PSA: check your smoke alarm batteries

[eng2d2]

I need advice here. Nephew is in college living in a studio apartment. bedroom and bathroom window has metal bars. Only way out is the door. What is the best thing to do if there is a fire in this case?

 

[Red Squirrel]

I need advice here. Nephew is in college living in a studio apartment. bedroom and bathroom window has metal bars. Only way out is the door. What is the best thing to do if there is a fire in this case?

Contact fire dept for advice, that's probably illegal and they'll make sure to make it legal. I presume it's a bad area and the bars are needed to stop criminals from getting in? Wonder if there are solutions that will be easy to remove from inside that they can look at having installed. Or maybe the door as the only exit will be deemed acceptable if there are fire sprinklers in the building.

 

[Kaido]

Had an interesting morning yesterday, got out of work at 4AM and stayed up to meet my GF for a quick breakfast in Niagara Falls Canada, got home at around 8AM. I was pretty tired from the long shift and the driving to and from the border so I was upstairs in bed pretty quickly like maybe 5 minutes after getting home. Thankfully instead of passing out straight away I derped around on my phone for about 10 minutes and then I heard it...smoke alarm downstairs. Run downstairs straight up naked and my entire kitchen is filling with thick smoke ! Somehow the toaster oven was turned on. I haven't used that thing in months I have zero clue as to how the heck it was on (the dial showed it was off). Grabbed some pot holders and ran that thing outside to my patio (still naked) and opened up every window in my house to dissipate the smoke. I am the worst at checking my detector batteries I know for a fact I have a couple that aren't working that is going to change very very soon. Also definitely picking up a fire extinguisher. Man that got my blood flowing. Also I'm a pretty heavy sleeper and I was exhausted, I don't think the alarm downstairs would ever wake me up it'd have to hit the detector right above my bed. Scary thought.

TLDR: toaster oven went rogue and tried to light my house on fire minutes before I was supposed to be sleeping smoke alarm saved my life.

I'm nuts with fire safety. Know a couple people personally who had house fires, I'm not taking any chances. Every single room has a fire alarm. Might be overkill, but I'd rather spend a few extra bucks & err on the side of caution than die in my sleep. My setup right now is a slim 2-story rental with a walk-out basement:

1. Nest alarm on each floor (main room: basement, dining room, upstairs hallway). Wi-fi app alerts you to alarms.
2. Kidde alarms in each bedroom. Talks to my Wink Hub, which relays Wi-fi app alerts for alarms. Half the price of the Nests, so easier to buy more of them...plus a separate system, just in case of any service problems.
3. Fire ladders at each window above first ground level.
4. Fire extinguishers on each floor.

Bonus, the smart alarms remind you when the battery is low, so you don't have to listen to constant chirping. The one thing I wish I had, which is available on newer construction, is a residential cold-water sprinkler system that is fire-activated. Yeah, it cost a few hundred bucks to buy everything (well, I bought it incrementally over time, so it wasn't that bad), but it gives you good piece of mind. Also threw all of my important documents in a small portable fireproof safe (birth certificate, social security card, etc.) & have a 72-hour kit for each family member. I've had to bug out before (in Florida, from hurricane flooding; in Connecticut, from an extended power loss in the dead of winter that made it too cold to stay in the house) & it just makes life more convenient. Update the bags once every corner & swap out the alarm batteries a couple times a year.

 

[Brainonska511]

BTW, no smoke detectors in the kitchen... so it would have to spread to the living room first. I assume this is typical?

They make detectors specifically for kitchens. I think they're based more on heat detection than smoke detection. But in general, I don't think most people install one in the kitchen.

I need advice here. Nephew is in college living in a studio apartment. bedroom and bathroom window has metal bars. Only way out is the door. What is the best thing to do if there is a fire in this case?

Contact fire dept for advice, that's probably illegal and they'll make sure to make it legal. I presume it's a bad area and the bars are needed to stop criminals from getting in? Wonder if there are solutions that will be easy to remove from inside that they can look at having installed. Or maybe the door as the only exit will be deemed acceptable if there are fire sprinklers in the building.

Sometimes the bars are there to keep people from falling out the window (i.e. young children). But, they do make security bars that can be opened from the inside in the event of an emergency. I've heard of these kinds often being used on fire-escape windows in NYC (so someone can't use the fire escape to break into an apartment). Either way, you'd probably have to talk to the LL about it. Perhaps take a peak at how the bars are installed - obviously, it isn't ideal, but you could use a screw driver in the event of an emergency if the installation is in an accessible-to-the-inside area.

 

[eng2d2]

In light of the oakland fire I made him check the bars yesterday and he told me there is no way he could knock the bars from inside. Could he use his blanket to shield himself from fire till he reaches the door to open it.? Discussing it with his landlord might cause a problem later on. His landlord is middle eastern and he said he is nice but doesn't really do things like the way we do things here.

An example, when he had his gas turn on, the gas person would not turn his gas stove on because he said it was leaking. My nephew notified the LL. The LL then called his own middle eastern maintenance guy and checked his gas stove. He didn't find any problem so he lit the stove on. The house is located in a college area.

 

[balloonshark]

I watched a fire at the house beside of me a few years ago. The fire didn't look bad to me but the smoke was bad enough to kill all but one member of a family. They had smoke detectors with no batteries. $2-$3 would have saved their lives.

Also, I've played online games with mics and watched them on twitch. It never fails that every now and again there is a smoke detector beeping in the background with a near dead battery. I don't get it.

