Pro tip: A retired fire captain in my town changed how I think about smoke detector placement.

I was doing a job at his house yesterday and he asked me to put a smoke alarm in the hallway outside the bedrooms, not inside them. He said in a real fire, smoke fills the hall first and can block your exit, so you need the earliest warning there. I always just followed the 'one per bedroom' rule without much thought. He showed me his old training manual, and it made total sense. Now I'm going to start suggesting this setup to my customers. What's the most useful tip you've ever gotten from a customer?

4 comments

4 Comments

zara_sanchez2mo ago

I mean that's a good tip, but you still need one inside each bedroom too. The hall alarm wakes everyone up, but a closed door can keep smoke out long enough for someone to sleep through it. So it's best to have both, not just the hallway one.

rowan_reed682mo ago

Our house has alarms in every bedroom and it just feels safer that way.

sarahpark2mo ago

Didn't rowan_reed68 just prove Zara's point?

fiona_hunt717d ago

My uncle was a fire marshal in Denver for 22 years and he always said the hallway alarm is way more important than bedroom ones. He told me that closed doors actually trap smoke really well and people who sleep with doors shut often miss the bedroom alarm until its way too late. He actually showed me a report once where like 70% of fatal home fires had the victim sleeping with their door open, so the hall alarm caught it sooner. I think having a loud one in the hall that goes off before the smoke even reaches the bedrooms is smarter than just relying on the one right next to your head.