Wolf Versus The Smoke Alarm

[wolf63]

I have managed to set the screaming banshee on my kitchen ceiling off again. I don't think that it likes my toaster.

I have moved the toaster and it still scrreamed. The flat has high ceilings and it isn't simple to reach the button that is supposed to silence it - it just keeps screaming.

Is it possible to get a detector that has an accessible panel or off switch? Something safer than climbing onto a chair? I don't have a suitable long stick.

Help!!

[barry1010]

I just use a broom handle

[perseverer]

(If it is safe for it to fall ok),throw a cushion up at it.

[Buenchico]

^^^ That would seem to be the simplest solution to me too. (If the diameter of the broom handle makes it too big to depress the button, simply tape something like a pencil to the end of it).

However there are some types of smoke detector which are meant to be better at ignoring things like a bit of burnt toast than others are, such as this model:
https://www.screwfix.com/p/fireangel-sb1-r-battery-standalone-smoke-alarm/848cc

I've got two of those in my house and, unlike my previous alarms, they don't go off every time I turn the grill on!

[perseverer]

My suggestion was for the older type where you just have to clear away the smoky air

[wolf63]

It wouldn't shut up even when I physically pressed the button. A cushion wouldn't work, I was thinking about shooting the f.ing thing.

I am nervous about making toast now.

I really want a big button to press to shut it up.

[wolf63]

Chris, maybe I will get another type installed. I believe that I now am legally forced to have one.

[Buenchico]

I'd forgotten that you're in Scotland, Wolfie. You now need to have interlinked alarms so that they all go off together when just one of them is triggered. You also need to have a heat alarm in your kitchen. If you use battery alarms, they mustn't be of a type where you can replace the batteries. (i.e. they must be sealed units):
https://www.screwfix.com/landingpage/what-type-of-fire-alarm-do-you-need-in-scotland

[Hymie]

On the plus side, you know that the smoke alarm functions correctly; one method I have used in such a situation where cooking has set off a smoke alarm is to vigorously fan it with a newspaper.

[gingejbee]

Personally, I think a smoke detector/alarm in the kitchen is a daft idea. We have a heat alarm there...so have never had "false" alarms.

[wolf63]

Hymie, at silly o'clock in the morning I am usually in too much of a panic - I used a dish towel.

Chris, as I have only just moved in I can assume that they're interlinked. The kitchen is an odd shape and nowhere is ideal for the toaster. No easily accessible window either.

I will contact an electrician.

[Barsel]

Reminds me of Phoebe in Friends.

[Hopkirk]

One we had in a previous house had a pause button. You pressed it when making toast or frying something and it was rendered much less sensitive for a while.

[Maydup]

Can you move the toaster to another room - one with a window?

[Hopkirk]

Why do Scottish buildings have such high ceilings?

[perseverer]

Traditional Scottish tenements and houses dating back to early 1900s or even earlier have high ceilings. More modern flats and houses don't.