Nick Floyd
The National fire protection association estimates the average number of house fires in the U.S. from 1977-2013 to be roughly 1/2 million! While the numbers are dropping they are still pretty high.
courtesy of NFPA
Things used in this project
- Nest Protect smoke & carbon monoxide alarm, Wired (2nd gen)
- Rachio Smart Sprinkler Controller, 8 Zone 2nd Generation, Works with Amazon Alexa
My family and I recently moved to the great state of Texas (where if you look at dry grass wrong it will catch on fire) and noticed that we were missing carbon monoxide and smoke detectors in critical areas in our home - kitchen, upstairs, so on.
According to the NFPA the highest percentage of fires come from cooking equipment (see below) so we knew we'd need one down there - even though my wife is a rock-awesome cook (I'm the one that can and will catch a glass of water on fire). My kids like to solder things in my office and we have the 3D printer up there as well so that was a given as well.
If you're thinking about upgrading your carbon monoxide / smoke detector and you've decided on a device consider areas where the incidents are probable (keeping in mind that fires are possible just about everywhere). This will help you get an idea of how many you'll need and where to put them.
We landed on the Nest Protect
It was an obvious choice for us but not for all of the reasons you might think. Yes we have the Nest Thermostat and yes we love the look, feel and functionality of Nest devices - but those are not the only reasons. One of the main reasons we went with the Nest Protect was because of Rachio.
I know what you might be thinking: "What does an incredible sprinkler controller have to do with a carbon monoxide detector?" So glad you asked.
Integration. Plan and simple. So we're all called to love our neighbors - that means you think about them, you help them and so on. So when I found out a little known amazing feature mashup of of the Nest and Rachio I was sold.
"If you own a Nest thermostat this integration allows Rachio to share your water usage data with Nest to be included in your monthly Home Reports. For Nest Protect owners, Rachio will automatically run your sprinklers if smoke is detected to help prevent any fires from spreading."
Incredible. Something so simple that can easily save lives or property loss. Just head over to the Rachio web app if you have these devices and login. Navigate to the lower right hand corner of the app and configure the integration.
Now, get to loving thy neighbor!