Smoke detectors are essential in-home safety devices; strategically placing them throughout your house is essential. But what if there were a home tech device that could bolster a smoke detector’s effectiveness by spotting and notifying you of small flames before they have a chance to become large enough to produce smoke? That’s what the Flame Detector does; it is designed to spot even small flames before they get out of hand and become a disaster.
The Flame Detector isn’t meant to replace your home’s smoke detectors. Rather, it’s a device that provides you with early notice of a fire in rooms where you’d never want an open flame—like bedrooms, bonus rooms, your children’s playroom, the garage, the laundry room, or even a storage shed close enough to your house for the WiFi signal to reach.
Think about how so many indoor fires get started. It could be one of the kids experimenting with matches in their room, an overloaded circuit in your home office or living room, or a spark from woodworking equipment in the garage. Any of these could easily become an out-of-control fire.
Other effective locations to place a Flame Detector might be your laundry room, where lint buildup and electrical faults are common fire hazards, or your garage, where flammable materials and power tools are stored.
While smoke detectors are an excellent and necessary tool, there are reasons why they might not be able to catch the smallest fires right as they begin—while it is still possible to stop them from growing larger and causing major damage.
Here’s the difference: Traditional smoke alarms detect small combustion particles that make up what we commonly call “smoke.” For a smoke detector to work, these particles have to physically travel into the smoke alarm’s sensing chamber to trigger the alarm. Inside the chamber, there’s usually an ionization or photoelectric sensor that reacts to the smoke.
Ionization smoke detectors use a small amount of radioactive material to create an electrical current between two plates. When smoke enters the chamber, it disrupts this current, triggering the alarm. Photoelectric detectors go about it differently by using a beam of light, which gets scattered by smoke particles, causing the alarm to sound.
Both types of smoke detectors are effective, but again, they rely on the smoke actually reaching the detector, which can lead to delayed alarms—especially in cases where the fire starts far from the sensor or if the smoke is slow to rise.
Instead of waiting for smoke to reach the detector’s sensor, the Flame Detector actively monitors a specific area for any flame that might start, providing a faster and more direct way to detect fire where no fire should ever be.
The Flame Detector works by detecting the specific, narrow band of ultraviolet (UV) light that flames emit. When a fire begins within the flame detector’s range—even before the smoke has had a chance to spread—the detector will instantly recognize the UV light produced by the flame and sound a startling alarm coupled with a verbal “I detect a flame!” that will repeat until the flame source is extinguished.
As the alarm sounds, you’ll also receive an instant push notification on your smartphone so you can act quickly or alert someone else who might be closer to check on things.
The Flame Detector flame sensor has a 130º field of view and 20′ of flame detection, allowing it to monitor a large portion of most rooms.
The 1.6″ wide by 7″ long by 1.6″ deep Flame Detector device can be mounted on a wall or in a corner with the included mounting plate and screws, or it can simply be placed on a shelf.
With its WiFi connectivity, you can easily add more Flame Detector units for coverage in larger rooms or throughout your home without worrying about running wires.
Unlike smoke alarms—which, again, the Flame Detector is not a replacement for—the Flame Detector is smart enough to avoid false alarms caused by common smoke detector triggers like burnt toast, steam, insects, or dust.
While the Flame Detector is a great option for any space where fire risks might be higher than average—especially in areas without a smoke alarm—the company explicitly states that:
- The Flame Detector is NOT a substitute for smoke alarms. You should ensure you have the required inter-connected and operational smoke alarms specified by your local codes.
- The Flame Detector has NOT undergone any independent evaluation or testing as a life safety device. On the other hand, smoke alarms undergo extensive testing to comply with nationally recognized standards for life safety devices.
- The Flame Detector’s effectiveness relies on an unobstructed line of sight for its flame sensor to be exposed to the open flame within its detection range. It will not be detected if its view is obstructed or the flame is too far away.
- Moreover, the Flame Detector does NOT detect smoke; it may also fail to detect a flame if the smoke is thick enough to obscure its vision.
