What You Need to Know About the New Smoke Detector Standards

Headnote

New UL smoke detector requirements scheduled to go into effect next year are designed to enhance the ability to detect different types of fires, and minimize nuisance alarms.

The latest version of the UL standard for smoke detectors is designed to help ensure that devices can both detect a wider variety of fires, and avoid generating a nuisance alarm when there is not an emergency. Many manufacturers are making key changes to their smoke detectors in order to meet the new requirements, and, as Brian Boisse, senior engineering manager for Vaughan, Ontario-based fire system manufacturer Mircom, explains, they will be prohibited from manufacturing devices that don't meet the new requirements after June 30, 2021.

New Requirements

The new requirements apply to standalone smoke detectors, or smoke alarms, as well as smoke detectors that are designed to be used as part of a complete life safety system.

UL standard 217 applies to smoke alarms and UL standard 268 applies to the smoke detector system devices SDM readers most commonly install. The specific designation of the new 268 standard is Version 7.

Ultimately, where and how soon a dealer must install new devices that meet the standards will depend on which version of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 72 standard an individual's jurisdiction has adopted. That standard is typically updated every three years, but some jurisdictions take years to adopt the latest version.

According to SDM Columnist Roy Pollack, the current version of NFPA 72 doesn't require smoke detectors to meet UL 268 Version 7. The next version of the NFPA standard will carry the year 2022 designation and committees are still in the process of deciding whether to require Version 7 detectors in the standard, observes Pollack, who works as the director of training and compliance for Comcast/Xfinity Home.

Although Mircom doesn't make smoke detectors, the company does offer systems that work with those detectors, and Boisse is quite knowledgeable about smoke detectors through his involvement...