5 ms·

One day, fully alert and sober at something like 5 PM with no excuses, during a thunderstorm, I heard tornado sirens go off. I thought to myself, "sheesh they a

One day, fully alert and sober at something like 5 PM with no excuses, during a thunderstorm, I heard tornado sirens go off. I thought to myself, "sheesh they are only supposed to run tests at noon once a month, and not during sto- oh"

mjevans 5y ago
That is also my response to fire alarms so sensitive that they'll start to chirp when I can't even recognize the smell of a neighbor 50+ ft away smoking outside. It'd be really nice if no one smoked and if these alarms reserved the shrill noises for real emergencies and user initiated tests only.
- bob778 5y ago
  FYI, fire alarms are designed to become more sensitive as they age/die so if yours is picking up false positives, it’s a good indicator you need to replace it. That, or it really is poor ventilation.
  - dogsgobork 5y ago
    I hadn't really thought about it, but that makes a ton of sense. Smoke detectors typically use an alpha-emitter, smoke absorbs alpha particles, so a failure to detect is what triggers the alarm. The cost for a false-negative is much higher than a false-positive, so that's what the detector should default to.
    - dghughes 5y ago
      I have a Nest smoke alarm and it was bad for going off due to the vapours from showers, boiling water when cooking. But to the credit of Nest/Google/Alphabet they replaced it free of charge. It was just an off-the-cuff comment I made on Twitter and Nest said send it back. They sent a new one, a new model, and when it arrived I sent back the older model. The new model is much better essentially zero false positives due to water vapour.
- zerocount 5y ago
  Mine only chirps when the battery dies. Of course, it's always at 3am and I don't have any 9v batteries. Worse now is none of the stores are open 24 hours so you have to suffer 'til 6am or pay $5 at a gas station for a battery.
  - Dylan16807 5y ago
    This would be a good opportunity to get rechargeable batteries and/or an alarm that takes AAs.

mjevans 5y ago

That is also my response to fire alarms so sensitive that they'll start to chirp when I can't even recognize the smell of a neighbor 50+ ft away smoking outside. It'd be really nice if no one smoked and if these alarms reserved the shrill noises for real emergencies and user initiated tests only.

bob778 5y ago
FYI, fire alarms are designed to become more sensitive as they age/die so if yours is picking up false positives, it’s a good indicator you need to replace it. That, or it really is poor ventilation.
- dogsgobork 5y ago
  I hadn't really thought about it, but that makes a ton of sense. Smoke detectors typically use an alpha-emitter, smoke absorbs alpha particles, so a failure to detect is what triggers the alarm. The cost for a false-negative is much higher than a false-positive, so that's what the detector should default to.
  - dghughes 5y ago
    I have a Nest smoke alarm and it was bad for going off due to the vapours from showers, boiling water when cooking. But to the credit of Nest/Google/Alphabet they replaced it free of charge. It was just an off-the-cuff comment I made on Twitter and Nest said send it back. They sent a new one, a new model, and when it arrived I sent back the older model. The new model is much better essentially zero false positives due to water vapour.
zerocount 5y ago
Mine only chirps when the battery dies. Of course, it's always at 3am and I don't have any 9v batteries. Worse now is none of the stores are open 24 hours so you have to suffer 'til 6am or pay $5 at a gas station for a battery.
- Dylan16807 5y ago
  This would be a good opportunity to get rechargeable batteries and/or an alarm that takes AAs.