Do smoke alarms get more sensitive as they get older? Mine is about 18 years
old. It still works in fact I just put a new battery in it a month ago.

My wife has a steam generator iron and if she does not open all the windows
in the room she is using it the alarm will go off, most annoying as she has
stopped ironing now. At least I'll get a cup of coffee.The alarm is in the
hall, not where she is ironing, but we have a vent above the door which does
not help.

It is pouring with rain just now and the humidity is quite high so I think
because of that and also the high temperature that is what is making it go
off.

When I think about it the alarm seems to go off more now than it did before.

Anyway I would buy a new alarm but if the new one is going to go off when
there is steam instead of smoke there is no point. So is there a specific
type of smoke alarm that is less sensitive to steam or all they all
basically the same?

Ron

ronald wrote:
Do smoke alarms get more sensitive as they get older? Mine is about
18 years old. It still works in fact I just put a new battery in it a
month ago.
My wife has a steam generator iron and if she does not open all the
windows in the room she is using it the alarm will go off, most
annoying as she has stopped ironing now. At least I'll get a cup of
coffee.The alarm is in the hall, not where she is ironing, but we
have a vent above the door which does not help.

It is pouring with rain just now and the humidity is quite high so I
think because of that and also the high temperature that is what is
making it go off.

When I think about it the alarm seems to go off more now than it did
before.
Anyway I would buy a new alarm but if the new one is going to go off
when there is steam instead of smoke there is no point. So is there a
specific type of smoke alarm that is less sensitive to steam or all
they all basically the same?

Ron

We've had mains operated ones that go off when the bathroom door opens after
a hot shower, so probably yes.

If I were you I'd buy a couple of new ones, they're cheap as chips nowadays,
and you may get lucky WRT the steam thing.

--
Phil L
RSRL Tipster Of The Year 2008

"ronald" wrote in message
om...
Do smoke alarms get more sensitive as they get older? Mine is about 18
years old. It still works in fact I just put a new battery in it a month
ago.

My wife has a steam generator iron and if she does not open all the
windows in the room she is using it the alarm will go off, most annoying
as she has stopped ironing now. At least I'll get a cup of coffee.The
alarm is in the hall, not where she is ironing, but we have a vent above
the door which does not help.

It is pouring with rain just now and the humidity is quite high so I think
because of that and also the high temperature that is what is making it go
off.

When I think about it the alarm seems to go off more now than it did
before.

Anyway I would buy a new alarm but if the new one is going to go off when
there is steam instead of smoke there is no point. So is there a specific
type of smoke alarm that is less sensitive to steam or all they all
basically the same?

Ron


Smoke alarms usually have a "replace by date" on them. This is usually about
10 years after the manufacturing date.

An 18 year old smoke alarm may be no use in the event of a fire.

Adam

"ronald" wrote in message
om...
Do smoke alarms get more sensitive as they get older? Mine is about 18
years old. It still works in fact I just put a new battery in it a month
ago.

My wife has a steam generator iron and if she does not open all the
windows in the room she is using it the alarm will go off, most annoying
as she has stopped ironing now. At least I'll get a cup of coffee.The
alarm is in the hall, not where she is ironing, but we have a vent above
the door which does not help.

It is pouring with rain just now and the humidity is quite high so I think
because of that and also the high temperature that is what is making it go
off.

When I think about it the alarm seems to go off more now than it did
before.

Anyway I would buy a new alarm but if the new one is going to go off when
there is steam instead of smoke there is no point. So is there a specific
type of smoke alarm that is less sensitive to steam or all they all
basically the same?

But you don't tell us what type you have now.
18 years ago IIRC most of them were of the radioactive type using the
radioisotope
Americium-241, which has a half-life of 432 years.
So after 18 years its radioactivity would have decayed by about 3%
so if anything you would expect a slight decrease in its ionisation
capability
with a corresponding decrease in sensitivity.

--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

But you don't tell us what type you have now.
18 years ago IIRC most of them were of the radioactive type using the
radioisotope
Americium-241, which has a half-life of 432 years.
So after 18 years its radioactivity would have decayed by about 3%
so if anything you would expect a slight decrease in its ionisation
capability
with a corresponding decrease in sensitivity.

--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

Sorry.
Those figures are total arse-gravy, I didn't read the wiki I was quoting
from properly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americium
--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

In article ,
"ronald" writes:
Do smoke alarms get more sensitive as they get older? Mine is about 18 years
old. It still works in fact I just put a new battery in it a month ago.

