PV's and smoke detectors?

[Flyer]

I've never set off the alarm in my house and I vape very close to it. I vape in my plane all the time without problems also - oops, no smoke alarm in my plane!

 

[hairball]

I have read in some places that vape won't set off smoke detectors, but I just blew 1 normal vape into my home smoke detector from about 12 inches, and it went off for 5 seconds then stopped.

I'm concerned that when I vape at work, behind closed doors the alarms will go off. Normally I would never blow my vape into a detector of course, but I was curious if anyone has had issues of smoke detectors going off?

Thanks

I set the one in my living room off all the time. I'm about 25ft away from it.

 

[Flyer]

Wow, maybe I should worry about my alarms. But, I normally vape within 15' of mine with no problems. They go off eaisly when cooking gets a little smokey.

 

[throatkick]

I have never set one off despite actually trying.

 

[Gsnuff]

i have tested this on both American and Delta inernational flights. Went into the bathroom and vaped my brains out. HOWEVER- I held the vapor in for 3-5 seconds so not much was coming out of my mouth.
No alarms.

I have read in some places that vape won't set off smoke detectors, but I just blew 1 normal vape into my home smoke detector from about 12 inches, and it went off for 5 seconds then stopped.

I'm concerned that when I vape at work, behind closed doors the alarms will go off. Normally I would never blow my vape into a detector of course, but I was curious if anyone has had issues of smoke detectors going off?

Thanks

 

[gordong11]

i have tested this on both American and Delta inernational flights. Went into the bathroom and vaped my brains out. HOWEVER- I held the vapor in for 3-5 seconds so not much was coming out of my mouth.
No alarms.

Brave soul!!you could gone to jail, fined or at minimum detained. I was just a usair and Southwest flights and I brought a blanket and vaped underneath it. I held it too, to minimize the vape, but I didn't want to risk a smoke detector going off.

 

[9ball_AJ]

So, I am a partner in a company that specializes in Commercial Fire Alarm System engineering, among other commercial low voltage systems engineering. I am NICET Level 3 Certified in Fire Alarm Systems, and I have 14 years in the industry. (National Institute for Certification in Engineering Technologies: Home Page for anyone who is interested)

Anyway, I am working all weekend designing a fire alarm system for a US Courthouse here in Seattle which entails a TON of cad work. I have had a couple of beers, and I go to use the bathroom. I pull out my PV vaping Rafalicious trying to hotbox the bathroom with gorgeous thick vapor. I come out of the bathroom and the damn fire alarm system in my office went off!! Lucky for me, I have a passcode with the central station, so I can cancel the false alarm before I waste the precious time of our local fire department.

So if anyone was wondering if vapor can set off a smoke detector...YES IT CAN!! The detectors in my office are intelligent Photo Electric AND Ionization type detectors, and I have never set one off. I vape in my office all the time with one right above my head, but my office has good ventilation, apparently.

 

[Skibadabomski]

Yup!! same with the (if I blow into the detector it will go nuts) but blow around and it's fine. Best is in Non smoking hotel rooms. Those detectors never go off and it just feels nice to enjoy a vape.

Better than hanging half my body out of a window blowing analogs sticks smoke into the wind with an incredibly amazing grip and still getting " it's blowing back into the room Chris" moans from the misses. I may as well just climb out the window altogether and just hold onto the windowsill with my feet and fold arms and enjoy my smoke.

 

[PeiPei]

Here's one I can help with! I work for a national fire alarm company and was also a firefighter! But heres the bad news, there is no straight answer! There are actually very many types of smoke detectors out there. See, a smoke detector doesnt necessarily look for smoke, but actually look for conditions that are present during a fire. Which is why people tend to have false alarms!Smoke detector has just become a generic term for an alarm activating device! Ill go over a few basic types!

Some "smoke detectors" called rate of rise, are actually sensing the heat in the room, now just because the room is hot doesnt mean it will necessarily go off, the smoke detector looks for a quick heat change say a change of 10 degrees every minute or so. your PV will NOT set this type off.

