NIST: New smoke alarms are better at detecting fires, but still go off for bacon
- Reference: 1726914908
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/09/21/nist_new_smoke_alarms_are/
- Source link:
At least, that's according to research from the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
Every home should have smoke alarms. [1]According to NIST , between 1975 and 2000, the percentage of homes with smoke alarms rose from less than 10 percent to more than 95 percent. In the same period, the number of deaths from home fires was cut in half.
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While it is important not to confuse causation with coincidence, the benefit of equipping a house with smoke alarms is clear. NIST said, "The wide adoption of home smoke alarms is one of the greatest success stories in the history of fire safety."
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However, the devices also bring the potential for a high degree of annoyance thanks to nuisance alarms that ring out during everyday tasks, such as cooking. The devices can be muted or temporarily disabled, but doing so could put the user at risk of them not going off in a real emergency.
[5]UL 217 provides a standard for smoke alarms, and an eighth edition came into effect on June 30, 2024, with some specific tests for reducing nuisance alarms and detecting polyurethane foam fires.
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The updated standard requires that smoke detectors be able to detect types of smoke. It also accounts for nuisance alarms due to worries that the next generation of smoke detectors might end up being too sensitive. Hence, the test for nuisance alarms.
According to NIST, "To pass this test, two standardized hamburger patties are broiled 10 feet [3 meters] away from a smoke alarm. The alarm passes the test if it doesn't go off."
Devices from the previous generation failed the test. And, frankly, the neighbors of this writer could have told NIST that after a dawn chorus of beeping every Sunday morning.
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But as for the new generation? The ones that can pass the standard for spotting smoldering fires? We have bad news.
[8]Apple's outsourced Lightning cable plant in India goes up in flames
[9]AI could save future firefighters from deadly flashover explosions
[10]Pitch of the week: Helping to stamp out e-cigarettes while removing hurdles to digital learning
[11]My Nest smoke alarm was great … right up to the point it went nuts
"It was a mixed bag," said NIST's Thomas Cleary. "Compared to the old alarms, the new alarms weren't universally better at not going off during cooking."
The NIST team tried cooking a variety of foods – from bacon to grilled cheese – but the results were pretty much the same. In a way, this is good news – while the new detectors are more sensitive, there wasn't an increase in nuisance alarms.
However, the alarms still went off when cooking was happening.
The advice is, therefore, the same as before. Ensure your kitchen is well-ventilated and your alarms are a few meters from the cooking area. While the next generation of smoke detectors can spot different kinds of fires, the research from NIST shows that they are no better and – importantly – no worse at separating the fragrance of a delicious bacon sandwich from something more sinister. ®
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[1] https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2024/09/new-smoke-alarms-are-better-detecting-fires-still-beep-bacon
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Zu7to7ZfUXy_PKqz21FebwAAAJc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Zu7to7ZfUXy_PKqz21FebwAAAJc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Zu7to7ZfUXy_PKqz21FebwAAAJc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://smokealarms.ul.org/standards.html
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Zu7to7ZfUXy_PKqz21FebwAAAJc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Zu7to7ZfUXy_PKqz21FebwAAAJc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/01/apple_india_outsourced_factory_fire/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/14/ai_firefighter_prediction/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2019/06/28/pitch_of_the_week/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2016/10/05/nest_smoke_alarm_great_til_it_went_nuts/
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Finally...
It strikes me that all that is required is a people-detector in the kitchen... if there are one or more persons in the kitchen, they're either cooking or they already know about it. If there aren't, they left something cooking which is now browned to a lovely black, and so should be alerted.
No doubt there are all sorts of complicated fire department rules to prevent such an obvious extension.
Re: Finally...
Not a bad idea.
Unless the movement is a panicking trapped pet and everyone sleeps through the kitchen bring on fire.
You'd need to detect adult movement, not that of children or animals.
Smoke alarms seem to be notoriously unreliable.