Ionisation detectors have a rated life of 10 years. The reason is
that dirt build-up in the detector will affect sensitivity (in either
direction) and it can't be cleaned or serviced.

My wife has a steam generator iron and if she does not open all the windows
in the room she is using it the alarm will go off, most annoying as she has

Small droplets of condensed moisture in the air will behave just
like smoke particles in both ionisation and optical smoke detectors.

stopped ironing now. At least I'll get a cup of coffee.The alarm is in the
hall, not where she is ironing, but we have a vent above the door which does
not help.

It is pouring with rain just now and the humidity is quite high so I think
because of that and also the high temperature that is what is making it go
off.

When I think about it the alarm seems to go off more now than it did before.

Anyway I would buy a new alarm but if the new one is going to go off when
there is steam instead of smoke there is no point. So is there a specific
type of smoke alarm that is less sensitive to steam or all they all
basically the same?

Optical may be lightly better in this respect, but certainly not
proof against triggering by steam.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
ronald wrote:

Do smoke alarms get more sensitive as they get older? Mine is about
18 years old. It still works in fact I just put a new battery in it a
month ago.
My wife has a steam generator iron and if she does not open all the
windows in the room she is using it the alarm will go off, most
annoying as she has stopped ironing now. At least I'll get a cup of
coffee.The alarm is in the hall, not where she is ironing, but we
have a vent above the door which does not help.

It is pouring with rain just now and the humidity is quite high so I
think because of that and also the high temperature that is what is
making it go off.

When I think about it the alarm seems to go off more now than it did
before.
Anyway I would buy a new alarm but if the new one is going to go off
when there is steam instead of smoke there is no point. So is there a
specific type of smoke alarm that is less sensitive to steam or all
they all basically the same?

Ron

You could try cleaning it out! They work by measuring the opacity of the air
passing through them - smoke (and steam) passing a lot less light than fresh
air. When they get full of grot and dead flies etc., they can think they're
seeing smoke when they're not.

If you *do* buy a new one, get one with a silencing button[1] so that - if
it does go off erroneously - you can easily silence it.

I recently needed to replace the smoke alarm in my caravan. Frying the
breakfast or toasting bread in a caravan is guaranteed to set off the
alarm - so it's important to have one with a silencing button. Amazingly,
none of the ones sold by my local caravan dealer had such a button - but
Argos came to the rescue.

[1] All alarms have a Test button - but the silencing button is an extra one
which silences it for a few minutes. If the smoke - or whatever - is still
there after a few minutes, it starts sounding again
--
Cheers,
Roger
______
Email address maintained for newsgroup use only, and not regularly
monitored.. Messages sent to it may not be read for several weeks.
PLEASE REPLY TO NEWSGROUP!

ronald wrote:
Do smoke alarms get more sensitive as they get older? Mine is about
18 years old. It still works in fact I just put a new battery in it a
month ago.
My wife has a steam generator iron and if she does not open all the
windows in the room she is using it the alarm will go off, most
annoying as she has stopped ironing now. At least I'll get a cup of
coffee.The alarm is in the hall, not where she is ironing, but we
have a vent above the door which does not help.

It is pouring with rain just now and the humidity is quite high so I
think because of that and also the high temperature that is what is
making it go off.

When I think about it the alarm seems to go off more now than it did
before.
Anyway I would buy a new alarm but if the new one is going to go off
when there is steam instead of smoke there is no point. So is there a
specific type of smoke alarm that is less sensitive to steam or all
they all basically the same?

Don't know where you are, but Kent Fire Brigade will install smake alarms
for nothing.
http://www.kent.fire-uk.org/Your_Saf...etyvisits.html

Might be worth check your local brigade.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

Roger Mills wrote:

[1] All alarms have a Test button - but the silencing button is an extra one
which silences it for a few minutes. If the smoke - or whatever - is still
there after a few minutes, it starts sounding again

Mine is handy in that it can be used preemptively. So if I'm frying a
steak (which is guaranteed to set off the alarm outside the kitchen
door) I press the button before I start and get 15 minutes' grace to
make as much smoke as I like before it will go off.

Pete

The Medway Handyman wrote:
ronald wrote:
Do smoke alarms get more sensitive as they get older? Mine is about
18 years old. It still works in fact I just put a new battery in it a
month ago.
My wife has a steam generator iron and if she does not open all the
windows in the room she is using it the alarm will go off, most
annoying as she has stopped ironing now. At least I'll get a cup of
coffee.The alarm is in the hall, not where she is ironing, but we
have a vent above the door which does not help.