Some detectors, photo electric have a small IR light in them, the same type as your tv's remote control and sends that light to a photo sensor ( you have these in your car on the dashboard sometimes, they tell your car if its dark enough to turn on the automatic headlights) if this path is blocked by smoke or in our case vapor then yes, this device could go off! BUT due to the height of these detectors our vapor has already most likely dissipated into the air to cause this reaction, while possible, it is still not very likely!

another type takes air samples looking for chemicals in the air pre combustion, or pre fire in more generic terms. These devices are not typically found in a residential or commercial building and are more common in industrial settings where heat and smoke tend to be constant, such as a manufacturing or welding shop! you will NOT set one of these bad boys off.

The most common detector is the photo sensitive one, and you do have a slight possiblity of setting it off. very very minimal though. IF you want to be super cautious about it hold your drag in a little bit longer to allow less vapor on your exhale and you should be golden! Also, take care around air vents in the ceiling such as HVAC ducts, as these devices tend to have smoke detectors in them, this is a more condensed area than wide in the open so getting vapor directly in them can greatly increase the risk of a false alarm if the vent is shut off as there is less air space! But keep on vaping and dont let it bother you, just make sure to take care in very enclosed spaces and if your PV throws off a high amount of dense vapor (very common using 100% VG juices!)

Thanks for the info

 

[gordong11]

Here's one I can help with! I work for a national fire alarm company and was also a firefighter! But heres the bad news, there is no straight answer! There are actually very many types of smoke detectors out there. See, a smoke detector doesnt necessarily look for smoke, but actually look for conditions that are present during a fire. Which is why people tend to have false alarms!Smoke detector has just become a generic term for an alarm activating device! Ill go over a few basic types!

Some "smoke detectors" called rate of rise, are actually sensing the heat in the room, now just because the room is hot doesnt mean it will necessarily go off, the smoke detector looks for a quick heat change say a change of 10 degrees every minute or so. your PV will NOT set this type off.

Some detectors, photo electric have a small IR light in them, the same type as your tv's remote control and sends that light to a photo sensor ( you have these in your car on the dashboard sometimes, they tell your car if its dark enough to turn on the automatic headlights) if this path is blocked by smoke or in our case vapor then yes, this device could go off! BUT due to the height of these detectors our vapor has already most likely dissipated into the air to cause this reaction, while possible, it is still not very likely!

another type takes air samples looking for chemicals in the air pre combustion, or pre fire in more generic terms. These devices are not typically found in a residential or commercial building and are more common in industrial settings where heat and smoke tend to be constant, such as a manufacturing or welding shop! you will NOT set one of these bad boys off.

The most common detector is the photo sensitive one, and you do have a slight possiblity of setting it off. very very minimal though. IF you want to be super cautious about it hold your drag in a little bit longer to allow less vapor on your exhale and you should be golden! Also, take care around air vents in the ceiling such as HVAC ducts, as these devices tend to have smoke detectors in them, this is a more condensed area than wide in the open so getting vapor directly in them can greatly increase the risk of a false alarm if the vent is shut off as there is less air space! But keep on vaping and dont let it bother you, just make sure to take care in very enclosed spaces and if your PV throws off a high amount of dense vapor (very common using 100% VG juices!)

this is great info, thanks and certainly answers lots of questions. I bet airline smoke detectors are photo sensitive but I have no idea, and wouldn't want to chance it myself. Actually I have heard of people putting a plastic bag around them and securing it with a rubber band, but not sure if its true, if so it cannot be photo sensitive, unless the bag was opaque. Not worth the $5,000 fine, lol.

I was on a plane recently and did vape BUT>>>>>>>>>>>>>it was a night flight, and vaped under a blanket right in my seat and held the drag a loooong time. There was still some vape getting out of the blanket but it was dark and nobody was next to me. Plus I tried to space my drags apart, timewise I mean. Nobody had a clue. If you are intending to vape on a plane, do it in your seat and hold the vape as long as possible, don't risk restrooms. Try to do it when no one is looking or quickly under a blanket. I don't recommend it though, someone may freak out and if this happens you have major troubles, major troubles. I would never have tried it if it wasn't dark, most other peeps sleeping, noone sitting next to me, and didn't have a blanket. I didn't vape on my flight home.

