats the purpose of including the photoelectric sensor to detect smoldering fires: http://www.propertyevaluation.net/Photoelectric%20vs%20Ionization%20Smoke%20Alarms%20-%20Deadly%20Differences.html

This news article says some local news service also tested some fire alarms and found that the photoelectric ones took roughly 60s to detect a smoldering fire, vs more than six minutes (firefighters in that article said you'd have been in trouble if you were breathing in the smoke that appeared in that time), and over 9 minutes for the ionization detector: http://www.news5cleveland.com/money...io-fire-marshal

I also looked up the Palo Alto fire alarm recommendations cited in the first link, and it seems like Palo Alto recommends photoelectric smoke detectors in bedrooms with a dual-sensor alarm in the hallways outside, if I understood correctly.

So it seems like photoelectric alarms are the superior type, but I'm really just going by that first link, which seems like some random dude's website, which seems like a poor thing to base safety decisions on. Does anyone else here know about this sort of thing? If so, how have you people found reliable smoke detectors from reputable brands?

I go with the NFPA for this stuff. They suggest using both types or dual sensors. Kidde seems to be a reputable brand based on the usage I've seen which has included HUD inspections on large projects. Consumer Reports has done tests but you need to pay to see them.

http://www.nfpa.org/public-education/by-topic/smoke-alarms/ionization-vs-photoelectric

# ? Jul 20, 2017 19:49

Alereon: Feb 6, 2004; Dehumanize yourself and face to Trumpshed; College Slice

oliveoil posted:

5. Dual-sensor alarms, which combine both technologies, are still MUCH worse at detecting smoldering fires than photoelectric alarms by themselves, due to reasons*.

This isn't true for modern detectors. They use logic chips to evaluate signals from both sensors to both improve detection times and reduce nuisance detections. The top-rated detectors by Consumer Reports are all dual-sensor units. Pretty much all the information saying dual-sensor units are bad can be traced back to one obsessed Australian guy.

# ? Jul 21, 2017 08:19

Jaded Burnout: Jul 10, 2004

Thanks for this thread, and the followup information. I'm going to have to fit a bunch of these soon and I didn't even know there was more than one type.

# ? Jul 26, 2017 10:24

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Choosing the right type of smoke detector and finding a reliable one?