Fire Extinguisher Checks

[dmccarty]

The other problem with smoke detectors is that they will go off if there is dust in the air or humidity. Our code requires a detector in each bedroom, outside each bedroom and interconnected.

The problem we had was that these things would go off in the spring at midnight or early in the morning. We would have to put our hearts back in our chest, quiet the screaming children, and I would climb up on a ladder to unplug the stupid things we would go back to sleep. Sorta.

From reading the find print on all of the detectors I could get my hands on as well as some models on the Internet, high humidity sets these things off. Its just the way the technology works. I sure don't feel like our house had high humidity when these things went off but they did.

If anyone knows of a detector that might work let me know.

I do keep fire extinguishers in the kitchen, have two, and I have one in the truck. I had two in the truck but one finally bit the dust so to speak but it had to 15 years old. Need to go buy a few more now that I think about it.

I wont buy products made from the large, nationwide fire equipment company in Mebane, NC. More than a few years ago there was a couple of kids at NSCU that had a class were they had to come up with a product, develop a business and market plans around that product. The company in Mebane stole the product from these kids. The kids had designed a box with labels and photos for their products. The company even stole the box design. The kids sued and won but I won't due business with this company.

Later,
Dan

 

[Bird]

Dan, in addition to the smoke alarm and CO detector and alarm, our motorhome had an LPG leak detector. Great idea, right? One small problem. Exhaust fumes would activate the LPG leak detector and that would shut off the propane at the tank. The first time that happened, it was no big deal. But, on October 31, 1993, we were parked with the left side of the motorhome close to a hedge and building, and in 3 or 4 inches of snow in WV. I fired up the generator to make coffee with the electric coffee pot, and the wind was from the right direction to set off the LPG detector which turned off the LPG which meant the furnace provided no heat.

We had planned to move on down the road later than day anyway, so we just left a good bit earlier than planned. But as soon as we got far enough south to get into warm weather, I bought a toggle switch and some wire and rigged a bypass so if necessary, I could flip the toggle switch to bypass the LPG leak detector and keep the gas on.

And then the problem never happened again, so that switch was never used.

 

[medicshawn]

Jim, when we were full time RVers, we had a CO detector in the bedroom and an LPG leak detector in the kitchen area in addition to the smoke detector. But now we're in a total electric home and only have smoke detectors. Of course, I think they're both working properly, in spite of their age, and we have the fire extinguisher, actually in the garage, but that's just the other side of the door from the kitchen/dining area. I like the idea of a battery backup type of smoke detector, but I don't know that they're worth the extra cast.

I don't want to beat a dead horse but properly working smoke detectors are cheap insurance. You don't know what happened at your house before you moved in but if there was a renovation who knows what's accumulated in there. If nothing else replace them one at a time so that over a couple of months they have all been taken care of. Trust me it isn't always the other guy.

 

[dmccarty]

Shawn I think you were addressing my note.

The house was new and we built it. The detectors were brand new. They where covered until we moved into the house in January. The detectors started failing 4-6 months later. New batteries did not help. Humidity was the only valid answer. They ONLY false activated after midnight. Certainly no dust getting kicked up by people moving. The HVAC was not in use because it was not needed. Only reason I could figure was high humidity. Which if you read the small print is a limitation of the technology.

For years I wanted sprinklers in the house. At first the code did not support home sprinkler systems. Then the code changed. I looked at the cost. Not bad but not good either. I called up the insurance company and asked how much my premium would be reduced if we had a fire suppression system in the house. The answer was not much. The lower premiums would never pay for the system. That tells me that the odds of my house catching fire much less burning down are right close to zero.

We do heat the house with a wood stove. But for it to cause a fire the double wall SS chimney would have to develop a hole. For the stove proper to cause a fire, the door would have to be open and a log would have to roll 6-15 feet from the stove to get to something to burn. The floor is finished concrete. I suppose a spark could exit the chimney but I have never seen a spark go out the chimney. We clean the chimney often and it never has had creasote build up.

Since we don't smoke that is not an issue. I keep the wifey out of the kitchen as much as possible so that further reduces our fire risk. We don't fry much and now I usually do it outside. A neighbor we had when I was a kid almost burned down his house because the fry oil caught on fire. Instead of putting the lid on the pot like his Scout Son would have done he picked up the pot and put it in the sink. Then turned on the water. He got burned and the drapes caught fire. We dont have drapes. I would put a lid on the pot. And now a days the hot oil is outside.

The only person I know who has had a house fire was an Uncle whose house was hit by lightning as well as burning oil mover mentioned above.

The house could catch fire. We could die. The odds are not very high.

The odds are very high that we will stroke out from continuing false alarms and the stress of no sleep. Not to mention loss of hearing.

If someone knows of a smoke detector that does not go off because of humidity I would love to have them. But I could not find them.

Later,
Dan

 

[Bird]

Dan, I've had both battery powered and hard wired smoke alarms and never had a "false alarm"; i.e., the only time one has gone off was when something in the kitchen was over cooked or a fire was lit in the fireplace without opening the flue. And neither of those things have happened in many, many years. We both quit smoking, and even though this house has a woodburning fireplace that was used in the past, I cleaned it out real good when we bought the place, and we've never lit a fire in it.

 

[dmccarty]

Bird that is what is so funny about our detectors. When we first moved it I had not quite figured out all the tricks of running our wood stove so I would dump smoke out of the stove from time to time. Not bad enough to stain the ceiling though. There is a smoke detector 6-8 feet from the stove. None of the detectors ever went off.....

These detectors are hard wired with battery backup.

But in the spring in the middle of the night they would go off. No fire running. They would just go off.