 

[Got-Ta-Go]

This definitely should be labeled with the Disclaimer "If not successful, you might get to take an unplanned sidetrip"!!!

i have tested this on both American and Delta inernational flights. Went into the bathroom and vaped my brains out. HOWEVER- I held the vapor in for 3-5 seconds so not much was coming out of my mouth.
No alarms.

 

[Liv2Ski]

Yup!! same with the (if I blow into the detector it will go nuts) but blow around and it's fine. Best is in Non smoking hotel rooms. Those detectors never go off and it just feels nice to enjoy a vape.

Better than hanging half my body out of a window blowing analogs sticks smoke into the wind with an incredibly amazing grip and still getting " it's blowing back into the room Chris" moans from the misses. I may as well just climb out the window altogether and just hold onto the windowsill with my feet and fold arms and enjoy my smoke.

Never say never. I vape all the time in hotel rooms around the world without any issues. The Holiday Inn in Helsinki Finland however did not like vapor and I can tell you at 4:30 am that alarm was damned loud. A huge plume form the Darwin set that thing off. They had to dispatch the fire dept to reset it! Quite a show. Since I did not want to explain the whole e-cig thing I quickly turned the water pot on and left the lid open. When they arrived a nice column of steam was rising and they asked if I had the top open the whole time. Problem solved. Anyway as some of the experts in previous posts have stated the best thing to do is make sure to keep flumes of vapor away from the detector since you can not tell which technology is being used in the detector just by looking at the cover.

 

[captiancd89]

Never say never. I vape all the time in hotel rooms around the world without any issues. The Holiday Inn in Helsinki Finland however did not like vapor and I can tell you at 4:30 am that alarm was damned loud. A huge plume form the Darwin set that thing off. They had to dispatch the fire dept to reset it! Quite a show. Since I did not want to explain the whole e-cig thing I quickly turned the water pot on and left the lid open. When they arrived a nice column of steam was rising and they asked if I had the top open the whole time. Problem solved. Anyway as some of the experts in previous posts have stated the best thing to do is make sure to keep flumes of vapor away from the detector since you can not tell which technology is being used in the detector just by looking at the cover.

haha quick thinking ^.^

 

[sailorman]

this is great info, thanks and certainly answers lots of questions. I bet airline smoke detectors are photo sensitive but I have no idea, and wouldn't want to chance it myself. Actually I have heard of people putting a plastic bag around them and securing it with a rubber band, but not sure if its true, if so it cannot be photo sensitive, unless the bag was opaque. Not worth the $5,000 fine, lol.
...

Actually, I can't think of any reason that wouldn't work. It can be photo-sensitive and that would work. The light emitter and receiver are both inside the detector. If it depended on ambient light, it would go off every time the room lights were turned off. By isolating it in a plastic bag, no vapor can get between the emitter and receiver. It wouldn't matter if the bag was opaque or transparent. The vapor would be kept out, particulates would be kept out, and the temperature would be unaffected.

 

[bikerdudejl]

Correct sailorman, i mean you could even wrap some trashbag pieces around the sucker

 

[bikerdudejl]

So, I am a partner in a company that specializes in Commercial Fire Alarm System engineering, among other commercial low voltage systems engineering. I am NICET Level 3 Certified in Fire Alarm Systems, and I have 14 years in the industry. (National Institute for Certification in Engineering Technologies: Home Page for anyone who is interested)

Anyway, I am working all weekend designing a fire alarm system for a US Courthouse here in Seattle which entails a TON of cad work. I have had a couple of beers, and I go to use the bathroom. I pull out my PV vaping Rafalicious trying to hotbox the bathroom with gorgeous thick vapor. I come out of the bathroom and the damn fire alarm system in my office went off!! Lucky for me, I have a passcode with the central station, so I can cancel the false alarm before I waste the precious time of our local fire department.

So if anyone was wondering if vapor can set off a smoke detector...YES IT CAN!! The detectors in my office are intelligent Photo Electric AND Ionization type detectors, and I have never set one off. I vape in my office all the time with one right above my head, but my office has good ventilation, apparently.

Congrats buddy on the Nicet 3, Im trying to get out of the office and into the field but work is slow in my area for our company, gotta wait for someone to retire or screw up royally, NICET is a nice thing to have!