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Anyone Else Put Smoke Detectors In Their Garage?

Mikes61

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Dec 25, 2023
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I just installed two, one in each half of my attached garage. I’ve got several battery tenders going and I charge e-bikes in the garage only when I’m home.
I just want a little forewarning if something starts to smoke or catch fire.

They are 10 year battery powered and only $30 for both of them.
 
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racecougar

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I'd consider it in the house garage, but then again, there isn't much besides two Jeeps in there. In the shop buildings, heck no. They would be going off all the time. I do keep CO detectors in those buildings though.
 

BillK

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Beautiful Southern Maryland
Just curious ..... would you hear them if they went off ? My attached garage is pretty sound insulated. Not sure if I would hear one if I was in the house.
 

Stuart in MN

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Pretty sure heat detectors (and not smoke detectors) are recommended for garages.
Yes. Smoke detectors are likely to have false alarms from grinding or sanding dust, welding fumes, car exhaust, etc. You do need to have them tied into some sort of monitoring or security system, they don't have built in alarms that make noise.
 

pbon

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May 14, 2017
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Yep, those BMW Seat Heaters have a bad habit of starting a fire when they get cold.
I call them stool softeners.

None of the 7 BMWs we have had with seat heaters in our extended family in the past 20 years have ever caught fire, but the oldest of those cars dated only to 1999. Lowest mileage when we got rid of it was 45k. Highest mileages were over 150k.
 

908Jim

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Heat Detector here too. I don't know how a smoke detector wouldn't become a nuisance unless your garage is strictly for storage or waxing a car.
 

aggie113

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San Antonio, TX
I have 5 or so fire extinguishers around the garage of various sizes. If I'm in the garage and a fire breaks out I should be covered. If it breaks out and I'm not there, then I wouldn't hear it anyway.
 

PCustoms

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VT
Just curious ..... would you hear them if they went off ? My attached garage is pretty sound insulated. Not sure if I would hear one if I was in the house.

Fyi, wyze cameras can be set to recognize the "standard" smoke detector alarm, and will alert you.

Pretty sure there's a slight delay, but for $20 you can monitor a remote building pretty easily
 

coldh2o

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Ontario, Canada
Fyi, wyze cameras can be set to recognize the "standard" smoke detector alarm, and will alert you.

Pretty sure there's a slight delay, but for $20 you can monitor a remote building pretty easily

Yes, this is my set up.

Detached shop, so it's really not for life safety - if a fire starts while I'm in the shop, I'll see it and evacuate without needing an alarm.

It's more for insurance liability, and the off chance that the rural VFD might get here and save some of the contents.
 
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tarmy

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Nor Cal
Smoke detectors, carbon dioxide detectors and big fire extinguisher. The detectors are hard wired into the living quarters to sound the alarm if something is happening in there to.
 

Milton Shaw

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I have heat rise and smoke detectors in my garage that are wired up to only function when the lights are turned off. I turn lights off when I am not in the shop because when I am in the shop I can see a fire starting. These are sensitive enough that when I turn the lights off If I have welded very much I have to run the exhaust fan to clear the air or the alarms start going off when the lights turn off. I have three way lights and only ever use one of the end switches and the other traveler only gets 120 volts when the lights are off. Works simply but I am sure they might not meet code.
 

BombShelter

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State of Hockey
I should clarify so I'm not leaving statements hanging out there.

I left a hockeybag on the front seat of a 2001 325xi wagon over night parked outside on the driveway and the seat was smoking in the morning, probably an hour or less from flames, it was very hot. My 2006 x5 drivers seat heater works but there's no high temp cut-off, it will fry your legs if you leave it on more than a few minutes, this has been an issue for years.

I still love the cars I just don't trust the seat heaters and thus have put two SD's in the garage along with a couple fire extinguishers. This was a known issue, hopefully they have it sorted out.
 

lund

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Nov 2, 2019
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Michigan
Yes. I have a combined smoke and CO detector in the garage.

I was worried it would trigger a lot with car work and brief engine runs and occasional light torch work on rusted car bolts (I do a lot of work in the rust belt). But that has not been a problem. I suspect the CO detector is more important since if someone ever runs the car without the door open that can be deadly (particularly if living space above). I can easily hear the alarm in the house. I think I only had a few work triggers in 10 years. But I do not do much torch work or welding inside. I tend to do stuff outside when I can if it generates a lot of fumes (heavy part cleaning, welding, painting if possible ...). It is best not to get those kind of fumes in the house regardless of the alarm level.

In terms of Li-Ion batteries: I strongly recommend storing and charging batteries in a metal cabinet with some buffer to combustibles. High capacity batteries do go bad and the heat generated in a failure can be stunning. I know one guy at work who had a yard tool (battery in tool?) catch fire in his garage and nearly burn down his whole house and off him and his wife. You can also put the chargers in a metal cabinet to leave when charging for added safety. But I would NOT leave batteries in a charger near anything combustible. The real danger is high capacity batteries ... and some yard tools have high capacity ones. I also wonder about the wisdom of people with solar panels attaching battery packs to the sides of their homes for night use. That seems like asking for trouble. Perhaps if such is in something a bit away from the house in the yard, that could be ok. But on or in the house .... yikes, no. I have similar worries on electric and hybrid cars. Yes, I realize gasoline burns too if one is careless. But battery packs can go up *without* doing anything dumb and have limited life. If you have a lot of them, that is a lot of risk. I presume electric cars and home banks have some degree of isolation and thermal protection built in ... but I am skeptical if that is enough in potential failure modes. I do not think high battery capacity tools have such protections.

I would add that some remote start cars seem like a bad bad idea for garage storage. It is like asking to have a problem if they do not have some sort of confined space interlock (how would THAT work?). If you might ever own something like that I would for sure have a CO detector with a loud alarm in the garage. Press the wrong key button and get asphyxiated seems like a dumb thing to market.
 
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Junkman

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If you are worried about fire in your garage and you have a collector car, always back the car into the garage. I leave the key in the ignition. I know from experience that firemen will try to save cars if they are pointed out of the garage. They will even put a chain on it and drag it out if it isn't backed in. The reason is simple. A fireman can always sit in the car and steer it as it is being dragged out. They usually don't bother trying to save it if it is driven into the garage. I know of one instance where they pulled the garage door off the tracks to get a car out. The owner was very appreciative because the car was more valuable to him than the home. The home could be rebuilt or replaced, but not the car. It was an early Chrysler 300 letter car.
 

Higgins

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Shepheardsville, KY
If you are worried about fire in your garage and you have a collector car, always back the car into the garage. I leave the key in the ignition. I know from experience that firemen will try to save cars if they are pointed out of the garage. They will even put a chain on it and drag it out if it isn't backed in. The reason is simple. A fireman can always sit in the car and steer it as it is being dragged out. They usually don't bother trying to save it if it is driven into the garage. I know of one instance where they pulled the garage door off the tracks to get a car out. The owner was very appreciative because the car was more valuable to him than the home. The home could be rebuilt or replaced, but not the car. It was an early Chrysler 300 letter car.
In KY they install two typical SD in the garage. Nothing fancy…
 

patrickw10

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Oct 30, 2010
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Sidney, ohio
makes sense to have them in garages, especially if you’re charging stuff like e-bikes or tools. i added one of the newer multi-sensor units from Triton, they pick up smoke and vapor changes really quick without false alarms from a bit of haze. been solid so far.
 
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