In our old city house the alarm would sometimes go off whenn we had the first really cold spell. The heat strips would turn on and burn off dust. We would buy really good air filters but the dust would still get in there an burn off. Nothing like waking up to a screaming smoke detector.

Later,
Dan

 

[Bird]

Dan, our house for the last 11 years before I retired had gas heat and each year the first time we turned the heat on, you could smell the dust being burned off, and yes, I had replaced the original air filter with the best I could buy, but that never set off the smoke alarms. For a couple of years, that odor "alarmed" me a bit, but I got used to it. In this total electric house with a heat pump, I've never noticed that odor.

 

[mjarrels]

Years ago, I bought my wife a fire extinguisher for her birthday (BAD IDEA).

mark

 

[J_J]

I don't know the answer you want, but I have lived in Florida under severe humidity conditions for over thirty years. I don't think I have ever heard that moisture would set off fire alarms. I have not heard them go off because of humidity, only smoke. However, if moisture were to form on a cold fire detector lens, it might confuse the alarm. I test mine by putting smoke near it. If I am cooking and things smoke a little, the alarm will go off, but that is to be expected.

I don't remember if you said they were hard wired, but a voltage interruption might trigger the alarm.

Have you changed brands of smoke alarms, and does it still do the same?

 

[JayDavis]

I did a walk around my barn and shop today and noticed that just about all my fire extinguisher's nozzles were all plugged up by insects. Not sure what they are, but they have always jambed up the ground hole in my electrical sockets or even air line tool fiittings. They build a mud nest in this sized hole, inject a larvae and seal it up completely with mud. Bad idea for a fire extinguisher. I unscrewed the nozzles and used a small drill to ream out the mud etc. I hope you never need one, but in case you have them hanging around outside or in sheds or buildings, check the nozzles. I think I've seen plastic or rubber plugs to solve this problem at TSC or Lowes/Menards/Home Depot, etc/

I guess I am getting into this conversation late.... but if you get a package of yellow ear plugs (you know, the ones that are shaped like little cylinders) you can take one of them and it will lightly fit into most fire exstinguisher nozzles. The fit isn't very tight so when you squeeze the trigger, it will launch it out. They do good at keeping bugs out.

 

[Bird]

I guess I am getting into this conversation late.... but if you get a package of yellow ear plugs (you know, the ones that are shaped like little cylinders) you can take one of them and it will lightly fit into most fire exstinguisher nozzles. The fit isn't very tight so when you squeeze the trigger, it will launch it out. They do good at keeping bugs out.

Another simple solution that I, and probably lots of others, never thought of. Very good suggestion.

 

[RobertN]

Ok this has kinda gotten off topic and is about to go further so.

I read too many reports in "Close Calls" and other Dept bulletins that come through our station. Too many people get hurt or die over $50 worth of smole detectors and batteries that are 1) not there at all, 2) broken, 3) dead batteries, 4) out of date, 5) dirty. There are other issues too, but those seem to top the list.

On top of civilians hurt or dying, are the firefighters and medics that get hurt or die trying to rescue people whom a simple $1 battery might have saved.

Some manufacturers recomend cleaning the detectors.

 

[Zephrant]

If they don't work well (false alarm) throw them away and replace them with another brand. I put in new ones on a central security system 9 years ago, and have never had a false alarm.

The only time they have ever gone off was when I was using a gas concrete saw in the basement. I had a respirator and hearing protection on, and didn't even know the siren was going off until I stopped the saw.

 

[dmccarty]

I don't know the answer you want, but I have lived in Florida under severe humidity conditions for over thirty years. I don't think I have ever heard that moisture would set off fire alarms. I have not heard them go off because of humidity, only smoke. However, if moisture were to form on a cold fire detector lens, it might confuse the alarm. I test mine by putting smoke near it. If I am cooking and things smoke a little, the alarm will go off, but that is to be expected.

I don't remember if you said they were hard wired, but a voltage interruption might trigger the alarm.

Have you changed brands of smoke alarms, and does it still do the same?

They are hardwired.

I have not changed the alarms since they all say they will have problems in high humidity.

I don't think it was voltage related. At the the time we had one or two UPSes that beep when we have power issues. Now we have three. The go off frequently around 5:00-6:00am. They did not go off when the fire alarms went. Course the UPS alarms could have been drowned out by the fire alarms. All FIVE of them.

Read the small print on the detectors humidity and dust can set them off. You are supposed to vacuum your detector frequently. We never cleaned the one we had in the city house.

When the alarms started going off in our new house I changed batteries, checked connections, and vacuumed them. They still went off.

I just grabbed one of the alarms and put a battery in it. I'll see what happens over time.....

Later,
Dan

 

[tallyho8]

I live in southern Louisiana and the humidity is 100% very often and I have never had one of my smoke alarms go off due to humidity. If my wife burns something in the kitchen it goes off fast.

 

[Treemonkey1000]

After a little thinking on this whole thread of which I may have missed this suggestion. The warning labels do state about humidity. If the alarm is on the ceiling and cut into the ceiling of homes with Air conditioning. Could the alarm be getting condensation inside the cover if warm air is meeting with the cool air from the A/C?
I would rather have false alarms than no alarms if there were ever a fire or carbon monoxide leak. Even if it scared the boogers out of me in the middle of the night

 

[J_J]

Dan, I believe those alarms work using the photo cell principle, and a transmitter. If something, smoke, steam/moisture, dust, interrupts the beam, then it will sense that something is wrong and sound the alarm. It appears to be doing it's job, but false alerts will scare the he** out of anybody. and you might get use to false alerts, and that ain't good. do this check and let us know the results. Use one of those hand steamers and see if they will set it off. If they do go off, what do yo do to shut off the alarm? I just purchased one of the talking alarms, and I am curious to hear what it says, and is it alarm and voice or what.