Brian Elfert wrote:
Roger_Nickel writes:


Might be best to go with bi-metallic button type heat detectors.
Nothing to clog with dust. Only disadvantage is that you need more
of them.


Are heat detectors available at places like Home Depot, or do I need to go
with a full alarm system like a commercial building?

Brian Elfert
I'm not from the US. Here you can buy them from the Radiospares
catalogue or from one of the big electrical wholesale chains.
Electrically they are just a N/C snap action switch which will
work with any alarm controller, even the cheap domestic ones.
Commercially these detectors are wired with high temperature cable
specially made for the purpose. The contacs usually open at about
140C, this is the disadvantage of these sensors, the fire has to
be well away before it is detected. I once worked in a building
with pnuematic fire sensors. The sensors were sensitive to rate
of temperature rise as well as to temperature. Chubb make a neat
industrial fire sensor which combines optical rayleigh scattering
smoke detection, temperature and rate of temperature rise
detection and a microcomputer which is interrogated by a central
control unit. If you want the best then something like this would
be the way to go