Both kinds exist. Both have different benefits and drawbacks.
You shouldn’t only be using one type in your house.
Optical is great for detecting large smoke particles quickly. If the smoke is small particles, though, it’ll need to be rather dense before it’ll go off. Ionizing detectors have the opposite issue; they react quickly to small particles but can’t detect large particles that well.
No the sensitivity of radiation based smoke alarms tends to cause false positives which in turn causes people to ignore them making them less effective. Optical smoke detectors are overall the newer and better technology.
That being said radiation based smoke detection is still a cool concept. There might be a few areas where they perform better still, though probably not.
For best protection, it is recommended both (ionization and photoelectric) technologies be used in homes. In addition to individual ionization and photoelectric alarms, combination alarms that include both technologies in a single device are available.
But how would they sell more smoke detectors that way?
They can sell more smoke detectors in HELLLLL
Doesn’t the isotope in the detection chamber degrade and needs to be replaced in 10 years anyway?
https://www.epa.gov/radtown/americium-ionization-smoke-detectors
most smoke detectors nowadays are optical.
Both kinds exist. Both have different benefits and drawbacks.
You shouldn’t only be using one type in your house.
Optical is great for detecting large smoke particles quickly. If the smoke is small particles, though, it’ll need to be rather dense before it’ll go off. Ionizing detectors have the opposite issue; they react quickly to small particles but can’t detect large particles that well.
No the sensitivity of radiation based smoke alarms tends to cause false positives which in turn causes people to ignore them making them less effective. Optical smoke detectors are overall the newer and better technology.
That being said radiation based smoke detection is still a cool concept. There might be a few areas where they perform better still, though probably not.
https://www.nfpa.org/Public-Education/Staying-safe/Safety-equipment/Smoke-alarms/Ionization-vs-photoelectric
The half life of americium 241 is 432.2 years, so no
Those detectors are inferior to optic detectors and should not be used any more.