Traditional smoke alarms no doubt do their job if you are present in the house, by waking you up and ringing an alarm that indicates danger. However, if you are not at home, you can forget about being alert, as their job becomes redundant when no one’s home.
With smart technology on a rise today, almost every aspect of our homes can be controlled and monitored, even if you are not home. Smart home devices are generally purchased for their convenience and connectivity.
That said, when turning your home into a smart home, it’s important to keep safety in mind, and that’s when a smart smoke detector comes in place, as it helps solve the redundancy of a traditional smoke alarm.
These smart devices will alert you of danger no matter where you are, giving you plenty of time to reach out to your neighborhood fire department. In fact, smart smoke detectors and alarms are as important as upgrading to smart lightbulbs and smart thermostats.
It may sound like a no-brainer when talking about detecting smoke in your home, but in all reality, it isn’t as straightforward as to seem to me. The very best smart smoke detectors come with a split-spectrum sensor that enables them to detect smoke from a good length of distance, including both smoldering and raging fires.
Moreover, it’s not just how smart smoke detectors warn you of smoke, but today the best ones also come with carbon monoxide (CO) detectors built-in, that alerts you if this toxic gas is being leaked into your home.
Let’s take a look at how smart smoke detectors work and the very best one in 2021!
How Do Smart Smoke Detectors Work?
With a smart smoke detector, whether it’s optical or photoelectric, it has a projected beam of infrared or UV light that always keeps an eye on the room. Now, when the detector senses that its light intensity has suddenly decreased, most likely from smoke particles, the sensors are automatically triggered, which then sound the alarm off.
Such kinds of smoke detectors are extremely sensitive when it comes to the early stages of fire, like when slow, smoldering fires begin. That said, they also have the ability to detect flames coming from raging fires as well.
Some units also have the amazing capability of sensing smokeless fire, such as from gasoline or alcohol. These units can also detect carbon monoxide alongside, which is potentially a fatal gas that may not only appear separately from a fire but is also odorless.
Carbon Monoxide usually accumulates because of faulty ventilation through gas heaters. There are many advantages of having interconnected detectors wired up in the entire house. In other words, if it detects smoke or carbon monoxide, you will be alerted in an instant, and it doesn’t even matter where you are in the house.
Moreover, such connected smoke detectors can also alert you in spoken worlds as to where the smoke is coming from. If there’s already a smart-home system in place in your house, like Alexa or a home security system, these have the ability to integrate and further boost the safety and security of your home.
Smart home devices all come with an accompanying app that you can download onto your smartphone or tablet. This is a great feature when it comes to smart smoke detectors, as you can stay up-to-date with the safety of your home even when you are not around, giving you peace of mind.
Best Smart Smoke Detector: Google Nest Protect
When contemplating which smart smoke detector to purchase, the Google Nest Protect will definitely tick off all your needs for a smoke detector. Its second generation has a split-spectrum sensor that enables it to detector both slow and fast-burning fires, and can further monitor carbon monoxide.
When Protect’s first model was introduced in 2015, it had an advanced algorithm that allowed it to sense the difference between steam that comes from a shower and that of actual smoke. The second generation of the Protect is even better than its first.
The Protect syncs up rather well with the Nest ecosystem and its setup is as simple as it gets, especially if you have a nearby Google Nest device that the protect can easily grab your home Wi-Fi details of it.
All you need to do is connect the Protect to the Nest app, which will then allow you to see when there’s something amiss in your home, whether you are around or not. Moreover, you can also silence false alarms through the app, such as when it detects smoke coming from cooking.
The Nest Protect has a feature called the “Nightly Promise” that informs you every single night ifits batteries are getting low. In other words, you can sleep soundly knowing your smoke detector is batteries up.
There’s both a wired and battery version of the Nest Protect. It all depends on which one you prefer.
Conclusion
Well, there you go! We have shared how a smart smoke detector works and shared the very best one out there, which is the Google Nest Protect! Even though it may e on the pricier side, you will be grateful for buying it.