We receive many phone calls from people complaining about having sensitive smoke alarms (fire alarm) and seek a solution. Most of the time this complaint is regarding a smoke alarm that is close to the kitchen. The solution is easy. Instead of using ionization smoke alarms, use photoelectric smoke alarms to mitigate false fire alarms while cooking. For your best protection, we recommend using photoelectric smoke alarms only near to kitchen area where you get annoying alarms while cooking. The rest of the property should have ionization detectors.

Ionization alarms get activated when smoke disrupts the flow of ions in the chamber. In photoelectric technology, there is a light source in the chamber. When smoke enters to the chamber, it reflects the light onto the light sensor which causes the alarm to go off. For more information, please visit NFPA’s website or click here.