Smoke alarm advice please

littlewren

My daughter has started setting her washing machine to come on at 5.45 am to take advantage of Economy 7. She & her partner wake up around 6am and doze until about 6.30. She leaves her kitchen door open at night as she said that if there was a fire in the kitchen, having it closed would mean that the smoke wouldn't reach the smoke alarm -which is just in the hallway - quick enough to let them know upstairs in their bedroom before it really took hold. I told her that she must shut all doors as it holds back the fire for around 20 minutes, but I wondered what you thought about whether the smoke would alert the smoke alarm before a fire really took hold?

McKneff

For the sake of a fiver or so, tell her to fit a smoke alarm in the kitchen and then shut the door.

Dan-Dan

Presumably daughter is worried about setting smoke alarm off if installed in kitchen , when burning the toast

Nikkisun

You'd need a heat alarm rather than a smoke alarm fitted in the kitchen.

littlewren

She doesn't want a smoke alarm in the kitchen for the reason that Dan-Dan gave.

Edit: I've just read that heat alarms mustn't be fitted within 5 feet of a fluorescent light, which unfortunately they have at the moment, so that's out. She's also got a very small kitchen, so a heat alarm would keep going off. Back to square one. :-(

littlewren

If the washing machine did catch fire - heaven forbid :-( - would the smoke go underneath the kitchen door to hit the smoke alarm in the hall?

Quiet_Spark

littlewren wrote: »

I've just read that heat alarms mustn't be fitted within 5 feet of a fluorescent light, which unfortunately they have at the moment, so that's out.

That is only advisable due to unwanted electrical interference possibly triggering a false alarm, the detector in our galley kitchen is mounted less than 300mm from the fluorescent light and hasn't caused any problems at all.

littlewren wrote: »

She's also got a very small kitchen, so a heat alarm would keep going off. Back to square one. :-(

That's why you use one designed to detect "rate of rise" rather than fixed temp.

littlewren wrote: »

If the washing machine did catch fire - heaven forbid :-( - would the smoke go underneath the kitchen door to hit the smoke alarm in the hall?

Smoke rises, but it probably would once the kitchen has burnt for long enough and filled with smoke in it's entirety (ie, when it's way too late).