A Smoke Detector in Your Cabin?

Don't be lulled into a false sense of security because you see a smoke detector in your cabin.

Eric and Catherine May (Barrie, Ontario) weren't. On their trip aboard the Raja Ampat Explorer last November, they discovered, to their dismay, that their cabin's smoke detector's battery was not connected. Eric told Undercurrent, "Of the three detectors I checked in the lower cabins, none had their batteries connected." They were told the high tropical humidity tended to set them off.

There are two types of smoke detectors. The common ionization type is sensitive to high humidity, as tiny water droplets can form in the sensing chamber. Photoelectric smoke detectors that use a light beam that might be scattered by smoke are less likely to be affected unless near a steamy shower. It might be best to hedge your bets and have both! Turn up the aircon too high in a tropical situation and you've got the makings of trouble, thanks to the temperature differences between the cold air and warm surfaces in the device.

You can check a smoke detector by pressing the check button on the outside, so no need to dismount it to know it's working correctly -- something everybody should do. Luckily for the Mays, they wisely carried their own smoke detector with them ... and the boat didn't catch fire.