Janet CollinsThe Trouble with Smoke Alarms
July 9th 2009 08:55
Back in 2005, the NSW Government passed legislation that forced everyone to install smoke detectors or smoke alarms into their homes. Any building where people slept were obliged to have these alarms installed and serious fines could be served on anyone who didn't comply.
While the benefits and the safety to everyone living in a household is more assured with smoke alarms, in some buildings they are just a big nuisance.
Many people live in apartment blocks and many of these apartments can be really small and open plan. This causes a big problem because it only takes steam from the shower or toast burning in the toaster to set one off, no matter where it is installed in the unit.
I have been caught by this a few times myself and have learned to close the bathroom door after I have had a shower. Using the kitchen is sometimes more difficult. There is no door. It opens to the lounge room where the smoke alarm is installed.
While the times that my alarm has gone off because of one of these activities have been few, I often hear the alarms going off in my block. Like me, nobody pays attention because they know just how easily the alarms can be triggered.
This defeats the whole purpose of the alarms really. If no-one is going to pay attention to them going off, except that it is rather annoying, then why have them?
Of course, smoke alarms need to be sensitive. That is the whole point of them but if they go off constantly we can all be pretty sure that an alarm coming out of a neighbouring unit will be totally ignored. I know I just think someone burnt the toast or did something silly whenever I hear one going off.
I don’t know what the answer is but maybe there should be some way they can be made so that real smoke is all they detect.
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Comment by Morgan Bell
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Deep Pencil
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Movie Train
Artist Quirk
funny they dont usually go off for cigarette smoke but if you accidentally burn the toast you cant shut the bugger up! haha
Comment by Janet Collins
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The Social Critic
Janet Collins Blog
I have heard so many go off lately it made me write about it. I can imagine how many try to smash the things because in a unit building they are pretty loud.
Silly, because in the end, no-one pays any attention and that is what they are meant to do - raise our own alarm bells. What to do?