Question:
I couldn't believe it when I forgot to draft my fireplace and it started filling my family room with a generous amount of smoke this past weekend - my GE Simon smoke alarm did not engage the siren, nor did it transmit a signal to the control panel. It does pass the test from the control panel but I think that it to test transmission, not the sensing of smoke itself. Confirm that, if you would. I had a friend stand there with a cigarette and blow puffs of smoke at it....still no trigger. I have two other identical GE smoke alarms in the house and will test these tomorrow, but just for curiosity sake.....whats the deal - do I have a bad alarm, or is this product not very sensitive? I know my First Alert or Kiddie basic smoke alarms would have been scream'in!

Answer: Correct. Neither is using a lit match, as you could set fire to your house or alarm. Say you were holing it there, and the alarm went off. It scared you, you accidently let go of the still lit match, and it landed on the carpet! The best thing to use for a true test is a UL certified testing spray (available thru many major home centers [Home Depot®, Menards®, Lowes®, etc.]) like Smoke CheckT or Smoke Detector TesterT or Smoke! In a CanT (latter preferred since the smoke was probably made by InterlogixT, who also prodiced the spray)