TL;DR
A smoke detector is a device that senses combustion products using ionization or photoelectric technology and triggers an alarm; strictly, detectors report to a fire panel while self-contained residential units are smoke alarms. The IRC requires them in each bedroom, outside sleeping areas, and on every level, and NFPA 72 sets a 10-year replacement age for the unit itself, not just the battery.
What it means
A smoke detector is a device that senses combustion products using ionization or photoelectric technology and triggers an alarm; strictly, detectors report to a fire panel while self-contained residential units are smoke alarms. The IRC requires them in each bedroom, outside sleeping areas, and on every level, and NFPA 72 sets a 10-year replacement age for the unit itself, not just the battery. Photoelectric sensing responds faster to smoldering fires, ionization to flaming ones, so dual-sensor or photoelectric models are widely recommended.
Where it sits in the glossary
Smoke detector is part of the Certifications group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.
ProFix Directory keeps definitions short on the index page and saves the longer context — Ohio-specific rules, where the term comes from, and which ProFix tools touch it — for these per-term pages so the term is easy to cite and easy to share.
ProFix tools that touch this term
See also
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