Warning: Testing your smoke alarm with actual smoke instead of the test button

I learned this the hard way after a kitchen fire last month in Cleveland. We had replaced the batteries and hit the test button every 6 months like clockwork. But when a grease fire hit, that alarm in the hallway never went off until the smoke was thick enough to choke you. Turns out the test button only checks the battery and circuit, not the sensor itself. My buddy who installed alarms for 15 years told me you gotta use canned smoke or a match once a year to actually test if it detects smoke. Has anyone else had a detector pass the test button but fail when it mattered?

3 comments

3 Comments

henryp4024d ago

Buddy of mine in Akron did the match test under his detector every year. One time he held it too close and the plastic started melting, dripped down and burned his carpet. Took him an hour to air out the whole house. He switched to canned smoke after that.

henryp4025d ago

My grandpa used to light a match under his smoke detector every New Years. Burned his ceiling once but that thing never failed. Guess the old ways had something to em.

the_anthony25d ago

Honestly, I gotta push back on this one, @henryp40. That sounds like a fire waiting to happen, not some old school wisdom. Just because something "worked" doesn't mean it was smart. Your grandpa got lucky he only burned his ceiling, plenty of people have lost whole houses messing around with open flames like that. Modern smoke detectors are cheap and reliable, you just gotta change the battery once a year and test it with the actual button. No need to risk setting your place on fire just to prove a point. Old ways had some good things, sure, but messing with fire indoors wasn't one of them.