- The Flame Detector has limits to both range and field of view. A flame outside the 130º field of view or 20′ range will not be detected. A flame within its field of view or range obstructed by furniture, décor, people, smoke, or any other structure will NOT be detected.
- Some fluorescent lights and halogen bulbs may trigger the Flame Detector’s alarm. They strongly discourage using halogen bulbs due to the significant heat they generate.
- Glass acts as an effective filter for Ultraviolet (UV) light, which means the Flame Detector will not detect a flame behind glass. This includes items like a lit candle inside a glass jar, a gas fire behind a glass front, or flames viewed through a window.
- The size of the flame influences the amount of UV light emitted. In some cases, UV light can bounce off walls and other objects, potentially causing the Flame Detector to sound an alarm, even if the flame isn’t clearly visible to its flame sensor.
- The Flame Detector has not been evaluated for alarm loudness to any safety standards. Whereas smoke alarms have required dB minimums, Eye Detekt will not meet those.
- Smartphones have maximum limits on Push Notifications. Once exceeded, no others will be shown; users need to clear these phone notifications regularly.
Maintenance and testing of the Flame Detector is simple: You’ll want to check that the center eye/flame sensor is kept free of dust and fingerprints, and once a week, you’ll walk into the space where the device is located and produce a flame, either with a match or a lighter.
By doing this in different spots within the room, you can also get a good idea of the coverage that the device is providing. As you test the device, you’ll notice that the flame detector continues sounding the alarm and sending push notifications until the flame is extinguished.
The Flame Detector will run for over a year on just three AA batteries; a set is included with the device when you purchase it. When the batteries lose potency, you’ll receive a notification well before the detector runs out of power.
The companion app, available for iOS and Android, makes the setup straightforward.
Once you’ve downloaded the app, created an account, added three included AA batteries to the Flame Detector, and pressed the WiFi button on the right end, you’ll be verbally prompted to add the device to your WiFi network and name it for the room you’ll be using it in.
Once that’s been done, you’ll get confirmation of a successful setup verbally and in the app.
The app allows you to check the Flame Detector’s battery status at any time, and if you move it to another room and need to change the device’s name, especially if you have more than one Flame Detector, that can be easily done through the app.
In the app, you can invite others—like family members or neighbors—to be “Fire Commanders.” This means they will also receive alerts if the Flame Detector is ever triggered.
Under the Help section of the menu, there is also a number for customer service and a link to the site should you have any questions or issues.
I tried the Flame Detector and was impressed that it alarmed without fail as I struck matches from 5′ to 10′ away and immediately alarmed when I fired up a butane gas lighter up to 15′ away.
I keep a candle in a clear glass jar on my desk, and while the Flame Detector gave mixed results recognizing the candle’s open flame (as expected), it never failed to catch the flame as the candle was being lit.
The alarm is loud, and the flashing red LEDs on the top and bottom of the flame detector’s “eye” add urgency. Let’s just say that if someone were playing with matches within the Flame Detector’s line of sight, they’d immediately know they’d been caught.
Even if they immediately extinguished the flame, you’d have the notification on your device that it had happened.
While smoke detectors remain an essential part of every home’s fire safety system, the Flame Detector provides an added layer of protection by detecting small flames before they can become a larger problem.
With its advanced UV flame detection, wide field of view, and WiFi connectivity, the Flame Detector helps fill the gap left by traditional smoke detectors by alerting you to smaller fires before they’re large enough to cause major damage.
Easy to install, simple to maintain, and designed to work alongside your existing smoke alarms, the Flame Detector is a smart and effective early warning system for areas where no open flames should ever be.
At $129, the Flame Detector is an investment that could make all the difference when every second matters. Click here to learn more.
Update 09/27/24: The Eye Detect Flame Detector’s name has been changed to the Flame Detector; this post has been updated to reflect the updated name.
Be the first to comment on "The Flame Detector Offers Early Fire Detection, Even Before Smoke Alarms Kick In"