Pyronix ENFORCER SMOKE-WE Manual page 5

• Install a smoke alarm inside every room where one sleeps with the door partly or completely
closed, since smoke could be blocked by the closed door and a hallway alarm may not wake
up the sleeper if the door is closed.
• Install basement alarms at the bottom of the basement stairwell.
• Install second-floor alarms at the top of the first-to-second floor stairwell.
Be sure no door or other obstruction blocks the path of smoke to the alarm.
• Install additional alarms in your living room, dining room, family room, attic, utility and
storage rooms.
• Install smoke alarms as close to the centre of the ceiling as possible. If this is not practical, put
the alarm on the ceiling, no closer than 4 inches (10 cm) from any wall or corner, as shown in
Figure 6.
• If ceiling mounting is not possible, put wall-mounted alarms between 4 and 6 inches
(10 - 15 cm) from the ceiling, also see Figure 6.
• If some of your rooms have sloped, peaked, or gabled ceilings, try to mount alarms 3 feet (0.9
metres) measured horizontally from the highest point of the ceiling as shown in Figure 7.
Figure 6
Recommended best and acceptable
locations to mount smoke alarms
Locations not to install your smoke alarms
Nuisance alarms take place when smoke alarms are installed where they will not work properly.
To avoid nuisance alarms, do not install smoke alarms in the following situations:
• Combustion particles are the by-products of something that is burning. Thus, in or near areas
where combustion particles are present you do not install the smoke alarms to avoid
nuisance alarms, such as kitchens with few windows or poor ventilation, garages where there
may be vehicle exhaust fumes.
• Do not install smoke alarms less than 6 metres away from places where combustion particles
are normally present, like kitchens. If a 20-foot distance is not possible, e.g. in a mobile home,
try to install the alarm as far away from the combustion particles as possible, preferably on
the wall. To prevent nuisance alarm alarms, provide good ventilation in such places.
• In air streams passing by kitchens. The way a smoke alarm senses combustion particles in
normal air-flow paths is shown in Figure 8, indicating the correct and incorrect smoke alarm
locations concerning this problem.
• In damp or very humid areas, or near bathrooms with showers. Moisture in humid air can
enter the sensing chamber, then turn into droplets upon cooling, which can cause nuisance
Figure 7
Recommended location to mount
smoke alarms in rooms with sloped,
gabled, or peaked ceiling
3
Smoke alarm