Residential Fire/Smoke Alarms
Fire and smoke alarms for residential are actually just smoke alarms. They can be referred to as both, but they are actually just smoke alarms for a majority of residential spaces.
However, they can use different methods, and some of them do not contact outside of the location in which they are placed.
Smoke alarms within a residence can be wired, or non-wired. Wired smoke alarms can be wired so that if one goes off, they signal the others within the residence to also go off. This allows for the notification of the occupants, allowing for the egress of the residence to a safer location. The other wired type, can also be wired into an alarm system. These can usually notify the different emergency services such as the fire department, EMS, or police. Obviously, if there is a notification of a fire and/or smoke, it will notify the fire department, but it can also notify EMS to have them just in case of a fatality or injury. A burglar alarm would be what is also wired into the system, and that allows for the notification of the police.
Some smoke detectors use a tiny laser, bouncing off of a mirror and being reflected back into a receiver. These are known as photoelectric detectors When that receiver detects a variation past a certain percentage, it goes off. That is why steam, or cooking fatty meats and oils on your stove can set it off. Other smoke detectors use ionization, or a combination of the two. Funny enough, these use radioactive material between two metal plates. The radioactive material causes the air between the plates to become an ionization chamber, allowing an electrical current to pass between the two metal plates. When the smoke disrupts the flow by absorbing alpha particles, the current is disrupted. The pattern is when a normal current, whether light, or electrical current is disrupted, this causes an alarm.
If you’d like to know the best places to install the smoke detectors, here is a small list.
On every floor
Inside every bedroom
Outside of each sleeping area
Within the kitchen, or cooking area
We are building our Fire Alarm portion of the company, and will soon be able to offer the installation of fire and smoke alarms within your residence.