# Fire alarms, smoke detectors in dedicated Home Theaters



## NBPk402 (Feb 21, 2012)

What are you doing about them in your Home Theater? I am asking this because if you have a dedicated Home Theater, and are watching a movie... How will you know if one goes off in another part of the house (especially if you are watching a movie at reference levels)?

I am thinking that a visual method is needed in the HT... Not sure how it would be implemented though. In our HT we have a short hallway (door on each end of hallway) that has our furnace, and hot water heater behind an access panel (still being completed). This is our only way in and out of the Home Theater... What can we do to make sure that we are alerted of an alarm in the hallway or other parts of the house? This also brings up being alerted if someone rings the doorbell or breaks into the house.


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## XEagleDriver (Apr 15, 2010)

In your case, a visual alarm makes sense, like the strobes they use in schools.
With only one way in/out of your HT, you may want to consider placing a fire extinguisher inside the HT as well, just in case the furnace or H2O heater decide to get toasty.

XEagleDriver


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## NBPk402 (Feb 21, 2012)

XEagleDriver said:


> In your case, a visual alarm makes sense, like the strobes they use in schools.
> With only one way in/out of your HT, you may want to consider placing a fire extinguisher inside the HT as well, just in case the furnace or H2O heater decide to get toasty.
> 
> XEagleDriver


I was thinking that a smoke detector/carbon monoxide detector should also go in the panel where the furnace, and hot water heater are too. The hard part is going to be... How do I link the detectors throughout the house to a visual alarm in the HT? I have Insteon, and will soon have the ELK M1 hooked up... If anyone makes a detector that could be hooked up to it, maybe I could have a visual trigger?


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## showcattleguy (Jun 30, 2011)

When I put a smoke/carbon monoxide detector in my HT it was purely as an alarm if you will to the rest of the house. I dont know how old the construction is but when we built our house all alarm systems had to be linked with a red control wire. If any smoke detector goes off they all go off. The only problem with that is finding or knowing where the actual event occurred.


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## NBPk402 (Feb 21, 2012)

showcattleguy said:


> When I put a smoke/carbon monoxide detector in my HT it was purely as an alarm if you will to the rest of the house. I dont know how old the construction is but when we built our house all alarm systems had to be linked with a red control wire. If any smoke detector goes off they all go off. The only problem with that is finding or knowing where the actual event occurred.


Our house was built in the 60s, and upgraded in the 80s, so there is no hard wiring of the smoke detectors. If it would have been built in the last 5 years I believe we would have had to have hard wired detectors, and sprinklers too.


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## MrAngles (May 1, 2012)

I tied my smoke detector into the rest of the detectors in my house and mounted it to the ceiling behind the seating area, and I have had no problems hearing it during a movie. The frequency is such that it doesn't blend in with anything that a movie will be throwing at you, and it's very loud, so I don't think a visual alarm would be necessary. They have wireless versions now, like this one, so the only cost would be replacing all of your existing smoke detectors.


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## NBPk402 (Feb 21, 2012)

MrAngles said:


> I tied my smoke detector into the rest of the detectors in my house and mounted it to the ceiling behind the seating area, and I have had no problems hearing it during a movie. The frequency is such that it doesn't blend in with anything that a movie will be throwing at you, and it's very loud, so I don't think a visual alarm would be necessary. They have wireless versions now, like this one, so the only cost would be replacing all of your existing smoke detectors.


Thanks for the link... I will have to check out the ones I bought from HD... Maybe they are linkable too. I purchased the new ones that you never change the batteries. After 10 years you throw them out. They were a little more expensive than the regular ones.


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## J&D (Apr 11, 2008)

This is something I had not thought of until seeing this thread. Will look into some options for my own room.


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