Smoke detectors

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Gene B

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As some of you know, I'm an Electrical inspector here in Michigan. I amazes me how often people get upset when I go into a home and tell the owners they need to add electric w/ battery back up smoke detectors. I now have a personal story to share with them about how they save lives. Last Saturday around 6am, I was awakened by the sound of sirens. I looked at my bedroom window and saw lights flashing against the blinds. When I looked out, my neighbors house was burning.



I got a chance to talk to the owners and found out that it was the detectors that saved their lives. Phil and the 5 kids were all in bed by 11pm and his wife, her cousin and her cousin's husband stayed up till around 4:30am playing rock band. Phil is a heavy sleeper and doesn't wake up easily at night. The other 3 adults were all very sleepy from being up so late. The fire started in the garage and smoke eventually made it into the house and set off the alarms. If the alarms weren't installed or were dis-abled this would be a far more tragic post.



Without the detectors going off the house would have continued to fill with smoke which carries with it carbon monoxide. They would have all likely died of smoke inhilation/carbon monoxide poisoning long before the flames would have gotten to them. The house looks like a total loss, but they are insured. They lost the house and 2 of their cars, the 3rd cars keys were lost in the fire so they are using a neighbors car.

(The boat was in storage) ;)



Please everyone, Install smoke detectors in your homes. There should be 1 in every bedroom and 1 adjacent to every bedroom (like in a hallway) and 1 on every level. It's best to have them hard wired, with battery back up and interconnected so if one goes off it sets them all off. There are now some battery type detectors that will set all the other detectors off if one goes off. If you have them already test them. I had to replace all mine last year after a near lightning strike. They barely made any sound at all. We all went to live to fish another day, and keep our families safe.



Gene
 
I'd like to add that smoke detectors, depending on the design, have a maximum reliable life expectancy of approximatly 10 years (some less, I've seen 5yrs too). It will be on the box or in the instructions. I just recently found this out and have about finished replacing all of mine. So, add that to the list of things to check on your detectors. Be safe out there.
 
Great post! Even with a monitored set of connected detectors (ADT) I have hardwired/battery units as backups in the same locations. You can't install too many and always keep the batteries fresh. I change mine when the daylight savings time changes. Thanks for the reminder!!
 
Ok.....mine are somehow networked so they all go off when one goes off. Only problem is now the're going off all the time. This makes the dogs sing opera and me running around pulling them off the ceiling. Now to replace these....I have no idea where to go. Menards????

fatrap:unsure:
 
fatrap, I did a little research (googled the model number) and found some with the same connectors so all I had to do is replace the trim ring and plug in the new ones. Mine happened to be Kidde and the Firex ones (must have bought Kidde)were a near exact match. I also found that you can interconnect some different models, so with a little work it is not too hard to figure out how to replace the interconnected ones pretty easily. Lowes had detectors that matched up, and there ware plenty on E-bay too, not sure about Menards.
 
Great post.



My house has them in every bedroom, and in every adjoining room (hallways). All are hard-wired with battery backups. Immediately beside the ones in every hallway (upstairs and downstairs) I have additional units that are wired into my alarm system seperately.



In addition to that, we discovered something about our alarm system last year (which links in our fire detectors / emergency service calls) - lose power (like in a fire or other emergency), and the phone system goes dead. We had it through cable, and basically if the modem loses power, we lost TV, internet AND phone. We remedied most of that problem with different service that allows the phones to still work if you lose power, as well as better battery backups on the alarm system. We are also looking into cellular link backup, but I'm still doing research on that.



Carbon Monoxide detectors on each floor - hard wired with battery backup.



And last but not least... fire extinguishers. We have them in the garage, laundry room, kitchen, and a couple of extras in other rooms upstairs and downstairs.



All the best,

Glenn
 
Glenn - Great reminder on the ABC's!! Like a gun, it's better to have an extinguisher and not need it, then need it and not have it!



I have ADT with the cell backup and it's great peace of mind if you ever experience outages. (Or a criminal just cuts the trunks before entering, which is becoming quite common. :( ) We experience power outages frequent enough through the winter (2 or 3 avg.) that it seemed a worthy investment when we had our new house wired. The battery is supposed to be good for 144 hours, so I just have to hope it doesn't take any longer to get utilities up in an emergency. I run my generator in emergencies, but it is not a true alternate power source that runs the whole house. My next home built will have that APS! :D
 
I have three battery detectors in the garage...with the boat, car and all the other stuff out there I feel I need it....
 
Carlos,

That is one place I don't have them. Above my truck and jeep, the ceilings are 22 feet tall. My only option would be to mount them on the walls, I guess. I could put one on the ceiling of my loft, and one underneath the loft, directly above the boat.



Speaking of that (and thanks for the reminder) - I think I'll go buy a few battery operated ones today and install them in there. They are going to have to be loud though, so I'll have to do some research. My garage is fairly well insulated from the house, so I might not be able to hear them. Wish I could figure out a way to link them in with the in-house ones.



All the best,

Glenn
 
Mine in the garage are linked to the ones in the house, that seems like a great way to go. Builder put some thought into it...
 
Glenn,

The ones in the garage are not linked into the house ones as I added onto the garage. They are battery operated...



I have one on one side of the center beam, one on the other side of the center beam and one near the door into the house. The ones near the beam are at the peak where I would assume smoke and heat would rise to if there was a problem.



Carlos



 
A hard wired detector in the garage may have saved their house. Who knows how long the fire burned out there before enough smoke made it into the house. Maybe I'll send in a code change proposal for the next code cycle. Good advise on the extinguishers too!



Gene
 
Will extreme heat set them off though? This is an issue for me, especially in my current location. San Antonio in the summer gets pretty darn hot. My garage is basically an oven during that timeframe. Lots of code required vents built into the outer walls that vent to the outside that let in the outside heat.

All the best,

Glenn
 
Most are smoke only. Extreme heat could possibly set them off though.

I doubt they will ever be required in a garage. The intent isn't to save the building, it's to get people out.



Gene
 
Hey gene, with all the vehicles and things parked in a gargage, I am surpired it is not required by code to install. They have thincker drywall as a requirement in a gagrage due to the fire hazard. Seems odd if they make you have thicker drywall and a fire door to the garage that a hard wired smoke detector is not required.



As an asside, my bedroom is right over parts of teh garage, adn my moms room is right next to the garage. That is some of the reasons I have extra detectors in the garage.
 
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