Smoke alarm doesn't comprehend vapor

[MotherNatural]

After a near disaster cooking incident I decided to reinstall the smoke alarm. I live in a tiny one room cabin and frequently set the alarm off just by cooking or adding a log to the fire so I removed it two years ago. Yeah, not smart.

The smoke alarm went back up this afternoon. I sat back to admire my work and have a vape and…SCREECHHHHH. Apparently, like so many people, it can't distinguish the difference between smoke and vapor. My place is so tiny that it quickly fogs up with vapor. So no smoke alarm again.

Has anyone else experienced this? Do they make better educated smoke alarms? I argued with it for a few moments trying to explain that I wasn't smoking but it just wouldn't stop screaming at me until I threw it out the door. Jerk.

 

[Papa_Lazarou]

Smoke alarms don't actually detect smoke. They react to any particulate sensed above a certain concentration.

Pbusardo has set the smoke alarm off in a few of his videos from vaping. I know of at least 2 vape conventions that set off the hotel's alarms, and the B&M I go to (rarely) has had its alarm go off (once while I was there).

So, yup, it's a thing. On the upside, vaping is indistinguishable from cooking (again, it's the particulates in the vapor generated from cooking that does it).

 

[MotherNatural]

If I put it in the bathroom will the shower steam set it off?

 

[DaveSignal]

The smoke alarm in my bedroom is disconnected. There is no way around it, I like to vape there. The reduction of nitrogen and oxygen in cloud of vapor causes it to alarm.

 

[DaveSignal]

If I put it in the bathroom will the shower steam set it off?

shower steam can set it off too, but this is usually less dense than the kind of cloud that would come from a vaporizer.

 

[BockinBboy]

I'll add some fire alarm info here that may help someone... There are two main types of fire alarm technologies used in most homes today and that is photoelectric and ionization. Some alarms even have a combination of these. Without getting too detailed, each technology is more sensitive to a particular type of fire vs the other. However, ionization alarms are more sensitive to humidity and trigger nuisance alarms more often than photoelectric in this regard. It may prove useful to check out what type you have that is giving a false alarm, and see if a photoelectric fire alarm may help near your vaping. False alarms can still occur with photoelectric sensors from humidity, but it's probably the better option of the two considering vaping near them.

- Bboy

 

[Spydro]

Interesting read IAMA one of my smoke detectors is problematic. Not for vaping, but for cooking in my bungalow. It's 20' or so from my cooktop, but either cooking on the top or baking in the oven set's it off fairly often. I have a floor fan aimed at the detector I either turn on before I cook, or to turn on if the detector goes off to quiet the damn thing. The detector has been replaced new twice since I've lived here... and that made no difference for cooking. The batteries are replaced twice a year. The hood/fan over the cooktop is just a filter that recirculates the air and does not exhaust it out of the bungalow. Keeping it's renewable filter sparkling clean makes no difference. The microwave that is closer to the detector never sets it off. So the detector is a RPITA. I don't know what type of detector it is since I just call the maintenance staff to handle any issues around here.

I live on the Mojave Desert, so relative humidity is generally not that high (extreme low 4%, extreme high 90%, but normally 10% to 45% with summer the lowest, winter up to 45% and when the moonson's are in the highest).

But I can vape to my hearts and clouds content when sitting at my computer desk just 6' from it (I just measured, from me to it while sitting here). A ceiling fan behind me would also pull vapor to it in the winter, but it still doesn't set it off. Another one is almost right over my bed... and it too does not trip to clouds of vapor when laying in bed watching TV or reading. I favor the best flavor in my vape, but I'm a long long hitter so do create clouds of vapor with some of my builds.

 

[MotherNatural]

Thanks for the info, Bboy. I'll keep that in mind while shopping. Humidity (and consequently mold) is a huge problem here.

Update:
Somewhere around midnight the smoke alarm (which was then located outside on the back porch) started to scream again. Which leaves me wondering if it is nearing the end of it's life and hence the oversensitivity. I'll have to buy a new one and see if that solves the problem. I noticed one with a "hush" button but none with a remote that would bring on the sound of silence. My poor elderly blind and almost deaf dog loses it when this thing goes off. It leaves him shaking for almost an hour.

 

[BockinBboy]

10 years is typically the service life, and 'must replace' time for a fire alarm. But its never a bad idea to replace them before that. Notes for shopping fire alarms, typically they are priced by the type of sensor, then by power source, then by features - and the features are all convenience factors that add price. Its good to go with a name brand simply due to quality control of a reputable company, but only buy with the features that are important to you after decide on the good brand and type of sensor - the actual sensor is the same, for the same type, unless they say otherwise. Battery backup (AC powered) vs battery operated is big one, convenience of changing the battery is another (slide door vs taking it down and apart), type of battery (some use AA vs 9volt as most folks always have AA on hand), strobe light, power outage light, test button ease, 'hush' feature, interconnection capabilities, etc... there are more, that's just off the top of my head - just buy what is important to you and not the extras. They sell 10 year 9v batteries you can use in your battery backup alarms (AC powered) - so if you were to buy one of those, there is no need for one with a convenient battery replacement door on the outside that costs more and are generally larger... just giving an idea of how to shop for fire alarms, as I think its very often overlooked and misunderstood - which is a crazy thought to me, because EVERYONE has them, needs them, so why aren't more folks informed?! Not getting on a soap box at all, not my intention nor my style - just want to share my experience as I did sell them for a short while.



- Bboy