What Are the Causes of False Smoke Alarms?

Ionization Alarms

• Ionization alarms have a small bit of radioactive material between two disks that ionizes air. When smoke enters the chamber, it disrupts the ionization and the alarm sounds.

Photoelectric Alarms

• Photoelectric alarms have a light shining into the sensor chamber, and whenever smoke enters the chamber, it disrupts the light flow and the alarm sounds.

Kitchen Causes

• Any kitchen smoke often sets off ionization alarms. Pan-frying food, burning something in the oven or other smoke-producing cooking methods can set off a false alarm.

Other Causes

• Cigarette smoke and the smoke from an extinguished candle can easily set off both photoelectric and ionization alarms. Some units have carbon monoxide detectors that are set off easily as well.

Solutions

• If your smoke alarm continues to falsely sound, consider moving it to a location away from the smoke sources. There are also alarms for purchase that have a "mute" function for those times when smoke is present due to normal household activity.