Personally I would mount them in the peaks. Smoke rises and yuo want to know as soon as it accumulates. Put them lower you may have everything above that level filled with smoke without you know it.
Alternatively you could mount 2 different levels, peak and lower and get different sensetivity units.
Personally I would mount them in the peaks. Smoke rises and yuo want to know as soon as it accumulates. Put them lower you may have everything above that level filled with smoke without you know it.
The above is correct.
If you want the max protection look in to beam detectors
Beam detectors are ideal to meet the unique fire protection challenge of atriums and other open areas with high ceilings. A beam detector is particularly well suited for use in ballrooms, churches, warehouses, museums, factories where conventional smoke detectors cannot be easily installed. It has a receiver and transmitter that can be powered separately. The projected "beam" detects a reduction in the signal, working well with smoke and fast-flame fires. Sensitivity is selectable between 30% or 55% Total Obscuration.
------------------ Factory Stock The way God intended it to be.
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07:23 AM
Old Lar Member
Posts: 13798 From: Palm Bay, Florida Registered: Nov 1999
I have smoke alarms in every bedroom, a hallway and in a lower portion of the high ceiling "great room". Each one I have to get a ladder to change batteries. As I read this post, the alarm went off...Hmmmm. Then shut off, I didn't find anything smoking, maybe a bug climbed in.
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07:34 AM
Wolfhound Member
Posts: 5317 From: Opelika , Alabama, USA Registered: Oct 1999
I have smoke alarms in every bedroom, a hallway and in a lower portion of the high ceiling "great room". Each one I have to get a ladder to change batteries. As I read this post, the alarm went off...Hmmmm. Then shut off, I didn't find anything smoking, maybe a bug climbed in.
Fire Ant ?
I think 7- 8 ft and you are OK. They're very sensitive, I've had a slightly dull saw blade set them off when I could smell nothing.
[This message has been edited by Wolfhound (edited 05-09-2009).]
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08:34 AM
Marvin McInnis Member
Posts: 11599 From: ~ Kansas City, USA Registered: Apr 2002
Where should I locate smoke alarms with ceilings that ... go all the way up to the peak of the roof--?
Look to your local fire code for guidance. In fact, for new construction I'm a little surprised that you were issued an occupancy permit without having them already in place.
When we (re)built our home in 1998, the fire code required a single smoke detector/alarm in each hallway or common area that services one or more bedrooms, plus a separate detector/alarm at the highest point in each bedroom. The ceiling in our master bedroom pitches up to two stories high, so replacing the battery in the smoke detector is a royal pain in the butt, since we have to use an extension ladder to reach it. Even though all our detectors are AC line powered, the fire code still requires them to have batteries.
At least you can now buy "10 Year" Lithium 9-volt batteries to use in your high-mounted smoke detector/alarms.
[This message has been edited by Marvin McInnis (edited 05-09-2009).]
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10:57 AM
blackrams Member
Posts: 32780 From: Covington, TN, USA Registered: Feb 2003
Look to your local fire code for guidance. In fact, for new construction I'm a little surprised that you were issued an occupancy permit without having them already in place.
When we (re)built our home in 1998, the fire code required a single smoke detector/alarm in each hallway or common area that services one or more bedrooms, plus a separate detector/alarm at the highest point in each bedroom. The ceiling in our master bedroom pitches up to two stories high, so replacing the battery in the smoke detector is a royal pain in the butt, since we have to use an extension ladder to reach it. Even though all our detectors are AC line powered, the fire code still requires them to have batteries.
At least you can now buy "10 Year" Lithium 9-volt batteries to use in your high-mounted smoke detector/alarms.
This is exactly what crossed my mind when reading the original posting. Yes, you have to follow code if there is one but, Code Enforcement Officiers won't be coming out to change those damn batteries in the smoke detectors so given the choice, I'd mount them where a normal 8 foot step ladder will get the job done.
I've got light canisters in my ceilings, the damn things are about 18 feet up in the air and I don't like extension ladders. I told the wife when we bought the place, you want it, you're changing out the lights when they burn out.
Look to your local fire code for guidance. In fact, for new construction I'm a little surprised that you were issued an occupancy permit without having them already in place.
When we (re)built our home in 1998, the fire code required a single smoke detector/alarm in each hallway or common area that services one or more bedrooms, plus a separate detector/alarm at the highest point in each bedroom. The ceiling in our master bedroom pitches up to two stories high, so replacing the battery in the smoke detector is a royal pain in the butt, since we have to use an extension ladder to reach it. Even though all our detectors are AC line powered, the fire code still requires them to have batteries.
At least you can now buy "10 Year" Lithium 9-volt batteries to use in your high-mounted smoke detector/alarms.
Very rural area--as long as you pay the county their permit fees, and get the mandantory inspections signed off, they could not care less. The only inspections were for electrical, plumbing, foundation, wastewater treatment plant, hurricane ties, elevation certificate, etc. The county does require other inspections if you are in a town, development, or subdivision, but not if you are out in the sticks like I am. The nearest fire dept that might respond is about 18 miles away and is a community volunteer group, which mostly handles grass and forest fires.
24' to the peak of the ceiling in the front 1/2 of the house--not that high in the rear 1/2 since we have the loft/master bedroom under that ceiling. I will place one under the overhang that stciks out over the range area, one in the laundry room--which is also the rear exit route, one in downstairs bedroom, on in the little hall between the lower bedroom and the bathroom, one upstairs in loft bedroom.
My biggest concern in the front of the house with the high peak, is not the annual battery replacement--it's the spurious alarms that will herald the fact and announce Jane is again attempting to cook.
I told the wife when we bought the place, you want it, you're changing out the lights when they burn out. 
