RE: Assistance for Anosmia

["Hawes,Timothy Edward \(GEG\)" <haweste@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ian,

I didn't recall anything for the UK domestic market, but there will be
plenty in the professional arena :-/
(read expensive)

There's some 110V stuff from the US, try:
http://www.safehomeproducts.com/SHP/SM/methanedetectors.asp
http://www.macurco.com/sh4s1d.pdf

And this for the UK - seems like it has extra "signalling
contacts", not
just an in-built alarm :-)
http://www.sfdetection.com/pdf/SF210_howsafe/How%20Safe%20is%20Your%20Ho
me%20-%20ENGLISH.pdf (glossy brochure)
http://www.sfdetection.com/pdf/Manuals/SF210/SF210%20ENGLISH%20Manual.pd
f (installation manual)

(I started writing this, then googled a bit more, I'll leave it in just
in case you're interested)
I also found this:
http://www.professionalequipment.com/xq/ASP/ProductID.564/id.7/subID.90/
qx/default.htm
At USD 100 it's probably about as cheap as you'll get. Yes it's a
portable tester and the batteries only last a few hours but I reckon
it'd be pretty easy to convert to mains-powered.

What's perhaps the bigger problem is how do you extract the alarm signal
? At least two people on this list have made devices that can detect
whether an LED is on or not (Ian Bird & Frank, IIRC). From the picture
I'm gonna guess the red LED is the alarm one so you could pick up
whether the LED has lit and then generate the appropriate whole-house
alarm. I guess you'd could even tie it into your burglar alarm if you
wished.

I'm not sure *I'd* try to open it and hack the innerds to get the alarm
signal out, but then I'm a dunce at electronics ;-)

HTH,

Tim.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ian  Sent: 07 January 2005 21:18
>
> I'm looking for ways to help about the house for someone with
> congenital anosmia - Jenni (swmbo) has had no sense of smell
> since birth.
>
> It's obviously not as serious an issue as having no sight or
> hearing, and we have heard (and made) most of the usual jokes
> and comments - it probably makes it easier to live with me,
> for instance ;)
>
> We have had a couple of cases recently where it's caused
> problems - I act as the house "sniffer" to check when meat
is
> okay to cook, but when I have a heavy cold (as I did over
> xmas) we can end up eating stuff that's not quite right, and
> suffering for it. I also came home a week or so back to find
> the kitchen absolutely stinking of gas - and Jenni blissfully
> unaware, making a sandwich.
>
> We have displays around the house for caller ID etc, so as I
> see it, all I really need are some sensors. There are a
> couple of things to cover - something for the fridge that can
> detect "off" meat and something for detecting domestic gas
in the air.
>
> Has anyone done this before?
>
> Ian.