Every building or house is exposed to some kind of danger. Fortunately, we have some kind of protection or solution against most dangers. The one that we are most commonly exposed to, especially in our homes, is fire. A fire can easily be sparked by many things in most homes. The stove, the oven, grease, exposed wires, short circuits, and even by toasters. Thankfully, we have the right means to fight against that and that is smoke detectors. But, if you do not place them in the right location, they won’t be as useful.
It is essential to determine the best location for your detector, otherwise, they will not be able to detect any kind of smoke. But, there are several other factors that you must consider if you want the best performance out of this device. This is important because even the slightest environmental changes could have an impact on its performance. It could trigger based on nothing or the sensors could get damaged from cold, too much dust, etc.
To help you find the best location for such a device in your home, I decided to write this article and provide you with a couple of tips. I hope that you will be able to use this as a guide and find the perfect placement.
How many smoke detectors do you need?
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Before you can start thinking about the location and placement, first you should consider whether you need just one device or maybe more. The answer to this question depends on what kind of apartment or house you have.
Naturally, larger homes will require more devices installed while smaller ones will not need more than one. One in the kitchen is more than enough to keep your family safe from smoke or fire dangers.
If you have more and larger rooms, you should consider putting up one in your living room and maybe even your bedroom. Because if the kitchen is too far away, you might not be able to hear the alarm when you are asleep at night. You want to make sure that the alarm will wake up anyone, no matter what time of the night.
If you are unable to buy or install multiple devices, you could do a test run. Trigger the alarm in the kitchen and see just how well you can hear it from your bedroom with all the doors closed and then with all the doors opened. This can give you a good idea of just exactly how it sounds and how well it works.
Ideally, I think that two detectors would be perfect for any apartment or house. It ensures that every room is covered.
Is the kitchen the ideal room?
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It is no secret that most home fires start from the kitchen. Either because someone forgot to turn off the stove on time or the oven was left on for too long. Both of these situations can be the cause of the problem, especially when cooking with oil/grease. Oil fires are very common in many households, simply because oil can heat up very quickly. Cooking oil can reach 320 °F or 160 °C in a very short amount of time and that is when it starts smoking.
A lot of people make the mistake of trying to pour water over the oil to cool it down, but that is exactly what starts the fire. The chemical reaction between the heated oil and the water is very volatile.
So, from this information, it makes sense that the kitchen is the ideal room for a smoke detector placement. And, it probably is. But, that does not mean that the other rooms are not a danger. Although, some of the best smoke detectors can detect a problem across several rooms as suggested by x-sense.
The second most common cause of house fire is heating. The conductive wire in most infrared space heaters can get to around 300 °C or even up to 700 °C. If you leave those space heaters close to a wooden object, furniture, or anything else that can easily catch on fire, it most definitely will.
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To avoid that from happening, I suggest putting the space heater away from any kind of object in your home. But, to be extra safe an additional smoke detector in the rooms that you use space heaters is not a bad idea.
Don’t put it next to windows
One of the more important things to remember when installing smoke detectors in your home is that you should not put them anywhere next to windows or anywhere close to open air and drafts. This is vital because winds and drafts could blow the smoke away from the detector. The alarm will not sound and the fire could spread quickly to other locations.
There could also be a problem the other way around. Smoke from outside could blow inside of your home and the device can be falsely activated. It will create unnecessary panic in your home.
Just install the device in a location that is away from windows that are regularly open and you are good to go.
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Avoid dusty rooms
I have noticed that many people like to install a detector in their attic. It does make sense to put one there, but I do not think that it is actually effective. Mostly because the smoke will not go through the ceiling and get into the attic.
The other problem being that dust can get into the device and cause problems with the sensor, rendering it useless. If the dust enters the sensor, it can even activate the alarm. And you definitely do not want that happening in your home.
As you can see, there are multiple rooms and locations that are perfect for such devices, but there are also several spots that you should avoid. In summary, just avoid cold, drafty, and dusty rooms and you will be fine. Just make sure you have at least one smoke detector installed near the kitchen or near it.
