1.7 million dollar home + no smoke detector = fail

[SKORPI0]

http://www.trulia.com/homes/photos/...d/21162402-2267-Shippan-Ave-Stamford-CT-06902

House with 16 pictures, not sure if it shows that smoke detectors were installed.

 

[Thegonagle]

Re: false alarms while cooking, use the photoelectric type of detector (which respond only to visible smoke) near the kitchen.

Use the extra-sensitive ionizing type (which sense invisible products of combustion well before visible smoke even gets near it) everywhere else, especially inside the bedrooms. You should not be without a bunch of the ionizing type--but they should be somewhat away from the kitchen to prevent false alarms.

 

[Stifko]

That is it, I am going to install smoke detectors in the house I live in. I have had them in their packaging over a year now since I got them from Homedepot. R.I.P. to those 3 kids and their grandparents.

 

[Hugo Drax]

That is it, I am going to install smoke detectors in the house I live in. I have had them in their packaging over a year now since I got them from Homedepot. R.I.P. to those 3 kids and their grandparents.

Good. If anything hopefully more people will do the same. :thumbsup:

 

[Red Squirrel]

Wow that's quite sad. I have 3 of them in my house. One of them is part of the alarm system and will alert a central monitoring station. I also have a CO detector. I also have a flood detector that is part of my alarm system too. These are all simple little things that should be standard in any house, really.

 

[drnickriviera]

Makes me feel a little better about shelling out $2200 for a fire sprinkler system for the house i'm renovating. Even a closet greater than 3'X2' had to have a head

 

[alent1234]

looks like the fire started in the attic. who wants to bet that some work wasn't done to code or that they stored some dangerous chemicals in the home

 

[EagleKeeper]

Wow. You can't even sell a house around here without working smoke detectors installed. My father-in-law bought us new detectors for Christmas a few years ago. Damn are they sensitive. Impossible to make toast without one going off. If you make your toast slightly dark, the one in the next room goes off as well. That level of sensitivity gives you plenty of time to get out (or plenty of time to attack a smoldering fire with one of several fire extinguishers in the house.) I've only once ever had the need for a fire extinguisher. Put gas on an anthill in a crack in the driveway. Then realized, maybe I should burn off the fumes, just in case, so that nothing would be parked over it that could ignite the fumes. Hey, did you know that asphalt can be set on fire? Or that after about 60 seconds of burning, you can see the smoke from an asphalt fire from miles away??

And in 5 minutes, the local FD will be laughing it up.

 

[steppinthrax]

Most people who have smoke detectors in their home have the following.

1. Improper number of detectors
2. Incorrect installation locations
3. Broken/malfunctioning detectors
4. Incorrect detector type
5. Aged detectors

In the State of Maryland it is required that rental property have a detector on each floor and they must be run off AC power with battery backup and be networked (one goes off they all). If the home has natural gas then they must all be the CO type. The first CO type must be right up-next to the natural gas consuming device (furnace, water heater etc...). When I converted my old house (built in 74) to a rental property I had to run a dedicated 14/3 through the whole house from the basement to the 3rd floor and new smoke detectors on each floor with CO.

My new house has only one smoke detector on it (made in 1990).... Sadly my rental property has better smoke and CO detection capabilites then my current home!!!!!!

 

[rh71]

by town code here, all inhabitable rooms have to have smoke detectors now - and hard-wired is the way to go. Basement fire? Your detector in the master bedroom will go off.

 

[richardycc]

Also, smoke detectors don't last forever, you are supposed to replace them every 5-7yrs.

 

[SP33Demon]

by town code here, all inhabitable rooms have to have smoke detectors now - and hard-wired is the way to go. Basement fire? Your detector in the master bedroom will go off.

You can also have them wirelessly networked (like the ones I use).

 

[Wyndru]

Sad to hear this. :\

I have smoke/CO detectors installed in every room. Yes they are annoying every time I have something smoking in the oven, they go off. But it beats dying from the smoke if it ever happens. Cheap and effective. Oh, the city where I live requires it.

Your city requires them to be in every room? Or just 1 per floor?

 

[SKORPI0]

Your city requires them to be in every room? Or just 1 per floor?

http://www.orland-park.il.us/DocumentView.aspx?DID=1080

Title 5 Chapter 5
Fire Prevention Code
Orland Park Village
Code

Title 5 Chapter 5 Page 19
The following buildings shall be classified as residential buildings under this Chapter:

SINGLE-FAMILY DWELLINGS: Residential units designed or used for not more than one-family units.

MULTIPLE DWELLINGS: Residential units designed or used for two (2) or more family units.

SMOKE DETECTOR: An electrical device designed to emit a loud warning signal upon detection of an abnormal buildup of smoke in the area. Such device may be photo-electric or ionization type, and may be powered by self-contained battery or one hundred fifteen (115) volt external power supply. All detectors shall bear the label of a nationally recognized standards testing laboratory which indicates that the smoke detectors have been tested and listed under the requirements of UL 217 (1978).

