Fire can be devastating to homeowners, erasing in minutes or hours the memories and work of a lifetime. A complete home security plan will take into account the danger of fire and give homeowners the tools to avoid injury to family members and forestall grave damage to the house by providing early warning in the event of problems. The home alarm market is well-developed with dozens of options available to the homeowner.
For maximum home security with regards to fire, homeowners have the option of both smoke detectors and heat detectors. A smoke detector is, at its essence, just what it says it is. When the unit senses smoke, whether it be fire from wood, food, or an appliance, it sets of an alarm. Smoke detectors can be one of two types: ionization or photoelectric. An ionization smoke detector has a chamber in which a tiny amount of radioactive material knocks electrons off of nitrogen and oxygen in the air and sends them to positively and negatively charged plates, creating a current. Smoke particles interfere with the reactions and break the current between the plates, triggering the alarm. A photoelectric smoke detector, on the other hand, relies on a beam of light, usually from an LED source inside the detector, that hits a sensor across from it. If smoke enters the chamber, the light from the LED is scattered and hits a different part of the sensor, triggering an alarm.
While the two types of smoke detectors use different methods, each is effective and must undergo extensive testing to ensure capability. They do, however, react differently to different types of fires. Ionization detectors will respond more quickly to a fire that flames quickly, whereas a photoelectric fire will respond more quickly to a fire that is smoldering for long periods of time rather than flaming. Ionization detectors are generally cheaper than photoelectric detectors, but they have the drawback of responding more readily to smoke from cooking which can lead to bothersome false alarms. An important benefit to ionization detectors, however, is that a failing battery naturally triggers the alarm because it causes the current in the ionization chamber to fail. Failed smoke detectors are implicated in thousands of deaths every year due to smoke or fire in homes, so this advantage is not to be taken lightly. Given that fire is fire, and fire is dangerous, it is a good idea to have a mixture of the two types of smoke detectors in the home for a more complete system of alert and protection.
In addition to smoke detectors, there are a number of “heat detectors” on the market that provide an additional layer of early warning in the event of fire. Heat detectors are usually activate in one of two situations: when the heat in a room reaches a certain threshold, or when the rate of temperature rise passes a certain threshold. These alarms can either be connected to a receiver or be a self-contained unit with an audible alarm.
A combination of heat and smoke alarms can be a valuable warning system to protect your home, your valuable, and your loved ones from the devastating effect of a fire.
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home alarm systems that have smoke and fire coverage. A
home alarm system is a valuable investment in your home.
