NEVER set off the FIRE ALARM AGAIN 

I started using shower caps about a year ago and have never had an alarm go off since and I’ve had some seriously smoky experiences. It’s sort of like the ziploc bag trick but they have the elastic band around them which forms a really great seal. Works great for about two bucks!

Some say if you’re early enough, you get a free grilled cheese.

This is literally my life. The toughest part about cooking the perfect medium rare steak is the balancing act of being in two places at one time. Watching the steak but also waving a towel in front of the fire alarm.

Lmao, love the shocked reaction when the alarm went off 🤣

The ones in my apartment are so sensitive, even just opening the oven from having it at 475-500 for bread will set it off. Hate it! Mostly because I'm 4'9" and then have to find a broom to hit the button on the detectors. And my poor cats are always so traumatized by it and hide for hours. Thanks for the heads up!

Ok, this seems like a better option than having my fiancée fanning the smoke detectors while I have two fans channelling the smoke out the closest window... 😂

I was searching for any video to help decrease sensitivity of smoke alarm and tumbled into your video. And i did the same thing, and i could cook, toast, and bake without worrying that my fire alarm will go off loud! Your video helped me! Thank you so much!!!!!

Fun change of pace with this video, Stephen!

I'm loving the quality advice this channel has to offer... hands down one of the most informative youtube channels on cooking!

We used to cover our smoke detectors with a plastic shower cap in college. I won't disclose whether this was for cooking reasons though 🙄

My mom wasn’t the best cook and had a tendency to get distracted when stuff was on the stove (boiling potatoes dry and catching frying oil on fire were two of her repeat offenses), so in our house we called the smoke alarm "the dinner bell". On the positive side, I did learn the best methods for scrubbing oily smoke off a ceiling.

Great tip! What works for me is to wrap the fire alarm with a sheet of foil, then wrap a plastic bag around it, tightly sealed with a rubber band. Works like a charm.

I freaking needed this video! Lol I just know my neighbors think I can’t cook worth a damn. Genius!

Great video! Since I moved back to NYC, I’ve been struggling to find some sort of “solution” to the fire alarm going off when I’m cooking a steak. Definitely going to try this. Way to represent the Hudson Valley/NY. Big fan since the beginning and everything you get is well deserved. Keep the videos coming!

The stress is so real. I started sweating just watching you recount the experience. Glad you found a solution!

Took delivery today. Smoked up my kitchen this evening. No fire alarm. You're a genius for multiple reasons now! Woohooo!

Been following your channel for a year now, and THIS is a game changer. Ciao Ciao smoke alarms going off in my apartment. Cheers from Canada.

Yo! My Blue Air 411 solved my snoring and actually helps me and my wife's sleeping! Her allergies are so much better with blue! 10/10 Recommend!

I could never be able to have that big-ass box in my small-ass apartment lol

I want to thank you so much i cooked some stuff I have a smoke detector kind of close to the kitchen and I got a medium size air purifier and put it close to where the stove is and now I don’t have any problem with the smoke detector going off anymore thank you so much

That’s a great idea. It’s so frustrating when I’m cooking and the alarm goes off. I always thought that the smoke alarms should be put on a separate circuit breaker so you can just shout it off when you cook.

Thanks for this! I have this exact same problem, so gonna give this a try. 💯

I’m amazed that worked! Happy you found a solution that works.

Great idea! This may work well when my husband cooks with ghost peppers and puts me into a coughing fit.🤣

OMG. Bro, happens every weekend at my place. Sucks. Cooking should be fun not full of anxiety or panic. Nice tip. I will definitely look into an AP. Thanks

Good tip! When I was in an apt we didn't have that many alarms LOL! What worked for the two we did have was turning on the exhaust fan in the bathroom and we did something with the air conditioner unit.

That's a great idea! Gotta try it. Thanks bro

Does it stop the other fire alarms without being underneath it?

This is awesome thanks for the tip .!!

Gonna try it, thanks!

This worked. Thank you for sharing.

I think the problem is really at the fire alarm level. You should be able to say "I'm cooking for the next hour". Or, even better, when it smells good it knows not to go off.

Hey man you are the coolest dude I cook in this studio apartment I put an Air purifier right next to or near where the stove is I turn it on when I cook and there’s no problem with the smoke detector stay cool man keep cooking

I have 2 air purifiers. One in my living room by my dogs crates & the other, in my bedroom. I can _definitely_ tell a difference since getting them!! The filters aren't that cheap but, as long as I wash the cover on top of the filters often, they last longer!! I have 3 dogs & 2 cats so it does wonders 💕

I wonder if using a fan, and direct it towards the fire alarm, would yield the same result ? That would be a cheaper solution.

