Author: Craig Lloyd / Source: howtogeek.com
Smoke alarms are cheap and pretty basic, but they can definitely be life savers. However, there might be some things you don’t know about smoke alarms that could make you rethink the ones you have now.
| Celebrities Then and Now | |
| |
| Photo gallery of celebrities then and now! | |
| Stanton Daily | |
| View Now |
Smoke Alarms vs. Smoke Detectors
Before we dive deep into discussing smoke alarms, it’s important to talk about the differences between smoke alarms and smoke detectors. These two terms are colloquially interchanged, but they’re actually different types of devices.
The big difference is that “Smoke alarms” are all-in-one self-contained units that include the smoke sensor and the audible alarm. This is likely what you have in your house or apartment.
“Smoke detectors” usually only contain the smoke sensor and nothing else. From there, the alarm is a separate unit and the controls for the whole system are kept in a central location. You’ll find these types of systems in commercial applications, like in hotels and hospitals.
So basically, smoke alarms are what you would find in most residences, whereas smoke detectors are usually found in places of business. In this article, though, we’ll be focusing mainly on residential smoke alarms.
There Are Two Different Types of Smoke Sensors
Unfortunately, not all smoke alarms are created equal. This is because two different types of sensors exist for detecting fire and smoke. Those two sensors are called “photoelectric” and “ionization” sensors, and they both sense vastly different types of smoke and fire.
In a nutshell, photoelectric sensors are good at sensing smoldering fires, which are slow-burning fires that don’t produce much of a flame. Ionization fires are great at detecting the opposite—fast-burning fires that product a lot of flames.
Both sensors use different sensing technologies, thus the reason for detecting different types of fires.You can absolutely find smoke alarms that offer both types of sensors in one device, but…
The post What You Need to Know About Smoke Alarms appeared first on FeedBox.