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Thread: Shop Smoke Alarms

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
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    Shop Smoke Alarms

    Rather than hijack the thread on CT22 fire, I will start a new thread.

    How many have a smoke detector in their shop and how many false alarms have you had from dust. I have a heat detector in my shop connected to the monitored security system. I have also a cheap smoke alarm which has not gone off. I hesitate to add a smoke alarm connected to the house system because I worry about getting calls on false alarms.

    My guess is that the better your dust collection, the less chance of a dust caused smoke alarm. Maybe, I will get one that is not o the monitored system but will let me know if it is going off. The shop is at one end of the house and bedroom at the other.

  2. #2
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    The smoke alarms get clogged up real fast IMO. I'm going with a heat alarm next time.

  3. #3
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    Kevin is correct, rather than a smoke alarm, a heat sensor is the better choice for a shop and certain other areas.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  4. #4
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    I don't have a professional shop, but in my small basement shop, I have a single smoke detector off to one end away from "most" of the worst dust producing machinery. I looked for the kind that has an easy to push "silence" button along with the "test" button. So far, I haven't had any problems. Then again, it's not a production shop, but I seem to fill the bag on my 1100 CFM Jet dust collection system often enough.
    Real American Heros don't wear Capes, they wear Dogtags.

  5. #5
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    Oct 2007
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    Pottstown PA
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    I have a smoke detector no issues. I will also add that I have a good DC, and an air filtration system. If that alarms going off, it should also have your internal alarm going off your lungs screaming for help. COPD is not cool.

  6. #6
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    I agree that a heat alarm is great and I have one in my shop. I also think that a smoke alarm will give earlier notice of a fire. I am going to look at putting something in my shop that will also alarm upstairs.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Larry Frank View Post
    I agree that a heat alarm is great and I have one in my shop. I also think that a smoke alarm will give earlier notice of a fire. I am going to look at putting something in my shop that will also alarm upstairs.
    Are there some specifications that would indicate how much sooner a smoke detector would work? I'd want to catch a problem as early as possible.

    And can I clean a smoke detector with a blast of compressed air w/o risking damaging the thing?

  8. #8
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    WNY
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    The home security company that did my house would not put a smoke detector in my shop because of false alarms, only a heat detector. So I installed a separate battery powered one and it was there for 20+ years, and it went off regularly whenever I would burn something on the TS or router, or whatever. I never did anything other than blow it off with a puff of my own breath when I changed the battery. I now have a 10 year one where you don't ever change the battery. The instructions point out that you should clean it regularly, though I can't quite remember how at the moment which means I need to go read it and do it.

    John

  9. #9
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    I've had a smoke detector in my shop for at least 20 years. I have yet to have a false alarm. It is an ionization type. It will go off if I get even a little burning on a rip cut or with a router. It is mounted on a side wall about 12 feet from the table saw.

    If you are clogging your smoke detector with dust, it sounds like you need to invest in better dust collection and/or an air filter.
    Last edited by Lee Schierer; 02-01-2015 at 5:23 PM.
    Lee Schierer
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  10. #10
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    There exists two major technologies for electrical smoke detection. The most economical usually employ a mildly radioactive source and the ionization principal, while others utilize an infrared diode emitter & photoelectric sensor. The type that offers fewer false alarms from minute particles suspended in air (like household kitchens) implements bulk photoelectric detection.

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