Fire Alarms

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Fire / smoke alarms are a huge problem for me. Ever since I was a kid I've been terrified of them. (Oddly enough, loud bathroom exhaust fans also scare me, but that's not exactly life-threatening). I would almost rather burn to death than walk underneath a screaming smoke alarm. The sound drives all semblance of rational thought out of my brain and paralyzes me with terror. This is at a time when I need my wits about me more than ever to make good decisions.

The steam from a shower set off the fire alarm in the hall some time back, whereupon I learned to my horror that 1) the alarms in my house are hardwired together, so when one goes off they ALL go off 2) turning off the circuit breaker marked "Smokes" does nothing because they have backup batteries and 3) when you rip one out of the ceiling the others keep screaming. Also you need a screwdriver to remove the batteries and there was no way I was coherent enough to do that.

So now there are dangling wires where I tore them all out and smashed them in my desperation to MAKE IT STOP!! !

Problem is, this is obviously not safe. If there's a fire I'd like to get everyone out quickly and safely. I cannot do that with traditional alarms.

Are there smoke alarms in the US that don't have that terrible shrill screech? I saw a demonstration of a Japanese fire alarm that sounded a loud but pleasant chiming tone and then a calm female voice said something like, "Smoke detected. Please remain calm and evacuate as soon as possible." There was nothing threatening about it.

Anyone know?

The smoke alarm in my bedroom is a photoelectric alarm, and yours are ionization alarms. My alarm is the only photoelectric alarm in the entire house, but it is just amazing. My dad replaced my previous smoke alarm (ionization) with my current one because he was fed up with all of the false alarms it made. Photoelectric alarms like mine are less sensitive to things like steam from the shower or smoke from burning food. They require more smoke from a fire to activate since they are meant for the deadlier slow, smoldering fires, but they react much faster than ionization alarms. My smoke alarm doesn't use an LED signal unless it is in alarm, and I sometimes wonder if it is even powered on at all since it almost never goes off. I think it has a 10-year battery meant specifically for smoke detectors, but I digress.

You could therefore replace at least some of your smoke alarms with battery-powered photoelectric alarms. The alarms you would want to replace are those in places where false alarms frequently occur such as in the kitchen if you have one there. Before installing the photoelectric smoke alarms, I recommend buying 10-year smoke detector batteries as 10 years is how long a new smoke alarm's lifespan is. You'd probably wonder, "warrier120! How can a teenager like you know all of this?" I learned this from quick Google searches and personal experience combined.

P.S. This is what the smoke alarm I have looks like (you may need to view this on a computer):

As a child I was terrified of the fire alarm, but I think it was more related to an exaggerated startle reflex than the loud sound. In school, I'd sometimes sit there petrified for an hour or more, unable to think about anything else other than that the fire alarm might ring. And if they announced a fire drill in advance so I knew it was going to happen, it would be even worse.

But once the alarm was ringing, I was basically fine. I still didn't enjoy the loud sound, but it was the split second when it started that really bothered me. I still haven't completely gotten over it; every so often, I still find myself worrying about fire alarms, especially if there's a pre-announced fire drill, but not quite to the same degree as when I was a child.

When I was in kindergarten and first grade I spent virtually every morning on the school bus fearing our school would have a fire drill that day out of fear of hearing that building's fire alarm! Oddly enough, I was perfectly fine at that age going to Buffalo Sabres hockey games when the team's goal celebration horn went off and the 19,000+ fans started cheering