smoke alarm

[DaveP]

It all depends on the thickness of the vapor I'd say. ecig vapor, being a water vapor it dissipates quickly into the surrounding air. I suppose you could set off a photoelectric detector by blowing a concentrated stream of vapor right into it. There's obviously a wide range of quality in the design and manufacture of smoke alarms. I guess smoke alarms are designed to detect products of combustion in relatively small concentrations.

Smoke is particulate in nature. It's the microscopic particles of tobacco combustion that are said to carry nicotine into your lungs, into the alveoli, and deliver the nicotine into your blood stream very quickly. Some articles say that the nicotine reaches your brain within 7 seconds after you inhale. Vapor particles are thought to be inefficient in entering the alveoli and little nic gets absorbed by the lungs as a result. Most is absorbed through the tissues of the mouth and sinuses. Nic also absorbs quickly through the skin.

 

[sailorman]

Well, I've just had a weird experience in a travelodge hotel in London. Was happily puffing away on my pv, when the manager & hotel security came up & accused me of smoking! I had to invite them in to explain e-cigs & they said the detector had gone off. Talk about big brother watching you!

It's extremely unlikely for vapor to set off a smoke alarm. The particulates are too small and the temperature is not hot enough by the time it would get to a properly mounted alarm.

You were in England, the world capital of CCV, video surveillance and spying. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if Big Brother was quite literally watching you, or the room at ceiling level, via video. A U.S. school was doing that to prevent students from smoking in the restrooms, so it's not out of the question that a British motel would do it as well. Did they show you where these so-called detectors were? If they were wired like a silent alarm, only notifying security or the management, what would they do in a real fire? Would they simply alert the manager so you could die of smoke inhalation before he knocked on your door?

Call me cynical, but I'd be very curious about how, exactly, such a thing worked and suspicious that there was something else, like video, involved. AFAIK, there is no such thing as a "vapor detector" outside of some sophisticated lab equipment.

 

[Toybeets]

My friend ha tripped an alarm with a rebuild able atty once.