5-5-3-2 PLACEMENT:

All buildings of residential or mixed occupancy having any residential units shall be equipped with approved smoke detectors in the manner prescribed in this Section.
(7/07)
1. Not less than one approved smoke detector shall be installed in every single-family residential unit and multiple dwelling unit as defined herein. The detector shall be installed on the ceiling and at least six inches (6") from any wall, or on a wall located from six inches (6") to twelve inches (12") from the ceiling, and within fifteen feet (15') of all rooms used for sleeping purposes.
2.
All multiple dwellings as defined herein, and buildings of mixed occupancy having any residential units, shall contain not less than one approved smoke detector at the uppermost ceiling of all
interior stairwells. All approved smoke detectors herein required shall be installed on the ceiling,
at least six inches (6") from any wall, or on a wall, located from six inches (6") to twelve inches (12") from the ceiling.
3. In residential buildings having basements or cellars, one additional smoke detector shall be installed in the basement or cellar in a location therein approved by the Building Department.

5-5-4 PENALTY:
Any person, firm or corporation violating this Chapter shall be fined not less than Fifty Dollars ($50.00) and not more than Seven Hundred Fifty Dollars ($750.00) for each offense and a separate offense shall be deemed committed for each and every day during which a violation continues or exists.
(Ord. 4254, 6-18-07; Amd. Ord. 4342, 3-3-08)

 

[Vic Vega]

Wow. You can't even sell a house around here without working smoke detectors installed.

Same here. Local code requires it. You literally cannot sell the property.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Makes me feel a little better about shelling out $2200 for a fire sprinkler system for the house i'm renovating. Even a closet greater than 3'X2' had to have a head

Wow, I've thought of doing that, but that's quite a lot of work, and I'd be worried one triggers by error. Then again they are all over commercial buildings and you never hear of one going off accidentally.

What did you do as far as pressure goes? Residential water lines don't quite have the flow required for a typical sprinkler system. Did you have to setup some kind of pressurized holding tank with a pump?

One thing I would want to do if I was to build a new house is have interconnected fire detectors though, and have them "zoned" so all of them will report to a central station. But right now I have the one that can report so it's better than nothing. To me a fire system has two purposes. Save lives, and save the building. If you are not home, it's job is to save the building. You want the fire department to be notified as soon as a fire breaks out so they can go.

 

[drnickriviera]

I had to do this because of the local building codes. I could have done it myself, but they would still require an engineer to design the system. $300 for that + materials, we thought it would be simpler to hire it out.

Flow was an issue. The water meter had to be changed out to a 1" meter and we had to install an 1 1/2" water line into the house and to the sprinkler riser. Plus I had 2 booster pumps to suck water out of the muni system to get me more water. I don't think the booster pumps are necessary for most water systems. We were able to get 29GPM from our flow test. Code required 26GPM from 2 heads.

I'm not too worried about them going off. I think the installer said the cover plate comes off at 135F and the heads activate at 165F. I'm more worried about all the damage after the head goes off. There is a flow switch installed that can alert the alarm company, but even if only 1 head activates. You've dumped 200-400 gallons of water on the house before someone shows up to turn the water off. (if you are away from home) It's better than dying in a fire though

Wow, I've thought of doing that, but that's quite a lot of work, and I'd be worried one triggers by error. Then again they are all over commercial buildings and you never hear of one going off accidentally.

What did you do as far as pressure goes? Residential water lines don't quite have the flow required for a typical sprinkler system. Did you have to setup some kind of pressurized holding tank with a pump?

One thing I would want to do if I was to build a new house is have interconnected fire detectors though, and have them "zoned" so all of them will report to a central station. But right now I have the one that can report so it's better than nothing. To me a fire system has two purposes. Save lives, and save the building. If you are not home, it's job is to save the building. You want the fire department to be notified as soon as a fire breaks out so they can go.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Sounds like quite the project. So sprinklers are actually code where you are? That seems kinda overkill for a house. Guess you can never go too overkill when it comes to a safety device.

 

[drnickriviera]

Yep, code requirement. I don't know what they use in your area, but it could be coming to a city near you. Fire sprinklers are in the latest International Residential Code (IRC)

 

[Imp]

Back to the original story: it was on CNN tonight. So, the house was being renovated, the girls were sleeping on the third floor, fire supposedly started from embers dumped outside the house from a yule-tide (?) log.

Sole survivor made it out by jumping onto scaffolding outside her window.

 

[Ms. DICKINSON]

Great reminder. Give your parents/grandparents some 9v batteries or even help them replace it. If they're using the portable ones that is.

 

[fralexandr]

wasn't there also a study that claimed that a high % of children (i think almost half?) sleep so deeply that they don't get awaken by fire detector alarms?
there are several from google scholar that show almost all younger children fail to wake T.T