Fire Alarm Idea

[SirenEnthusiast360]

I had this idea for a fire alarm signaling device for people who are very easily startled by loud sounds (like me) and I was wondering if it would be a good idea or not. You know how most security systems have an exit delay before the alarm sounds? Well, I was thinking maybe they could do a similar thing for fire alarms, so people like me would have time to plug their ears.

[StonedChipmunk]

That's why a lot of people are switching to those vocal and tone alarms. I think Federal Signal's SelectTone system is an ideal vocal alarm system, but it doesn't work with fire alarms, unfortunately. (You can also see the listing of tones and voices it makes. It's very impressive!) Unfortunately, I tried to buy a simple system, but they're more expensive than a Model 2, I think, so I just passed it up.

[Trey]

Not practical at all in my mind for a fire alarm system.

The worst thing that can happen is to "delay" those few critical seconds in a fire emergency. That is how people get killed in fires. Remember in an emergency, every second is critical.

However, my fire alarm panel (Fire Lite MS-2) sounds a horn on the panel just a milisecond or so before the fire alarms start.

[StonedChipmunk]

That horn in your panel is probably electronic delay, unless it's more around half a second (in that case, it's programmed in).
Also, I was not saying to make it say "There is a fire" about 30 seconds after you pull the alarm. The reason I say that SelectTone, if adapted, would make a good system, is because of the ability to warn people of where the fire is, and (if some changes are made to make it really advanced) to compute and suggest exit routes. Moreover, it doubles as a PA system and a shift/class/lunch/whatever bell. My ideal system would sound a code 3 horn (not those annoying buzzers, either, I mean a tone-generated horn) for 10 seconds, then a message of where the fire is and (possibly) how to evacuate, then the code 3 horn, etc. and eventually sounding a hi-lo all clear or something followed by a voice announcement. The point of the SelectTone system is to convey information that couldn't be conveyed by word of mouth in time and to convey complex changeable information with words that everyone can understand, instead of a tone that leaves us all wondering what's going on.
You know why those new vocal smoke detectors are selling so fast? It's because of the capabilities in them. They can warn people of a fire and tell them how to evacuate. Furthermore, studies prove that kids are more responsive to these alarms than they are to simple buzzers. Proof: there was a fire alarm (luckily just a false alarm, a broken pull station wire) at our dorm a few months ago at about 2:30 AM. The only people that woke up were me and my roommate (due to our decision to install a lower-decibel horn/strobe notifier in our room for the hell of it). Even the dorm head didn't wake up! We had to go wake him up (which was scary, a big Italian guy that could have been a sumo wrestler in boxers is not a pretty sight) and right when he got up he sprinted outside and yelled at the top of his voice to "get the hell out of here", which woke up everyone on all 3 floors of the dorm! I then convinced him the next day to replace our system (installed in, I think, 2000) with a voice system - Wheelock's system, in fact. It's pretty fun, the maintenance dept. has been installing it for weeks now. They tested it yesterday, it sounds AWESOME. (Unfortunately, I didn't have my video camera with me when they tested it. I'll have to find out when the next test is.)

The moral of the story? Always ask the owner of a building upgrading their fire alarm system - I got 18 horn/strobe notifiers and 16 pull stations, along with a bunch of smoke detectors (too many to count). I had to buy the control panel, though ($20 - a deal!).

[SirenEnthusiast360]

Actually, my idea involved a sort of timer/LCD display thing, for example if someone pulled an alarm a LCD type readout thing would display "Warning: Alarm will sound in (insert length of time here), Please cover your ears!"

[Robert Gift]

I would prefer a low volume alarm warning stepping up to full volume.
Does anyone already do this?
Not so much to hold one's ears, one is rarely so close to an alarm that they can't hold their ears, but to prevent startling someone and causing a heart attack or causing them to drop something, etc.
But I like the sudden full volume which startles me and gets my adrenalin flowing.

[SirenEnthusiast360]

The sound of fire alarms activating at full volume causes me to go to the bathroom, involentarily. This has happened ever since I was little. I tried to explain it without grossing you out, but I don't think it worked well did it? I do not know what causes this response, but it is not normal. This is why I had the idea in the first place.

[Daniel]

I find that standard mechanical horns sounding a 120 Hz. tone, bells, or mechanical sirens are effective without being unnecessarily earsplitting like modern piezo sounders. It is within range of most people's hearing, while the super high pitched piezo sounders are out of range for many people with high-end hearing loss. In my building the Wheelock fire alarms sound like athletic whistles or giant smoke alarms, and are ridiculously loud. Our former alarms were Federal Signal electronic horns with a slow whoop sound that was very loud but not damaging. I found them much more tolerable.

[Robert Gift]

Siren, there are many who urinate when startled by such sudden loud sounds. It can be any age, gender, race, etc.
At night such sudden loud sounds have caused some to be temporarily paralyzed in bed.

That would be another good reason to gently announce an alarm.

In sleep, such a sudden loud alarm can cause physical problems.
(I recall that mice, which were unaffected by a bell ringing nearby during daytime, died when the same bell rang at 2:00 a.m.)

To prevent these reactions, if they have not already done so, I'd expect alarm companies to start designing systems which start out soft and quickly build volume.

[Trey]

Siren, there are many who urinate when startled by such sudden loud sounds. It can be any age, gender, race, etc.
At night such sudden loud sounds have caused some to be temporarily paralyzed in bed.

That would be another good reason to gently announce an alarm.

In sleep, such a sudden loud alarm can cause physical problems.
(I recall that mice which were unaffected by a bell ringing nearby during daytime died when the same bell rang at 2:00 a.m.)

To prevent these reactions, if they have not already done so, I'd expect alarm companies to start designing systems which start out soft and quickly build volume.

Excellent point Robert.

Yes, I am going to be installing (well expanding...) a fire alarm system all around the house. All of the devices are brand new in the box. I ordered white Wheelock RSS (remote strobes, 15/75 candela), System sensor i3 smokes (without horns) for bedrooms and small rooms. For the larger ones, I ordered a white Wheelock NS (horn/strobe) and white MIZ (mini piezo horn).

I don't think that putting a horn strobe in a bedroom/small area is right. A strobe is attention getting enough, plus I have a horn/strobe (Gentex Commander3, white) in the hall.