subject: Nominating the Appropriate Smoke Alarms for The Dwelling [print this page] Nominating the Appropriate Smoke Alarms for The Dwelling
When you're considering a smoke detector system for your address you are probably wishing to acquire an item that provides a fail-safe method at a value-for-money price. Thankfully nowadays there are quite a few fire alarms on the market to pick from, as well as carbon monoxide detectors or all-in-one circuits.
Your choice of fire alert will fall broadly into 2 categories. You have the ionization detectors and the photoelectric (optical-based) detectors. Depending on where you read (and we encourage you to read up widely on the subject as it's an important one) the ionization detectors are considered by some people to be better at early detection of flame-intense fires, while photoelectric alarms are considered by many to be better at detecting smoldering fires early.
It is a common source of debate about which is better, but it perhaps needs to be pointed out that people generally suffer serious injury or die due to smoke, heat and related toxins rather than flames and perhaps smoldering fires are more likely to go undetected by the people in a house than flame-based ones which can be more obvious.
Also, it can be pointed out that photoelectric detectors are advised for commercial premises, not ionization detectors. Some users of ionization alarms also complain that they are prone to false detectors more than the optical-sensing detectors.
It may be that the only fail-safe method is to employ the use of both types of smoke alarm in your neck of the woods, which increases the costs to you but also increases the peace of mind that you are after.
When you are choosing your system, it is a good idea to opt for fire alarms that can be interconnected by cabling. This means that an detector activated in one area of the building will be transmitted to the detectors in all the other areas of the building. This alerts everyone very quickly and means that you can add valuable seconds to people's awareness of a problem. In large houses, for example, detection of smoke in the kitchen downstairs may not be heard by people in one of the upstairs bedrooms; cabling and linking the detectors will ensure this is not the case.
Fire detectors should be fitted in every room in the house as well as hallways and passageways to give maximum coverage throughout your dwelling. Some fire alarms will also include sensors for carbon monoxide detection, which can be another household hazard.
Many of the land fire detectors you read about will be similar in size and look - they are often white and round-shaped, around 6-8 inches across and 2-3 inches thick. They may vary on whether they are hard wired or run off battery; most wired circuits will also include a back-up battery in case of power failure. They will vary also on where the battery is loaded and this can make a difference to whether you have to detach the unit from its ceiling mounting system or not, when replacing the battery.
Some of these address fire alarms have an useful escape light feature which can light the way to fire exits through a smoke-filled room.
The features you decide on will affect your budget, but most of these units are well-priced and even if you need 10 or 15 of them to cover your property it will be a sound investment.
