Smoke alarm for outbuilding
Bluegoose68
| Posted in General Questions on
I am currently building a workshop that’s detached but near my house. I’d like to add some type of smoke alarm / detector inside the shop that when it goes off, it also triggers a siren in my house so that it’s easier to hear.
When I look online for suggestions, I’m finding some strange suggestions. Some places don’t recommend any type of smoke detector in a garage or workshop due to the high potential for false alarms. Seems like sketchy advice to me.
Surely someone has sorted out this problem. Can anyone make a recommendation for a simple, reliable system?
Thank you for your help.
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Replies
In a true 'garage' a smoke or CO alarm might be troublesome. In a workshop, it might be useful. They make wireless interconnect ones if the shop is close enough.
Made me think of doing it in my garage....
You want a "rate of rise" temperature or heat detector, not a smoke detector. Too dusty in places like that you'll get too many false alarms.
Assuming the shop and the home will be on the same WIFI network the Nest smoke alarms will network together and they tell you what’s wrong and where plus they can even alert your phone.
If the two building will be on the same electric service and the wire distance between the alarms is less than 1000 feet some of the hardwired smoke alarms will work. I understand the latest code allows multiple circuit to be shared.
Walta
A standard wired smoke detector has three wires -- black, white and red.
Black is connected to 120V hot, white is neutral, red is the signal. When the alarm sounds, there will be 9V present between white and red.
You can use this several ways. The simplest is if you connect the same black, white and red to another smoke detector, when one goes off the other will go off too. So if you're able to run a dedicated three connector wire between the buildings that would be the easiest thing to do.
They also make wireless smoke detectors that operate the same way, when one goes off the other goes off too.
Another approach would be to have some other device that takes a 9V signal as its input and responds the way you want.