Smoke detector shuts off power residential home

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No but in case of an actual fire it might be ok. But all I see is all kinds of problems if you had a faulty smoke alarm or one placed where it went off frequently.
 
if they are that concerned with smoke, they should install a low voltage fire/burglar alarm with monitoring, along with fire supression. they could still have the shunt trip run off the alarm if that was something they are concerned about, and could add gas,co,co2, and heat detection too.
 
nakulak said:
if they are that concerned with smoke, they should install a low voltage fire/burglar alarm with monitoring, along with fire supression. they could still have the shunt trip run off the alarm if that was something they are concerned about, and could add gas,co,co2, and heat detection too.
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This person has money, but at the same time they didnt want to spend too much on the system. Not to mention the 'head ache' of hiring a contractor to have it tested according to local code if they do the gas, co2 etc..

It was brought up about a smokey frequently going off, or bad smokey going off. The smokes are placed in the right places to prevent this nuisance, and if a smokey is bad, then thats good 'MOVITIVATION' to get it changed. I just never seen it before, a smokey wired to the shutrip to turn off the power to the whole house. This person travels alot (making that money) and prompted this was one of their houses in the past had burned up and it was that electrical power being on just made it worst.
 
I personally would not shunt trip on smoke alone, I might shunt trip power on heat or heat and smoke. But you also need to monitor the shunt trip power because it would do you no good if the breaker was turned off.
 
if theyre worried about house getting destroyed while away, sell them a solenoid valve and control to turn the water off when theyre gone. I had a relative get a 1M house completely destroyed because a hose under an upstairs sink burst and ran unnoticed for almost a month. House had to be stripped to the studs.
 
brother said:
From what I understand this is going to be a 'fail safe' set up. Basically if the 'control' looses power then the breaker will be shut off.
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Under voltage release not shunt.

But in my opinion this should be battery backed up other wise during a power outage they will open the main and not know when utility is restored, unless they have a line sensing voltage relay.COST, COST, COST

Smokey?? where did the bear come from?
 
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wireguru said:
if theyre worried about house getting destroyed while away, sell them a solenoid valve and control to turn the water off when theyre gone. I had a relative get a 1M house completely destroyed because a hose under an upstairs sink burst and ran unnoticed for almost a month. House had to be stripped to the studs.
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Sounds like a good chance to sell more products. Im curious as how is that solenoid set up to shut off when they are gone??
 
the problem with shunting the whole house based on a smoke going off is that shutting the electric off isn't going to call the fire dept., so what's the point of that ?
 
brother said:
Sounds like a good chance to sell more products. Im curious as how is that solenoid set up to shut off when they are gone??
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switch somewhere they shut off when leaving, or a thing they call into to turn it off and on, or internet, or? theres a million different ways to turn something on and off
 
Automatically shuting off the water while the HO is gone is easy enough, A dry contact from the burg when armed would do it.
I had a competitor that called me up wanting me to help him on a new house that he was wiring, the HO wanted it all in conduit, and he did not know how to run conduit. The HO would not accept MC cable. He wanted to be able to pull out the wires if they went bad. Of course he had more money than sense.
 
wireguru said:
switch somewhere they shut off when leaving, or a thing they call into to turn it off and on, or internet, or? theres a million different ways to turn something on and off
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What about all the food in the fridge and freezer? :D

Jim W in Tampa said:
What good will it do after fire already started ? I see it as a problem maker
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It will prevent further fires or the spread of fire resulting from cables/fixtures/devices damaged from the original ignition source. Not to mention help eliminate a potential shock hazard to firefighters who have to enter the building to fight the fire.

nakulak said:
the problem with shunting the whole house based on a smoke going off is that shutting the electric off isn't going to call the fire dept., so what's the point of that ?
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Every fire/burglar alarm system I've ever seen has battery back up to be able to call out in the event of power outage. :D

Apply a little thought to this folks, rather than trying to shoot it down. The OP's client has money, wants this extra protection so the best thing to do is figure out a Code-compliant way to implement it.

One thing I've learned in my current line of work is NEVER, and I mean NEVER, tell a client they can't do something just because it doesn't make sense to me. As long as it's safe and can be done to Code, I'll do whatever they ask me to do. As long as they're willing to pay. :)
 
mxslick said:
Every fire/burglar alarm system I've ever seen has battery back up to be able to call out in the event of power outage. :D
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Look at the OP's response in message #4; the client apparently doesn't want a full-blown fire/burg set up. It sounds like the shunt or contactor is operating off a smoke alarm relay base. No harm, I suppose, but if they have the money, it's "penny-wise and pound-foolish" if you ask me.
 
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