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In the event of a fire, do you know how long you have to make it out of your home? This informational NFPA Test burn video shows how fast a fire can get out of control, the timer that appears on screen shows the elapsed time since the start of the demonstration. About thirty seconds after the demonstration starts, the smoke detector will activate.
At about two minutes into the demonstration, the entire room
"flashes over" and the entire room is engulfed in flame. Proper
location of smoke detectors is critical to ensure that you and your
family have as much time possible to safely exit your home.
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Proper placement of smoke detectors is crucial! Did you know that it is estimated today that 13 of 14 homes, have at least one smoke detector?
It is also estimated today that there are more homes with smoke detectors that do not work, than there are homes with no smoke detectors? This leaves home owners of a false sense of security.
There are a few different types of smoke detectors that we run into in today's homes:
Battery Units. The most basic smoke detector, these can be placed anywhere, and are cheap. However, these are also the detectors that are most prone to be non-functional. Since they rely solely only battery power, if you remove the battery to "silence" the smoke detector for a lengthy period of time, or the battery dies, you are now left with no protection. Most home owners can install these themselves with a screwdriver and a ladder.
AC Units. A popular, general purpose, and reasonably priced solution. AC wired smoke detectors have two sources of power, 110 VAC from you home's electrical system, and a back-up battery. Most newer units interconnect with the other AC smoke detectors to alert a home owner to a fire in another part of their home. Sadly, these smoke detectors are also prone to
neglect as when the battery dies, the detectors will make a high pitched beep to remind you to replace
the battery. Many times we see that these detectors have been removed or unplugged from their wiring harness to silence them.
Unfortunately, this creates an out of sight out of mind issue, where it stops beeping, and most people simply forget to reconnect it. It is recommended, and in some locations required to be installed by a licensed electrician.
Low voltage Units. In comparison to it's predecessors, this smoke detector is vastly superior. These detectors are a bit
pricier, and usually require a certified fire alarm technician to install. These smoke detectors must be connected to a listed alarm control panel, and require that the alarm panel is in working order. These smoke detectors do not have any batteries installed in them, however, the typical alarm control panel has battery back-up that can power the entire system. Most of today's low voltage detectors are intelligent detectors, and can compensate for small amounts of dust and dirt to eliminate "nuisance alarms". Some detectors can even be setup to display the exact location of the fire on your alarm keypad. If your alarm panel is monitored, you gain an additional level of protection as your alarm panel will automatically notify the authorities. Most insurance companies
recognize the reliability and additional protection that a Central Station monitored home alarm system with low voltage smoke detectors offers, and will provide a home-owner discount
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Wait, there's more? Among all of the above options there are options within them, there are different technologies used to detector fires, the two most common are ionization and photo-electric. While there are other options such as ultra-violet and infrared flame sensors, these are more specific to certain applications and will not be discussed. Ionization detector sample air in a slightly radioactive chamber and compare it against a sealed compartment. Ionization smoke detectors are best suited for detecting established flaming fires. Photo-electric smoke detectors are better at detecting slower
smoldering fires, they operate by light chamber with an infrared emitter and receiver. The chamber is designed so that under normal conditions, the receiver cannot see the light, until smoke particles passing into the chamber reflect light into the receiver.
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