Fire Research Division

Home Smoke Alarm Project, Manufactured Home Tests

Report of Test FR 4016
February, 2005

Richard D. Peacock, Jason D. Averill,  Richard W. Bukowski, and Paul A. Reneke
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology

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This Report of Test documents a series of full scale tests conducted as part of research into the performance of smoke alarms.  The twenty seven experiments conducted as part of this test series were performed in a manufactured home. Another series of tests, conducted in a two-story house, consisted of a total of nine experiments with instrumentation similar to those included in this report and is reported in NIST Report of Test 4017, also available on this web site.  The data collected is presented without analysis or interpretation in order to provide access to the data by interested parties.

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Introduction

The overall purpose of the project is to determine how different types of fire alarms can respond to threatening residential fire settings in order to permit occupant egress. Full-scale tests of current smoke, heat, and carbon monoxide alarms  in actual homes with appropriate contents as fuels provide a base of data to evaluate the performance of modern residential alarm technologies. Fire scenarios (including ignition source, first item ignited, and room of fire origin) were selected based upon a statistical analysis of available fire loss data. Selected fires include a mattress fire in a bedroom, upholstered chair fire in a living area, and a cooking oil fire in a kitchen.

This report documents experimental test series in the program conducted to characterize the environment in typical residential fire scenarios. Data presented include the time varying concentrations of CO, CO₂, and O₂, smoke obscuration, and temperature at multiple locations in the structure.  Additional details of instrumentation design and location, along with uncertainty estimates for the measurements is included NIST Technical Note 1455 [1].

Test Data

Details of each of the 27 tests, numbered 1 through 15 and 30 through 41 are available.  For each of the tests, a summary of the test conditions and ignition source are presented.  Graphs of all test data along with spreadsheets of the data are included. Uncertainty in the measurements is discussed below.

Test 1, Smoldering Chair, Living Area
Test 2, Flaming Chair, Living Area
Test 3, Smoldering Mattress, Bedroom (Test aborted due to ignition failure)
Test 4, Smoldering Mattress, Bedroom
Test 5, Flaming Mattress, Bedroom
Test 6, Smoldering Mattress, Bedroom
Test 7, Flaming Mattress, Bedroom
Test 8, Smoldering Mattress, Bedroom
Test 9, Flaming Mattress, Bedroom. (Burn Room Door Closed)
Test 10, Flaming Chair, Living Area
Test 11, Smoldering Chair, Living Area
Test 12, Cooking Oil Fire, Kitchen
Test 13, Cooking Oil Fire, Kitchen
Test 14, Flaming Mattress, Bedroom, (Burn Room Door Closed)
Test 15, Flaming Chair, Living Area

Test 30, Smoldering Chair, Living Area (Test aborted due to ignition failure)
Test 31, Smoldering Chair, Living Area
Test 32, Flaming Chair, Living Area (Test aborted due to ignition failure)
Test 33, Flaming Chair, Living Area
Test 34, Smoldering Chair, Living Area
Test 35, Flaming Chair, Living Area
Test 36, Flaming Mattress, Bedroom (Burn Room Door Closed)
Test 37, Smoldering Mattress, Bedroom
Test 38, Flaming Mattress, Bedroom
Test 39, Flaming Mattress, Bedroom
Test 40, Smoldering Mattress, Bedroom
Test 41, Cooking Oil Fire, Kitchen

For the non-modified smoke alarms, heat alarms, and telltale sprinklers, only an activation time is available.  Uncertainty in the measurements is discussed below.

Activation Time for Non-Modified Smoke Alarms, Heat Alarms, and Sprinkler
Test	Description	Non-modified Smoke Alarms			Heat Alarm	Telltale Sprinkler
		Photo	Ion	Ion
SDC01	Smoldering Chair in Living Room	3412	5192	5247	--*	--
SDC02	Flaming Chair in Living Room	78	24	28	130	--
SDC03	Smoldering Mattress in Bedroom (Test aborted due to ignition failure)	--	--	--	--	--
SDC04	Smoldering Mattress in Bedroom	3871	--	--	--	--
SDC05	Flaming Mattress in Bedroom	42	32	32	140	147
SDC06	Smoldering Mattress in Bedroom	3443	5998	5998	--	6073
SDC07	Flaming Mattress in Bedroom	85	43	47	205	137
SDC08	Smoldering Mattress in Bedroom	2339**	3697	3699	3798	3745
SDC09	Flaming Mattress in Bedroom (Burn Room Door Closed)	95	29	29	3724	127
SDC10	Flaming Chair in Living Room	108	--	44	369	194
SDC11	Smoldering Chair in Living Room	883	3971	3963	--	4359
SDC12	Vegetable Oil on Kitchen Stove	741	--	751	1453	1437
SDC13	Vegetable Oil on Kitchen Stove	690	588	682	1388	1388
SDC14	Flaming Mattress in Bedroom (Burn Room Door Closed)	2648	3402	3406	--	3414
SDC15	Flaming Chair Living Room	231	203	199	--	351
SDC30	Smoldering Chair in Living Room (Test aborted due to Ignition Failure)	--	--	--	--	--
SDC31	Smoldering Chair in Living Room	4245	4905	4911	8084	8103
SDC32	Flaming Chair in Living Room (Test Aborted due to Ignition Failure)	--	--	--	--	--
SDC33	Flaming Chair in Living Room	106	20	22	16	--
SDC34	Smoldering Chair in Living Room	1668	3548	3712	3900	--
SDC35	Flaming Chair in Living Room	108	22	22	138	--
SDC36	Flaming Mattress in Bedroom (Burn Room Door Closed)	72	38	44	99	124
SDC37	Smoldering Mattress in Bedroom	1632	1746	1736	--	--
SDC38	Flaming Mattress in Bedroom	95	39	37	1145	139
SDC39	Flaming Mattress in Bedroom	90	34	34	120	126
SDC40	Smoldering Mattress in Bedroom	2570	--	--	--	--
SDC41	Vegetable Oil on Kitchen Stove	642	136	230	1244	1262

* No data available
** Triggered alarm for 40 s at 2339; second alarm at 3707 s

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the efforts of the Fire Metrology Group and others, including N. Bryner, W. Walton, T. Cleary, D. Stroup, W. Twilley, J. Lee, G. Roadarmel, J. McElroy, M. Selepak, D. Weinert, M. Donnelly, M. Nyden, C. Davis, and L. DeLauter.  G. Forney developed the web conversion for the test data.  In addition, an in-kind contribution from the National Research Council-Canada measured toxicological species with FTIR within the manufactured home.  The measurements were taken by Dr. J. Siu and Dr. J. Kanabus-Kaminska.  The results are pending further analysis.  

The home smoke alarm project was sponsored by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Fire Administration, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Affairs, Underwriters Laboratories. The National Fire Protection Association (In-kind contribution), and National Research Council Canada, (In-kind contribution).

References

[1]  Bukowski, R.W., Peacock, R.D., Averill, J.D., Cleary, T.G., Bryner, T.G., Walton, W.D., Reneke, P.A., and Kuligowski, E.D., Performance of Home Smoke Alarms: Analysis of the Response of Several Available Technologies in Residential Fire Settings, Natl. Inst. Stand. Technol., Tech. Note 1455 (2003).

 For further information, contact Richard W. Bukowski, richard.bukowski@nist.gov, (301) 975-6853, fax: (301) 975-4052

 

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Last updated: 6/20/2002