pippin said:
Can one of the firefighter technical bods please confirm a niggling doubt.
Does repeated exposure to smoke (say by regular testing) eventually reduce the effectiveness of ionising smoke detectors?
I ask this because we had a little incident in the kitchen at home a few weeks ago.
Her indoors accidentally left a boiled egg aboiling on the electric cooker when she became her outdoors for a couple of hours.
When she returned the three smoke detectors were shouting their heads off and there was exploded boiled egg literally all over every inch of the kitchen.
The pan had boiled dry and had luckily just jumped to a different part of the hob away from the still glowing ring.
I have checked/replaced the detector batteries as necessary.
However, although the detectors test OK with their buttons they seem not to be quite as sensitive to the frequent making of toast activation that we previously enjoyed.
Just wondering if the prolonged exposure has reduced their detection efficiency.
Any knowledgeable comments?
Hi Pippin,
Sorry for the delay in replying.
My advice to you, (and I've just had it confirmed), is that as long as the detectors pass the push button test..........and the smoke test, then there shouldn't be any reason to change them unnecessarily. Light a match whilst near the detectors, blow it out and offer the stream of smoke up to the detector head without touching it. If the detector sounds off, it is okay. At this stage, I am not in a position to offer a more technical answer regarding a reduction in efficiency due to prolonged exposure.
What I will say, is that if there is any doubt in your own mind, I would replace with 3 x new 10 year smoke detectors. If you need a more official reply to your question, contact your local Community Fire Safety Dept for advice.
If you've not had a "Home Visit", they will come out to the house at a time that suits you, talk about the risks in the home, etc, and may even fit another detector, if they feel that you are not sufficiently covered by your current arrangements. If you need any more info, give me a shout via a PM.
BTW, when vacuum cleaning, offer the nozzle brush up to the detector heads regularly to clear the vents of dust. It is a good idea to open the head occasionally to vacuum the dust build up inside too. Dust can sometimes affect the efficiency of the detectors.
HTH,
Jock.