Re: Testing Duct Smoke

["Jim" <alarminex@xxxxxxx>]

Robert L Bass wrote:
> > I don't think "alcohol" was the issue
> > (in another thread).  It was the
> > cleaning "method" (swabs as opposed
> > to brush).  I get better results with
> > the latter.
>
> I've used both and found that swabs work just as well.  I do not use Q-Tip brand swabs.  Like some here, those are too loosely
> wrapped and will occasionally leave fibers though none leave a "film" as the other poster claimed.  The other poster did indeed
> object to alcohol though I notice no such objection when you said the same thing.  Can we say, "disingenuous?"
>

No, but we can say you're a fucking asshole though.
Read it again, you jerk.

If you had any experience at all, you'd know that if you try to
clean thick dust or drywall dust from a smoke detector chamber
with simply alcohol and a swab, you'll spend too much time trying
to clean the film from the chamber. By using a brush dipped in
alcohol, you can "scrub" the debris from the chamber with the solvent
action of the alcohol and then rinse under the flow of water from
a sink, which actually removes the debris and alcohol rather than
letting the alcohol evaporate, leaving a film. Since alcohol has an
affinity for water, the combination of alcohol and water, during
rinsing,
assures that there is no visible or invisible film remaining, that
would
cause the chamber to catch more dust and dirty up all the sooner.
Air dry or blow dry. I use a round, stiff, 2 inch paint brush which
scrubs the chamber cleaner than any Q-tip and doesn't leave the
little cotten strands from the Q-tip behind either.


But .... since you only know what you read in the instructions and
from what you hear from people with field experience and have never
actually installed anything yourself, it's understandable that you
wouldn't know what it's like to clean a detector.

To any who are interested, you might try giving this method a test run.

Years ago, when doing commercial work I actually timed the period
between smoke detector cleanings on a multitude of jobs (over 100).
When I started cleaning them using the above method, times between
(forced) cleanings got longer ( by many months, it varied from job to
 job) and there seemed to be less debris when cleanings were done
on a yearly scheduled basis. I kept track for about 6 years.




And .... Oh yeh Bass...... arent' you dead yet?
You're really dragging this out .... ya know?

Heh .... five years ...... yeah sure...........