THANK YOU!!! My husband and I have had this problem since we’ve moved into our new house with so many fancy (and sensitive) smoke alarms and nothing has worked for us so I’m going to give this a shot!!

Good idea! 👍 As long as they still work in case of a fire.

This was pretty helpful! thank u haha

We bought the exact same air purifier, it works fantastic!

I'm not sure if I got this idea from you, but I recently tried the same thing and moved my air purifier into the kitchen for steak night. It worked pretty great!

We feel your fire alarms woes. We had a house and all the fire alarms were synced and like your experiences there was nothing that worked. My husband would freak every time the damn things went off, he'd get a kitchen towel and he'd wave it frantically trying to shut the stupid thing off. What happened from all his hard work was a torn shoulder that needed surgery to repair. (Bleeping things).

I have a little $20 fan blowing on the smoke detector. Works perfect! My alarm would go off just from opening up the preheated empty oven.

I watched a program about that air purifier and it actually is the best on the market. Unbiased geeks measured air quality in people’s houses and had engineers go over about 10 air purifier systems. It was done in Toronto, ON. I live in Buffalo, NY and we get CDN TV.

Coming from a serious home cook in a tiny house this video was great, that pain and panic is all too familiar

can it circulate air like a fan and cool down a room?

This is hilarious dude. I can tell your apartment is brand new, same as mine was. I had the same problem: the most intense fire alarm ever..it even went off just from that burning smell that boiling a pot of water with some crap on the bottom sometimes makes. I think it's a combo of: new fire alarm tech is more sensitive and new building regulations require SO many fire alarms, that they end up putting one right next to the oven. I eventually had to straight up rip the one next to the oven out and disconnect the wires and remove the batteries. Luckily the other ones are in other rooms so doors can be shut. So the problem is over, but interesting to know that an air purifier helps.

My husband wired our house and placed the fire alarm in the kitchen halfway between the stove and the oven, guaranteeing that it will always go off no matter what I cook on a hot stove or oven. It doesn’t just beep, it vocalizes “Fire, Fire, Fire!” The kitchen alarm sets off the alarms all over the house, and if it isn’t turned off, it calls the security company. Imagine cooking for guests and having the alarm yelling “Fire” to all of your guests. The dogs get scared and jump in my husband’s lap, and he comforts them, “Oh are you afraid of Mommy’s cooking? Me too!” Sometimes he is on the phone and the alarm starts yelling “Fire” and he calmly says, “Please bear with, my wife is cooking again.” 👿

You are telling my story! I can't even cook bacon on the stove or biscuits in the oven without the alarm going off. And yes, you are aware it might go off but you are still startled when it happens! Thanks, I will try this..

lmao bro imagine you live in an apartment with 4 floors in your residential complex and every fire alarm goes nuts with the fire department in need to arrive. And yeah, it happened while I cooked my 40$ Dry Aged Ribeye, exactly like you described it. Nice sizzling, the sir happening and you're in the zone suddenly stopping! Thanks sir, lets try this out!

YOU ARE MY SPIRIT ANIMAL, thank you!

The reaction to the alarm going off was perfect🤣

its funny you're posting this. This just happened to me last night and I was venting to no one how much I HATE it!

Best cooking video ever!

Replace your hardwired detectors with ones that just use a battery. That will prevent all the detectors sounding at once. I live in a 2 story house with a basement and I can hear the basement detector chirping even if I’m on the second floor so I’m sure I’d hear it if it activated.

I do the same thing only with my Lesko wind tunnel fan. I set it under the smoke detector, point it at the ceiling and boom no more smoke detector going off. An air purifier is a great idea tough if you live in a place with not much ventilation and you get cooking smells that linger for ages in your house.

LMAO the panic when shutting it off

My apartment has no oven hood or ventilation system of any kind. Every time I stir fry or sear meats the whole place is engulfed in smoke! This has been the bane of my culinary existence. I tried everything. I tried high smoke point oils and a myriad of other solutions, nothing. Fortunately I have a balcony of sorts but it's such a pain to cook outside and have to schlep everything you need to cook your meal outdoors.

That's a really nice view you got out your windows!

This is actually a good purifier. He did his homework.

If you unplug it from the wall/ceiling and put it down somewhere low near the ground it won’t detect smoke that mostly rises up high.

Fire alarm aside (mine isn’t close to the kitchen), I wonder if putting the air purifier in the kitchen would alleviate the smoke buildup issue....

I’ve detached my fire alarm and I just put it underneath a blanket or pillow when I cook lol

At times like that I am glad I have a window near my stoves and oven.