 

[PricklyPete]

Had a carbon monoxide scare recently and promptly installed 4 Nest alarms throughout our 2k sq ft house. No complaints.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Also, I've played online games with mics and watched them on twitch. It never fails that every now and again there is a smoke detector beeping in the background with a near dead battery. I don't get it.

Lol reminds me of a video of this guy that was doing something with fire on a live stream, I forget what, but it somehow caused a fire in his room. The guy just calmly walked out and let it burn. Then came back with like small buckets and just slowly poured water over what was now a fire engulfing the whole room. At some point the stream just cuts out. What a freaking idiot. Apparently people died in that fire too. It makes it that much worse when it could have been easily prevented.

 

[balloonshark]

Lol reminds me of a video of this guy that was doing something with fire on a live stream, I forget what, but it somehow caused a fire in his room. The guy just calmly walked out and let it burn. Then came back with like small buckets and just slowly poured water over what was now a fire engulfing the whole room. At some point the stream just cuts out. What a freaking idiot. Apparently people died in that fire too. It makes it that much worse when it could have been easily prevented.

This idiot?

 

[Kaido]

I watched a fire at the house beside of me a few years ago. The fire didn't look bad to me but the smoke was bad enough to kill all but one member of a family. They had smoke detectors with no batteries. $2-$3 would have saved their lives.

Also, I've played online games with mics and watched them on twitch. It never fails that every now and again there is a smoke detector beeping in the background with a near dead battery. I don't get it.

That's one of the reasons I like the connected alarms like Nest, they remind you when to change them & show a green status symbol when everything is "good", that way you don't forget to change the batteries out. $99 a pop stinks, but it's a one-time purchase, so that ain't bad.

 

[local]

My alarms are on AC power and emit a horribly annoying sound when the battery gets too low, usually in the middle of the night.

 

[spacejamz]

My alarms are on AC power and emit a horribly annoying sound when the battery gets too low, usually in the middle of the night.

see my post #12 in this thread...

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

I don't check em until they start doing that annoying fucking beep.

Also, every smoke detector I have EVER had is a flaming piece of shit. It will beep as if the battery is out... and then I'll replace it and it just keeps beeping.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Yeah, my son didn't really grill the girl on it, but from what we gather it was a rental, so they really mean they didn't have insurance for their belongings.

OH Woe is me, I didn't buy insurance because I wanted to save money, so bail me out when shit hits the fan caused by my own stupidity and stubbornness. That's a sure-fire way to make sure someone learns their lesson in life. Bail them out! Plus, I'm sure the only thing sentimental that they lost was a TV. God knows we can't survive without watching that for a while.

It's no different then not carrying car insurance, totaling your car, and then asking random people to bail you out. It's downright pathetic that people expect sentiment based on events that could have easily have been prevented.

 

[Pantoot]

OH Woe is me, I didn't buy insurance because I wanted to save money, so bail me out when shit hits the fan caused by my own stupidity and stubbornness. That's a sure-fire way to make sure someone learns their lesson in life. Bail them out! Plus, I'm sure the only thing sentimental that they lost was a TV. God knows we can't survive without watching that for a while.

It's no different then not carrying car insurance, totaling your car, and then asking random people to bail you out. It's downright pathetic that people expect sentiment based on events that could have easily have been prevented.

Yup, fuck you little girl, your mom is stupid and now you have nothing. Besides, all you cared about was your tv, so serves you right.

Edit: weird, since when is atot censored?

 

[Annisman*]

So I checked all my alarms and one was unplugged and the other had no batteries...yikes. I feel like a Muppet.

 

[John Connor]

I need advice here. Nephew is in college living in a studio apartment. bedroom and bathroom window has metal bars. Only way out is the door. What is the best thing to do if there is a fire in this case?

Don't bury the survivors?

 

[John Connor]

My alarms are on AC power and emit a horribly annoying sound when the battery gets too low, usually in the middle of the night.

That's when most fires start

 

[local]

That's when most fires start

Apparently it is also when most batteries need replacing. I can't think of a single one that has started beeping during daylight hours over the last six years.

 

[amdhunter]

My carbon monoxide alarm has been going off lately if I let steam fill my bathroom - the steam leaks out to the alarm and it goes nuts. Never did that before. Brand new battery.

Is it time to replace it, it's less than 2 years old...

 

[highland145]

My carbon monoxide alarm has been going off lately if I let steam fill my bathroom - the steam leaks out to the alarm and it goes nuts. Never did that before. Brand new battery.

Is it time to replace it, it's less than 2 years old...

Strange. Had that happen with the smoke alarm until I replaced it with one that uses a different type of sensor.

 

[amdhunter]

Strange. Had that happen with the smoke alarm until I replaced it with one that uses a different type of sensor.

It is a dual smoke/carbon detector. I'll deal with it for now and just freak out only when I am not showering and it goes off.

 

[Brainonska511]

It is a dual smoke/carbon detector. I'll deal with it for now and just freak out only when I am not showering and it goes off.

Open a window? Turn a fan on?

 

[Carson Dyle]

Funny. I was just looking at mine the other day. I have two of them tossed in the hall closet because they were going off all the time. Was thinking about getting new batteries for them and putting them back up.

 

[highland145]

It is a dual smoke/carbon detector. I'll deal with it for now and just freak out only when I am not showering and it goes off.

Get the photoelectric type when you do.