This is serious-Smoke Detectors

[ChemMan]

I went to a fire safety dinner last night. It was put on by local firefighter. I was surprised to find out that the (ion) smoke detectors that almost everyone has only works 55.8% of the time. Thats right-55.8% thats it. Also the manual says that the smoke detector works in a temperature range of 40 deg F to 100 deg F.
Very scary. Optical smoke detectors are far better, but more expensive. I just could not believe the failure rate on these detectors. Talk about a having a false sense of security.
Mike

[Moneyguy1]

The interiors of most homes fall well inside that range. The solution is to have multiple alarms that can be heard from various parts of the house. I also recommend hard-wired units with battery backup.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Still better than nothing.

If you really want safety, install a pre-action fire sprinkler system. Cost might be a bit prohibitive for most residential applications though.

[ChemMan]

As it was explained to me at the dinner, there are fires that produce no smoke. These fires still heat the air up to 600 deg. They called it superheated air. Since hot air rises, sleeping people are still in a pocket of breathable air, but the smoke detectors being higher up are melting and not functioning any more.
If we build out next house instead of buying, I am going to look into a sprinkler system. I have no idea what they cost, but if an willing to spend $15000 to $20000 on a car, I can spend at least that must to protect my family.
BTW, put in optical smoke detectors and heat alarms yesterday and also 3 fire extinguisher. Had a local fireman come out and help with locating them in the right places.
Mike

[gr8fl4porsche]

Sprinklers are a good idea - should save you $ on homeowners ins as well. I always wondered why commercial buildings made of steel and concrete require sprinks while residential dwellings made of wood do not.

My smoke detectors seem to work very well. They go off almost every time my wife cooks

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Originally posted by gr8fl4porsche
Sprinklers are a good idea - should save you $ on homeowners ins as well. I always wondered why commercial buildings made of steel and concrete require sprinks while residential dwellings made of wood do not.

My smoke detectors seem to work very well. They go off almost every time my wife cooks

Cost.

Also consider that the design life span of most new residential dwellings is about 15-20 years (I've actually seen some as low as 12 years). As such, there's tremendous economic dis-incentive to use more expensive materials and rated assemblies.

Even if you stick with timber construction, there are lots of ways to design the building to increase fire resistivity, but it simply isn't a major consideration in most residential design (particularly those residences designed by owners, developers or contractors and not by architects). "Code-mandated minimums" is the operative phrase for most residential construction these days. . . well, that and maximizing square footage (see also "McMansionization").

As has been correctly alluded to, smoke detection and heat detection (and response) are not the same thing. You can design anything you want with any degree of safety you want, it just depends on your goals and budget.