Also a tip, if they all go off at once, they might be linked if they are hardwired units. Take them down and remove the 3rd (usually orange) wire and then if one goes off it will only be that one Also, those look like ionizing detectors. Optical detectors are actually not only more effective at calling out fires, but less likely to go off from small cooking smoke. They are like $10 more which is why they are not coming because contractors don’t wanna spend that extra cash

dawg you the man

you do know that you have to wash the filters of the extractor regularly or else they don't work?

If someone from Nest doesn’t reach out to you and ask for a partnership after this, they’ve hired the wrong people 😊 I’ve been through this before (you’re right about the microwave “vent hood”); this is why I started cooking steak in the oven 🤣. I’m glad you’ve found something that works for you.

How we stopped it when that happened in our old stove we turn it off by the breaker

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I just keep a small fan on my counter top pointing vertically UP to the smoke detector. Works like a charm and a lot less expensive

What a great idea. In my condo, I have a horrible ventilation system for my stove. I don't cook smash burger's any longer unless the windows and doors are open. I'm getting this setup.

Whenever I want some steak or want to grill some veggies in my grill pan, step 1 in that process is always taking the downstairs smoke detector off the wall and putting a cushion over it. I still forget step 1 sometimes.

That's my favourite video! xD I feel your pain! :P Death to fire alarms!

I hate it when that happens. Even with the ventilation system above the stove, this still happens to me sometimes. In the summer I can open a window and it's not so bad.

I also live in apartment in which all meat we seared set off the fire alarm. We used to place a fan between the alarm and the kitchen. Then I too bought the same air purifier for my bedroom last year. It also occurred to me that it could prevent the fire alarm from going off and clear the air of cooking smells. I need to get another one for my bedroom now.

Im getn the winix 5500 for smoke. Did my research.

God so glad someone addressed this. The amount of inconvenience associated with cooking fish or steak properly makes me not even want to do it. I have a rather expensive sofa and carpet that I don’t really want smelling like salmon and old bay.

I've been having the same issue when I make pizza, the fire alarm really doesn't like a pizza steel in an oven at 525 so it goes off every time

For a cheap air purifier solution, tape a HEPA filter to a box fan.

Is this safe?....

I’m having the same exact problem as you had! It’s ridiculous how sensitive these things are (they installed 2 of them in 780 sq ft, or approximately 30 feet in between, one another)! I currently don’t have an air cleaner but, my place is so small, I’d rather not have to have another small appliance, sitting in my house. So, I’m in the researching faze, right now! 🤬 Thanx for your tip, tho…& everyone else’s!

I’m in the appliance business. And I can tell you most likely the cause of the problem is that you have that wonderful commercial grade range with very high output burners and a rinky dink ordinary microwave hood combo. The fan on the exhaust doesn’t have a high enough cfm (cubic foot per minute) rating to remove the exhaust from the stove top. Even if it were vented to the exterior it wouldn’t be adequate.

Man, I can only imagine you working on duck legs under these conditions.

I love. This

Oh I forgot..I have those smoke alarms as well that have a battery but are hot wired as well. If you remove the battery then squeeze the plastic sides inside the unit you can detach it and it won't beep.

When I cook I sometimes compromise. I think about the paint job, cabinets and upholstered furniture getting greasy and smoke stained. Potting or slow cooking and soups are okay...even roasting but frying and searing meat is the worst. Now that I'm in a townhouse I purchased a grill and will be purchasi g an electric frypan so I can fry and grill outdoors. As you know Steven, cooking indoors without proper ventilation is a messy business.

Had a lot of success buying a new smoke alarm that is made specifically for a kitchen. Almost never goes off. And in those foreseeable times you know you’re cooking up a storm you can always just take it down while cooking. Also, never install the alarms in areas that will accumulate smoke easier than others

Great to know, been there

You have to change the fire alarm. To an optical fire alarm. Vs what you got which will be less sensitive to the smoke. It's meant for the kitchen

Never understood why apartments don’t have ventilation

The struggle is real yo

the fact that we have to do this though.. its 2024 smoke alarms should be with it by now. 😢

I live in a studio apartment and I just disabled my fire alarm, I couldn’t handle it anymore. 😬

What i had to do in my apartment was wrap the smoke detector in a plastic bag, super effective. Just remember to remove it after you’re done

I have another air purifier idk if it’ll work

Bro why’d you put the sound in my body’s fully triggered 😂😂

In Germany we have fire alarm in the rooms we are sleeping and our floor. in the kitchen doesnt make any sense *lol*

So basically all I need is a fan on my alarm

Works

Ha!!! I stay in an extended stay hotels for work quite often, the type with the kitchenette. I thought it would be a good idea to make smash burgers one night, turns out the fire alarm wasn’t just fir my room alone, it was for the entire floor!!! A bit embarrassing, and the floor smelled burgery for a few hours afterwards to boot!