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In reply to the discussion: Dog owners please enter . Am I wrong about what happened today?? [View all]jberryhill
(62,444 posts)That sounds like complete rubbish.
Smoke detectors function perfectly well in kitchens, which can have all kinds of vapors present.
Now, there are different kinds of detection mechanisms, but most common "smoke detectors" are really ionization detectors, which are looking for changes in current between two charged plates across a sample chamber of radioactively-ionized ambient gas.
The other kind is photodetector based, and looks at the optical transmissivity of the ambient.
The vapor consists primarily of covalent bonded, non-conductive organics that I couldn't imagine "shorting out" anything if you poured it on.
The vapor just doesn't have the same properties as the combustion products the smoke detectors are looking for. It's why your smoke alarm doesn't go off when you boil water or spray air freshener - the smoke detectors are looking for smoke.
What's really weird is that I believe all of the airlines have now banned vaping, but the stores in the airports are selling them like hot cakes. Where do they think they are being used?