It is pouring with rain just now and the humidity is quite high so I
think because of that and also the high temperature that is what is
making it go off.

When I think about it the alarm seems to go off more now than it did
before.
Anyway I would buy a new alarm but if the new one is going to go off
when there is steam instead of smoke there is no point. So is there a
specific type of smoke alarm that is less sensitive to steam or all
they all basically the same?

Don't know where you are, but Kent Fire Brigade will install smake alarms
for nothing.
http://www.kent.fire-uk.org/Your_Saf...etyvisits.html

Might be worth check your local brigade.

Lancashire fire brigade are the same.

Next door had a kitchen fire that did a fair bit of damage to the
fittings in the kitchen and blackened the rest of the house.

When the fire service were satisfied about the safety of the house they
fitted smoke alarms to it and came round to our house to do the same.

Once they have done this, you go on a register they keep and they will
come back and change them at the recommended period.

Makes sense, as it takes a lot more money putting fires out than fitting
smoke alarms.

Dave

Dave wrote:
The Medway Handyman wrote:
ronald wrote:
Do smoke alarms get more sensitive as they get older? Mine is about
18 years old. It still works in fact I just put a new battery in it
a month ago.
My wife has a steam generator iron and if she does not open all the
windows in the room she is using it the alarm will go off, most
annoying as she has stopped ironing now. At least I'll get a cup of
coffee.The alarm is in the hall, not where she is ironing, but we
have a vent above the door which does not help.

It is pouring with rain just now and the humidity is quite high so I
think because of that and also the high temperature that is what is
making it go off.

When I think about it the alarm seems to go off more now than it did
before.
Anyway I would buy a new alarm but if the new one is going to go off
when there is steam instead of smoke there is no point. So is there
a specific type of smoke alarm that is less sensitive to steam or
all they all basically the same?

Don't know where you are, but Kent Fire Brigade will install smake
alarms for nothing.
http://www.kent.fire-uk.org/Your_Saf...etyvisits.html

Might be worth check your local brigade.

Lancashire fire brigade are the same.

Next door had a kitchen fire that did a fair bit of damage to the
fittings in the kitchen and blackened the rest of the house.

When the fire service were satisfied about the safety of the house
they fitted smoke alarms to it and came round to our house to do the
same.
Once they have done this, you go on a register they keep and they will
come back and change them at the recommended period.

Makes sense, as it takes a lot more money putting fires out than
fitting smoke alarms.

Absolutely. We apparently have one of the lowest fire death rates because
the fire brigade & building regs are so pro active.



--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

The Medway Handyman wrote:
Dave wrote:
The Medway Handyman wrote:

snip

Don't know where you are, but Kent Fire Brigade will install smake
alarms for nothing.
http://www.kent.fire-uk.org/Your_Saf...etyvisits.html

Might be worth check your local brigade.
Lancashire fire brigade are the same.

Next door had a kitchen fire that did a fair bit of damage to the
fittings in the kitchen and blackened the rest of the house.

When the fire service were satisfied about the safety of the house
they fitted smoke alarms to it and came round to our house to do the
same.
Once they have done this, you go on a register they keep and they will
come back and change them at the recommended period.

Makes sense, as it takes a lot more money putting fires out than
fitting smoke alarms.

Absolutely. We apparently have one of the lowest fire death rates because
the fire brigade & building regs are so pro active.

I forgot to mention, about 2 weeks later we got a visit from the FB
again. They were doing a survey about fire awareness. Itold them I had
been trained for cotton fires by Oldham FB and again by Lancashire FB
and finally by BAe systems in the control of aircraft fires. After
asking a few questions, he turne round and said we had one of the lowest
risks of fire that he had seen in a long while.
Neither of us smokes, we dont have a chip pan, no open fires and only
one box of matches that are kept in a little used drawer etc.

Dave

On Jul 13, 2:30 am, "Graham." wrote:
But you don't tell us what type you have now.
18 years ago IIRC most of them were of the radioactive type using the
radioisotope
Americium-241, which has a half-life of 432 years.
So after 18 years its radioactivity would have decayed by about 3%
so if anything you would expect a slight decrease in its ionisation
capability
with a corresponding decrease in sensitivity.

--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

Sorry.
Those figures are total arse-gravy, I didn't read the wiki I was quoting
from properly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americium

My calculations show that after 18 years Americium-241 radioactivity
would have decayed by about 2.68%.
So, not very much effect on the smoke alarm sensitivity.
18 years of dust would have a much bigger effect.