Rather Be Safe Than Sorry
It is a great responsibility to be a homeowner, to actually be cautious of the safety of the all the occupants. The one main safety feature that seems to go unnoticed is a smoke detector. To some homeowners, they seem to think it is a good idea to put their detectors up and completely forget about them. The main argument in favor of wired smoke detectors is that they will stay powered forever and there is no need to change the batteries. But they never seem to think about if the power goes out, or the back-up batteries aren’t properly functioning. According to an article on Do It Yourself, the detector will begin to go off when the power goes off and the back-up battery (if there is one) is dead. So why have a hardwired detector if it will not work in all scenarios? This does prove that no matter what type of detector you have, hardwired or battery powered, proper care and maintenance is needed.
New and improved detectors are always coming onto the market, usually advancing with technology. In a article by Haramis Electric, these detectors will alert emergency services automatically if a smoke detector is activated in your home. Of course these new detectors will cost more, but in the end the price of a detector is worth it. But there are some disadvantages to these “smart” detectors. The main disadvantage comes when the power goes out. Some new systems run on WiFi, but are no good when they are getting no power.
Of course, we cannot argue all detectors are a hazard and we should not use them. They save many lives a year from house fires. But we can argue certain aspects are dangerous, such as when the power goes out. Safety does come first, no matter the cost, so detectors should not go unnoticed or forgotten.
Work Cited
Advantages/Disadvantages of Smart Smoke Detectors. (2016, September 08). Retrieved March 19, 2018, from http://www.haramiselectric.com/blog/advantagesdisadvantages-smart-smoke-detectors/
Smoke Detector Beeping: Maintenance Is Likely Required. (2009, June 22). Retrieved March 19, 2018, from https://www.doityourself.com/stry/smoke-detector-beeping-maintenance-is-likely-required
Rowan Counterintuitive 
LB, I admire your work so far on your Definition and Causal arguments. Here, I think your lack of academic sources is starting to show. You don’t have a particularly strong “opponent” to refute. But considerable research has been done into the relative effectiveness of battery-operated, hard-wired, old and new smoke detection and fire alarm systems. Your research will benefit from a strong selection of sources that come from independent science, not the fire prevention or fire detection industries.
I did a simple search of the databases at Rowan’s Campbell Library. This link will reproduce that search if you’re logged into your Rowan account.
https://rowan.summon.serialssolutions.com/search?s.q=%22fire+alarm%22+%22smoke+detector%22+false+alarm+failure#!/search?ho=t&l=en&q=%22fire%20alarm%22%20%22smoke%20detector%22%20false%20alarm%20failure
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Among the first several sources, I found books on fire protection engineering, a book titled “Building Fire Performance Analysis” available in the stacks at Campbell Library, an Evaluation of programs that use 10-year Smoke Alarms, a report about the case of a fatal fire that was preceded by a failure to investigate a false alarm, and then this tasty array where all three sources have unique angles on your topic including “false alarm immunity,” “alarm system malfunctions,” and the essential question: “Do Smoke Detectors Really Save Lives?”
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Sample these sources and others, LB, and see if you find strong opinions that run counter to your own claims. When you encounter opposition from credible sources, you have located the rebuttal arguments your refutation argument must overcome to convince your most critical readers.
Does this make sense, and do you think you’ll be able to find what you need?
Respond, please. I appreciate the interaction.
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Thank you for the help, Professor. I do find this very helpful and will look at the library database for these sources and find more evidence for my argument. I will also continue to add to my White Paper to keep track of these sources.
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