Question.

My wife’s company changed out their sales fleet to EV cars. As part of the package, they paid to put a leve 2 charger in our garage.

Recently, one of the sales crew had their car catch fire in their garage so now my wife is worried about that happening to us.

Our security service (Vivint) said they would not install a detector in the garage because the summer heat and regular cars would trigger false alarms.

When I go on line to search garage rated smoke detectors I only get hits on the standard products. So, apparently I don’t know what I’m doing (likely) or such a product doesn’t exist.

Is there a garage rated smoke detector on the market that can look past gas powered vehicles and summer heat?

Thanks.

I don't know if it is a real issue. I just replaced a regular stand alone (not wired to the rest of the alarms) smoke detector in our garage with another of the same type. Never any issues, but I do replace the battery religiously due to heat and humidity.

But I just read this: https://support.firstalert.com...age-crawlspace-attic

Can you get some sort of temperature sensor from your alarm company? Locate it over the car and figure out a temperature that wouldn't happen any other way?

Maybe I'm overthinking a solution.

Get another security service and supplier. There are literally detectors made for any possible situation. EV fires generate copious amounts of smoke and heat so they are very easy to detect. But if the garage doesn't tolerate normal residential smoke detectors then get heat rise detectors. I use these in several locations on my farm due primarily to dust, but a good solution here. And if you can use the catalog of commercial detectors (not sure your system) then the world is yours for multi mode detectors.

I’d also check your homeowners insurance.

Some ask for riders for EV vehicles parked in garages and may not cover fires from EVs without.

My neighbor has a Tesla, after the first car fires made the TV, he began parking it and charging it in the driveway.

quote:

Originally posted by ugeesta:
Question.

My wife’s company changed out their sales fleet to EV cars. As part of the package, they paid to put a leve 2 charger in our garage.

Recently, one of the sales crew had their car catch fire in their garage so now my wife is worried about that happening to us.

Our security service (Vivint) said they would not install a detector in the garage because the summer heat and regular cars would trigger false alarms.

When I go on line to search garage rated smoke detectors I only get hits on the standard products. So, apparently I don’t know what I’m doing (likely) or such a product doesn’t exist.

Is there a garage rated smoke detector on the market that can look past gas powered vehicles and summer heat?

Thanks.

No. People ask the same question about having one in their attic in case a fire starts there. The high temps in your garage or attic will just make the detector malfunction. Heat rise detectors possibly could work if the manufacturer states they're ok for humid/hot/cold environments.

I don't have an EV but the last thing I would do is charge/park that thing in my house. Even if we got there and were able to control the power those batteries can burn for hours with water having no effect. It's become quite an issue for us especially in underground parking garages. To the point where we now have massive fire proof blankets that we would attempt to put over the EV and if possible somehow tow it out of the garage all while still on fire.... So if it were my house the EV would be parked 25' away with some sort of charging extension cord if that's a thing

Wired heat detector and, if necessary, daisy chain to another by the bedroom so that you hear it.

As others have stated, Rate-of-Rise Detectors are used in extreme environments.
They function better than Smoke or CO detectors at industrial locations that are exposed to the elements.

In our Motor Control Centers we run all three: Smoke/CO/Rate-of-Rise..
In Transfer Buildings; that see high temps, dust, water, etc.. We run Rate-of-Rise and CO. But the industrial duty CO detectors fail every couple years.

as mentioned already, many home insurance companies require a separate EV coverage in case of fire.
my brother got an electic mustang and his insurance company flat out told him if it was in th garage and caught on fire they would not cover any damage. and the auto insurance will not cover structural damage if the car burns.
so it lives outside about 10 foot away from the garage door.

Thanks for the info. Looks like a rapid heat detector is the way to go. I’ve been thinking about insulating the garage for a couple years now. This may be the time to do it to reduce the heat gain thru the attic.

BTW: we did contact our insurance company. They were the ones that recommended to reach out to our security company to add the smoke alarm. Also, no extra premium for an EV on the homeowners policy.
Thx

I'd be really interested to know which companies are limiting coverage for parking an EV in garage. That is...... sketchy.

I know the headlines get a lot of press, but all sorts of fires get started in garages every year. How about my turkey fryer next to old paint rags; that cool?

quote:

Recently, one of the sales crew had their car catch fire in their garage so now my wife is worried about that happening to us.

Curious what brand/model EV caught fire....

Can't blame insurance companies for wanting to mitigate risk, considering a fire from an EV is darn near impossible to put out and you'd need a
big truck to drag one on fire out of the garage, you just can't roll them out.

At my business there is a shop area where there are several vehicles.
The building (a typical metal building) has an alarm system, nothing fancy, with several smoke detectors in the appropriate locations.
Unless I run a car for a long time, there is no problem setting off the smoke detectors.
I can run one just before closing, shut the building up, and still no problem.

Contact a Fire Extinguisher / Sprinkler company . They use all sorts of heat detectors in that industry . We had heat detectors on large power transformers that would trigger the water deluge system . We tested them with a heat lamp on the end of a long pole . REALLY cool to watch ...

Maybe double your insurance ?

A house just burned up in my neighborhood 2 blocks away from lithium battery fire in the garage. Whole structure completely gutted.

Getting an alarm in the garage is a great idea.

I know that there is a general dislike for EV’s on this platform but to just keep spewing out the MSM mantra that EV’s are bad without doing your own analysis is just stupid. We are smarter than that.

Here is an actual breakdown on which type of vehicle catches fire most often…and it’s not EV’s. In fact they are safer than any other type of vehicle when it comes to fires so if your insurance agent gives you some BS excuse about why they are raising your rates because you have an EV tell them that you are getting another agent/company.

BTW, my Erie agent has all our vehicles including a Tesla and both houses and he has never said that…

https://www.autoinsuranceez.co...-electric-car-fires/

The risk with EV fires is them catching fire while charging, gas vehicles don't usually catch fire while just sitting there.

And EV fires are incredibly difficult to put out.