Smoke Detector Placement

Hey everybody,

I’m new to firewood hoarding. I got a Buck 74 freestanding wood stove this year, so this cold season will be my first year burning.
Safety is obviously one of the first things on my mind. I’m in the process of obtaining an arsenal of fire extinguisher and have also been looking at smoke detectors and CO detectors for our house.
I’m wondering if anyone has a good rule of thumb for placement of smoke detectors in the house. Our house has three bedrooms and it’s all one floor. I definitely plan on installing one for every bedroom but I’m unsure of whether I want to install one in the living room, where our wood stove is. Basically, I want to stay safe while not having a bunch of false alarms.
Our living room is a pretty good size— probably about 15ft x 15ft with vaulted ceilings. So there’s room to keep the smoke detector a good distance from the stove while still being in the same room.
Do you have a smoke detector in the same room as your wood stove? Why or why not?

 

I have detectors in the room where the stove is, one in our bedroom and one between stove and bedrooms.

I have them sitting on the top of hutches and book shelves. I abandoned screwing them to the ceiling because the mounting plate and screw locations change when you change out the detectors, over time.

I also have one at the top of the cellar stairs for a heads up on any issues from down there.

 

Do you ever have any issues with false alarms?

 

I don't.

 

Don’t expect to ever have enough nuisance smoke spillage from a woodstove to set it off. That would be a major mistake or some sort of bad accident. Your nuisance trips will usually be kitchen related.

 

Good to know. How far away from the stove do you think would be effective?

 

How far from the stove do you have your detectors placed?

 

There are codes for these things. I don’t think you have to have any in the living room.

 

I've never had a smoke detector go off because of the wood stove.
I have had them go off when I've made toast or taken a shower on a really humid day . (I take rather quick showers)
These are newer smoke detectors too, the talking ones. Evacuate ! Evacuate ! (fire and CO)
There's always a first time though.

Battery powered ( new construction here have to have the wired 120vAC units) are pretty easy to move if they're a pain in the a55 due to location. When mine go off I just wave a newspaper at them. Most of the time they shut right up.

 

Too many times i got smoke roll out when opening the stove. I'd put the smoke alarm near the ceiling in the hallway between the bedroom doors. For a CO detector, about 5' off the floor anywhere its out of the way.

 

One or 2 is fine. Don't overdo it!
Especially if your wife uses them for a kitchen timer.