Thread: Wireless smoke alarm in an unfinished attic?

HI. I was told of an inspector that said a wireless smoke alarm should be put inside an attic, to just lay it down (presumably near the hatch). Also was not mentioned was whether it was an unfinished attic or finished attic. Quoting the agencies, no smoke alarm should be put into an unfinished attic (dust, temperature, etc.). Opinion?

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I see fire sprinklers in attics, so why not a smoke alarm? Then again, when the thing starts chirping, it will drive people nuts because they won't know where it's coming from.

Hmmm... might be a good trick to play on someone.

If it's finished and climate-conditioned, it's required. If it's not finished, if it's not climate conditioned, I'll use a heat alarm instead. Otherwise, small particulates will set off the alarm. Yes, this may turn out to be a "good joke," but here's the last time such a heat alarm went off.

No one was home, the neighbor called the first responders, the cop broke in for the firefighters. They checked everywhere they could think of, unsuccessfully. Finally called me. I found the unconditioned attic heat alarm had set off the rest of the house's alarms, for good reason: the whole-house fan had reached EOL, and the attic had gotten too hot.

The instructions with the alarms will say not to install in unconditioned areas like attics. There is too much dust and the temperature is not stable enough.