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| Thread ID: 31604 | 2003-03-26 23:08:00 | save your skin this winter | E.ric (351) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 131287 | 2003-03-26 23:08:00 | Has anybody had a minor fire at home/work were the fire detector did not go off? At work once I went out of the workshop while boiling a cup of water (testing a microwave) when I came back, the workshop was filled with smoke, due to fault in microwave someone replaced the 8 Amp mains fuse with a 25 Amp car fuse, but the smoke detector did not go off. but the workshop fuse went. We took the detector outside and burnt a piece of paper under it and it went that time. The weekend before the boss said his son had a incident were there became lots of smoke but the alarm did not go off, (someone said "all boys bedrooms should have smoke detectors in them") In fact both times we think the alarm should of sounded, sometimes on the TV news there are fatal fires were they say the alarms should of gone off, Can anybody support the fact "smoke detectors are good but not totally reliable" And hope to see you alive one day :) |
E.ric (351) | ||
| 131288 | 2003-03-26 23:29:00 | There are 2 main types of smoke detectors. One uses a small piece of Americum radioactive material enclosed in a capsule. (No health risk unless eaten) The other type uses an infa-red beam inside. The radioactive one is better at detecting fast ignition fires, where the beam model is better at the slow smoldering type. The radioactive are cheap and the type you normally buy in the shops. I would say either you have a crap model or it would have gone off eventially. The beam type are up around the $80 mark, but not suitable in dusty/humid enviroments as they use internal mirrors. I feel the beam type are better and normally give an earlier response. | Pheonix (280) | ||
| 131289 | 2003-03-27 02:17:00 | My 'complaint' against the cheap $16 dollar ones I bought a few years ago is that they are too sensitive. A bit of a back-blow from the wood-burner and its away. A bit of burnt toast or hot fat in the kitchen, and the one outside our bedroom goes off. | Terry Porritt (14) | ||
| 131290 | 2003-03-27 02:20:00 | They do "wear out". I don't know what the half-life of Americium is, but the sensitivity depends on the activity of the source. | Graham L (2) | ||
| 131291 | 2003-03-27 03:11:00 | > My 'complaint' against the cheap $16 dollar ones I bought a few years ago is that they are too sensitive. Yea...we had one that would go off whenever someone had a shower! I didn't think steam could set them off...untill it happened. |
promethius (1998) | ||
| 131292 | 2003-03-27 06:46:00 | > They do "wear out". I don't know what the > half-life of Americium is I think with the Americium-241 isotope having a half-life of 432 years, you will not have to worry about it wearing out! :D |
Jen C (20) | ||
| 131293 | 2003-03-27 07:52:00 | Sorry about the posting folks, I was doing a rediscovery trip on the desktop of my old computer. All the same it might just help someone getting burnt. | E.ric (351) | ||
| 131294 | 2003-03-27 10:30:00 | > Sorry about the posting folks, I was doing a > rediscovery trip on the desktop of my old computer. > All the same it might just help someone getting > burnt. Why be sorry. Nothing wrong with unlocking a few memory cells now and again |
Baldy (26) | ||
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