Is there a code for single family new construction saying that the smoke alarm must be mounted in the highest part of a vaulted ceiling in a bedroom? A little background is that the bedroom is about 13.5’x14′ and has a cathedral ceiling that vaults up from 8′ at the walls to 9.75′ in the center. Inspector made us move the smoke up to the peak – on 10 units. If you know for sure, please site the specific code and paragraph number. BTW – the new construction house in question was built under the NC flavor of IRC 2003, and NEC 2005. IRC paragraph R313.1 addresses locations but doesn’t mention anything about vaulted ceilings. It also says that that smokes must be installed per “the household fire warning equipment of NFPA 72”. Anyone got the text for that?
I’m trying to sort out if there really is a code stating this or if this was just one inspector’s or AHJ’s preference. I’m not saying it isn’t a good idea, so I’m not really looking for opinions – just data.
I’ll be Googling while I wait for someone here to respond.
Replies
To answer my own Q, 10. on this page I think answers it.
That is standard Manufacture installation directions which inturn come from NFPA. I don't think that you will see it explicitly in the code..
William the Geezer, the sequel to Billy the Kid - Shoe
I agree Bill. Every AHJ I know defers to the manufacturer's instructions, a cop out in my opinion.
Personally I think I would lean toward a location where they might actually be able to be maintained myself.
A detector in the perfect location with a dead battery or plugged with dust is a lot worse than one that gets regular maintenance in a slightly less effective location in the same general area.
Good point. I'm thinking that most HOs will have a step stool. What are the possibilities that a HO will have an A ladder - especially considering these are town houses.
Edited 8/1/2009 7:48 am ET by Matt
Yeah, but if the good location is one where the smoke doesn't naturally move to, the thing is crippled and warning may come too late. The mounting instructions are designed to avoid dead spaces so the thing will actually detect smoke early. Better to get out a ladder once a year than to have a smoke alarm that doesn't detect smoke.
As for dead batteries, I don't know anybody with anything like normal hearing who can stand more than 10 minutes of an alarm chirping due to low batteries.Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PAEverything fits, until you put glue on it.
My battery own smoke does a very quick chirp. And it first starts out at maybe once every hour or two. The first time that it start doing this it took a couple of days to find what it was as it was not infrequent.OTOH my plug in CO with battery backup chirps every couple of seconds..
William the Geezer, the sequel to Billy the Kid - Shoe
Mine (wired with bat B/U) chirp about once a minute. (I know that because I took out a battery in one that was in a room that constantly had false alarms.) I don't bother trying to pinpoint which one it is -- I figure that if one's dead, they should all be replaced anyway.Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PAEverything fits, until you put glue on it.
That is different from a low battery. As the battery gets older the chrips are more often..
William the Geezer, the sequel to Billy the Kid - Shoe
We had a power failure a couple of nights ago. In the midst of the quiet I heard this weak "chrp" (short "chirp") about every 90 seconds. Since it was keeping me from sleeping I got up and found the alarm that was chirping and, rather than deal with it at 2AM, buried it under a pillow on the couch.The next morning I checked the unit and the battery was completely flat. Best guess is it had been chirping for days or weeks, but no one heard it. Our house isn't particularly noisy (with the new furnace), but I'm guessing just the combined hum of all the wall warts was enough to drown the chirp.(I do replace my detector batteries at regular intervals -- whenever I think of it, which is about as regular as it gets.)
As I stood before the gates I realized that I never want to be as certain about anything as were the people who built this place. --Rabbi Sheila Peltz, on her visit to Auschwitz
The problem is if this alarm is in some place so inaccessible that the HO has to pay someone to get at it, they are as likely to simply throw it away as to set themselves up for another service call in 6 months.
They may just knock it down with a long stick and chuck it.
Yeah, there probably should be a rule that no smoke should be so high as to be inaccessible to a 5-6 human on a 6-foot ladder.
As I stood before the gates I realized that I never want to be as certain about anything as were the people who built this place. --Rabbi Sheila Peltz, on her visit to Auschwitz
It should be noted that there are a lot of local/state modifications to smoke detector rules, mostly because states/localities beat the national code guys to it. So you really have to know the local code.