Cheap Chinese made ones often wouldn't notice if they were themselves on fire. More expensive ones tend to go off if you glance at them sideways. I had to throw away some moderately expensive Fire Angel smoke alarms because they had a penchants for going off at 3am upstairs for no apparent reason. Only had them for 3 or 4 months. The quality of individual devices seem to be pot luck.
Heat detector
In the past I've had a heat detector in the kitchen. Not half as good for warning as a smoke alarm, but avoided false positives, which are in themselves lethal as they condition people to ignore the alarm.
Re: Heat detector
Yup.
We have a heat detector in the kitchen and a smoke detector upstairs.
They are linked through household wiring and have battery backup.
Test once a year.
Not in kitchen
I thought the recommendation (in the UK) was that smoke alarms should not be mounted in the kitchen.
Re: Not in kitchen
We've got one in the kitchen and it behaves nicely, coping with frying bacon. It only objects if toast is on fire.
One morning after a heavy overnight storm, the smoke detector in the conservatory was screaming its head off. On checking, a small leak had developed in the conservatory roof and the poor gadget was absolutely inundated with water. "Help! I'm drowning!"
Re: Not in kitchen
That's right.
"Smoke alarms are not suitable for kitchens but heat alarms are" - https://www.london-fire.gov.uk/safety/the-home/smoke-alarms-and-heat-alarms/
Re: Not in kitchen
You with your fancy separate kitchen. Bet you're got a butler's pantry and a 2nd undergardener's sauna.
Re: Not in kitchen
I wonder if we've got a separate kitchen, one day I must ask the head butler to ask the cook. ;-)
Re: Not in kitchen
Hey Richard, thanks for that URL. I'm not in London or even on your side of the pond but there's some great information there. And as I've just moved into a wooden house in the countryside far from the fire brigade I have been wondering where to educate myself on such things.
I might be a tad out of date but I was under the impression the solution is Rate of Rose (ROR) heat detectors in the kitchen and optical everywhere else.
Just like UK building regulations say
Also, WTF is "broiled"?
Buggrit. I meant Rate of RISE.
I actually find my smoke alarm occasionally going off while cooking reassuring. It at least proves it does work.
I'd much rather it go off when I am around to mute it than not go off when the house is burning down and I'm asleepl
This is a specific US-Centric problem.
Watch at least the first 90 seconds of this [1]Technology Connections video.
You won't find the "Ionization Chamber" style anywhere in Europe, probably not in >80% of the developed world. But the US, even though it is known that type is causing so many false alarms people tend to ignore it, it is still allowed for "freedom of choice". Even though it is known the produce those tons of false alarms since they go off even without smoke, just 'cause the air is ionized by minor heat, like a non-smoking but hot toaster, of the famous bacon example.
Whereas, what I would call actual smoke detectors, use optics to detect only smoke.
As for Germany, actually whole Europe, only smoke detectors which passed specific tests, are allowed here. Any only cost less than 25 € per piece. Those with wireless connection, so if one goes off the others follow, cost more them 60 € each.
Let the arguments begin!
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuAeaIcAXtg
Re: This is a specific US-Centric problem.
And the mains interlinked which use wires betwixt to provide primary power and make sure they all go off together are about €30 each.
Heat detectors suitable for kitchens and places with losts of dust (workshops) cost €5 more.
Re: This is a specific US-Centric problem.
Yep, all that stuff is relatively cheap here!
Re: This is a specific US-Centric problem.
I believe the ionization ones are popular in America because they use Americium - the most patriotic of radioactive isotopes
Ensure .... your alarms are a few meters from the cooking area.
If only my kitchen was that big
Finally...
Is this the perfect opportunity for AI to be able to detect when it's only some regular bacon being cooked, instead of some ones bacon being cooked?
Or am I just being sarcastic because AI isn't fit for real world use by the avg person... It has it's place, being able to detect diseases and so forth... But for everyday use... it should fuck right off.