If i use my lighter in my room, will the fire detector go off?

Question

i will blow the smoke out of my window, but if i use my lighter (it would be like, a little more than 2 yards away from the fire detector) will it go off?

how does it even work? thank you!

Answer 1

Smoke detectors are not heat based. The way that they work is they have a little piece of radioactive material in them (a safe amount). This piece helps electrons cross a gap in a circuit through the air and complete the circuit.

When particles and granules like those in smoke get in that tiny little gap, they stop the electrons from flowing through the gap. The circuit gets broken, and the alarm sounds.

A lighter will not produce sufficient smoke to set off an alarm.

Answer 2

The smoke detector will not go off from lighting something with a lighter.  Smoke detectors are triggered by excessive heat, but neither a lighter nor even a burning candle should set them off from two yards away.  Now, the smoke from your cigarette or whatever might set it off, if the room is not well ventilated, but even that's pretty unlikely.

Answer 3

The first answer just kind of made me say "huh???" Saying that smoke detectors are triggered by heat is a clear indication that that person doesn't know what they're talking about.

There are smoke detectors and heat detectors.

Heat detectors are not common at all. Heat detectors do just that, they detect heat - and they are normally only triggered when the heat level changes a lot in a short amount of time. I really, really doubt that you have a heat detector.

Smoke detectors are very common & it is very likely that that is what you have. Within the category of smoke detectors, there are two types, ionization & photoelectric. The second answer is an accurate description of how an ionization type works. The photoelectric type work just like the little alarm bells at stores in the mall - the thing that make a little"ding-dong" sound when someone walks through the door. It shines a little light at a receiver. As long as the receiver sees the light, it knows that everything is okay & it doesn't sound the alarm. When smoke is present, it blocks the light from getting to the receiver. When the receiver can't see the light it sounds the alarm. There is a much more technical answer than that, but that's the basic explanation.

The bottom line answer is: No, it won't set off your smoke detector.