We’ve all been there: You’re roasting a chicken or trying that “Best broccoli in the world” recipe and your smoke detector starts shrieking like a banshee. It turns out the folks at 2GIG are doing their best to fix that fundamental problem with a new smoke detector that is designed to be able to tell a real fire problem, like your couch, rugs, or clothes are on fire, from your disastrous attempt to make blackened catfish.
The new 2GIG Smoke Freeze Heat Detector is a sensor designed to recognize smoke from the things on fire in a real fire hazard from your screw-ups. Here’s the difference: Traditional smoke detectors, many of which are decades old by now, only identify smoke and trigger an alarm once the density of the smoke has reached a specific level. Much like 2GIG’s Smoke and Grill Guard, marketed under the same Nortek brand that the company operates under, the alarm is designed to solve a common problem with an advanced and well-researched solution.
In short, 2GIG’s new gizmo is smarter than the competition. It uses advanced algorithms and a sophisticated optical chamber to recognize the difference in smoke particles created by synthetic materials, like all of your stuff, versus “normal” cooking events. In fact, 2GIG’s smoke detector triggers the alarm faster if synthetic smoke is detected, which has a bunch of benefits. Not only will the alarm wake you up faster if your place is on fire, but you can also continue to experiment with your insane barbecue recipes without triggering the smoke alarm every time you misjudge the appropriate oven temperature.
The 2GIG Smoke Freeze Heat Detector adheres to the UL217 eighth-edition standard that addresses both decreasing nuisance alarms caused by cooking or nearby wildfires as well as increasing responsiveness to the presence of burning or smoldering polyurethane foam, like the cozy stuff that makes up your couch and mattress.
In addition to serving as a traditional smoke alarm, 2GIG’s new device will also monitor and report on excessive temperatures. A high temperature is sent to the panel and a siren is triggered if the ambient temperature exceeds 134 degrees Fahrenheit. Changes in temperature will also trigger an alarm; a rate-of-rise temperature is sent to the panel along with a siren trigger if the temperature rises more than 15 degrees or more in one minute, and a freeze warning is sent as well if the ambient temperature drops below 40 degrees in a single minute.
For those of you who are invested in 2GIG’s numerous gizmos and associated smart home platform, the new 2GIG Smoke Heat Freeze Detector does integrate seamlessly into the larger 2GIG security system, so the device will also send you mobile phone notifications if things pop off at home and you aren’t there, as well as calling the fire department for a faster response.
