Smoke alarms in home grooming shop

[TootsiePie]

My girlfriend converted her garage and they have those battery operated smoke alarms. She noticed that they occasionally go off even with fresh batteries, so it is not worn batteries. Do you think small pet hairs flying around could be the culprit??

[SetterGirl]

It it a combo alarm with a carbon monoxide detector? Those go off all the time in garages.

[kaida714]

If you are bathing and drying around it, steam and water vapor can set off some smoke detectors. I don't know if dog hair and dander would set it off or not.

[4them]

I doubt dirt or dander if it wasn't a heavy amount, but I know vapor can. I had one near my kitchen and it did.

[stacie-gotg]

Ditto on the steam and water vapor. Mine goes off in my home near my bathroom when i have a hot shower. It does go off when the vapor dissipates. Just did it yesterday.

[petstimes2]

When we cook lots of pasta boiling ours often goes off.

[absolutebichon]

Perhaps you can place it as far from bathing area and HV blowing hair and it will be more accurate.

[BeeJL]

Dirt and dander will set it off. Don't ask how I know.

[Izzygirl]

Slightly off topic, but this reminds me of the dorm I stayed in at college, where some idiot had put a smoke detector with a heat sensor in the little tiny kitchen. Yup, every time someone used the oven the smoke alarm went off. At lest once or twice a week. Eventually people just stopped responding to it. Good thing there was never a real fire, we would have all died!

[Brit]

I worked in a place and the building had to have fire doors with alarms. So many times happy big dogs would hit the handle and set off the alarms and all the tenants would come and check it out. You never knew if there was a real danger or not.

[Aristocats]

Spiders and other bugs getting into them can set them off as well. This is usually the cause when they go off at our house, not the shop.

[Particentral]

They make smoke alarms that are anti particulate. hat is what you need in a shop environment. That and heat detectors. I have both, thanks to my alarm company.

[BeeJL]

Particentral tell us more about anti particulate smoke detectors. Where do I get one and are they as quick to detect as regular smoke detectors. We had heat detectors in the barn where I worked. The installer told me they weren't as effective but after the false alarm in the middle of the night where I jumped out of bed and ran to the barn thinking my beloved animals were about to burn to death, I was all for it. A little off topic but I had just gotten my leg out of a cast shortly before that and could hardly walk. I ran down the rocky path to the the barn in seconds and my ankle and knee worked fine. That was probably better than months of rehab.

[Particentral]

I am having a hard time finding anything online to refer you to, but it was described to me as a detector that ignores larger particulates (hair, dust) and only picks up on the finer particulates like actually smoke. I know if it s photo electric...... your alarm company ought to be able to help you with this if you have one. If not, I would go with a kitchen unit and place it as far away from the dryer as you can.

Mine are also not in the drying room directly (heat sensor is) but in the hallway to cover the two main rooms in the shop.

[SetterGirl]

Slightly off topic, but this reminds me of the dorm I stayed in at college, where some idiot had put a smoke detector with a heat sensor in the little tiny kitchen. Yup, every time someone used the oven the smoke alarm went off. At lest once or twice a week. Eventually people just stopped responding to it. Good thing there was never a real fire, we would have all died!

We got fined if we didn't respond to it. ID scans were checked. I played college volleyball and had to be up at 5am for practice. Sometimes we'd get 2-3 a night going off and have to file out, wait outside until the fire department showed up, and still be up a few hours later and expected to practice hard.