Okay, you’re of the legal age to vape, but your school has got vape detectors, and you can’t just stay all that long hours in school without at least having a few tens of puffs? That’s understandable.

What about you that’s not a student, but your workplace has got a vape detector, which means you can’t vape while at work – and you just can’t deal? Well, we are not saying you should go against the rules and authorities in your school, workplace, or anywhere there are vape detectors, but just because you care to know, this article explains how to avoid detectors.

Quick Look

• How Do Vape Detectors Work?
• What Do Vape Detectors Detect?
• What Can Set Off a Vape Detector?
• Are Vape Detectors Accurate?
• How to Avoid Triggering Vape Detectors?
• Why Do Vape Detectors Blink?
• What Should You Do If You Set Off a Vape Detector?
• Conclusion

How Do Vape Detectors Work?

To be honest, and to the best of my knowledge, vape detectors work similarly to smoke detectors. They are able to detect vape vapors and set off an alarm or trigger any preset action (could be camera capture).

Some smoke detectors would set off an alarm when you vape around the corner – but in the real sense (as advertised by these vape detector brands), a vape detector is different from a smoke detector. Vape detectors are programmed to only activate when I detect vape vapor or e-cigarette smoke.

These detectors vary in their coverage ranges; some can cover up to 20ft or more, while there are some that won’t cover that far – just about 8ft to 10ft.

The big deal with vape detectors is that they don’t set off an alarm like smoke detectors; they secretly notify the person in the control/monitor room and maybe capture the environment too – when they detect vape vapors. So, you could still be out there vaping and some security men would come to you like, BOOOMM!!! You’re Busted!

What Do Vape Detectors Detect?

As the name goes, these detectors are built with sensors that detect vape smoke and e-cigarettes. A fire smoke may not be able to set off a vape detector because the sensors in vape detectors are not designed for fire smoke alarms. In the real sense, a vape detector detects the vapor from vape pens, disposable vape pods, and e-cigarettes.

But then, these detectors are made by different companies, and they have different features that set each of them aside. Thus, aside from detecting vape and e-cigarette vapors, they could be engineered to detect other stuff.

Not sure a smoke and vape detector sensor can be built into the same system, but sometimes, these sensors detect what the other is meant to detect. For example, a vape detector may be triggered by fire smoke, or a smoke alarm getting triggered by vape vapor.

What’s Inside Vape Detectors?

Vape detectors integrate a number of sensors that continuously monitor the air in a specific environment; if these sensors detect foul air, chemical vapors, or particulate matter relating to vaping, it will trigger the instruction action.

But, these detectors won’t just set off at the slightest perceiving of vape vapor or particle matters; they are built with thresholds. So, they will only set off if the amount of perceived vaping vapor exceeds the predefined threshold.

That said, a vape detector could contain the following sensors: particulate sensors, gas sensors (to sense the presence of specific gasses associated with vaping and smoking), and combination sensors (a sensor that could detect vape particles and gases).

What Can Set Off a Vape Detector?

Apparently, it would take vape flavor to set off a vape detector. As explained above, these vape detectors are built with a threshold; just one puff may not set them off. It takes a certain amount of vape vapor concentration in the air being circulated in the monitored environment before the detector would send a notice to the monitoring team or sets off an alarm to warn the defaulter.

Well, if you vape and put the vapor through your wear (as some people do while in non-vape environments), you might not set off the vape detector since the final amount of vapor being released could fall below the threshold of the installed sensor. This is quite stressful and not everyone can deal with it.  

Are Vape Detectors Accurate?

Tech systems are not always 100% accurate with their insinuations and vape detectors are no different from the systems being talked about. While vape detectors may be correct up to 90% of the time, there have been instances where these detectors set off “false alarms.”

Yeah, false alarms in the sense that they got triggered by detecting vapors or particle matters perceived to be coming from a vape, while the vapors or matters were being produced by something else that is not a vape.

Disclaimer: If you’re trying to play smart (like, vape in a non-vape environment and claim the detector set off a false alarm, it is important to note that most of these detectors are equipped with cameras).

How to Avoid Triggering Vape Detectors?

The  best way to avoid triggering a vape detector is to not vape in restricted environments. But, of course, people always find their way around rules and regulations, so, yeah, there are some tricks that you help you avoid triggering vape detectors (if you feel like you really need to vape in a vape-restricted area).

First of all, if it’s in school, you have to sit close to the window, so when you inhale, you put the exhale through the window – so, it goes out and does not circulate inside the classroom, which probably has a vape detector up the ceiling.

Alternatively, you can blow the vapor from your smoke into something else – maybe inside a Ziploc or your backpack – and not into the air. To be honest, these are the only two ways to get around vape detectors, every other one you read out there is fluff – better still, just respect the no-vape rule, and once you’re outta that environment, you can vape the hell out of your vape pen!

Why Do Vape Detectors Blink?

When a vape detector is blinking, it could mean a lot of things:

1. The system is malfunctioning (usually when it blinks red)
2. The sensor is recording the environment and streaming to a control unit
3. That’s how the device is designed to function (the blinking means it’s powered on and active)
4. The sensor just detected vape vapor and is trying to send an alarm
5. It could mean anything else.

What Should You Do If You Set Off a Vape Detector?

To be honest, there is almost nothing you can do, other than to stop vaping and put the vape pod/pen away. If you were smoking an e-cigarette, you should put it away too. You know why? Because the vape detector monitoring team must have seen you – most of these detectors have a camera installed into them.

Also, it’ll be best if you stay calm when the security approaches you to address the situation. Well, you can claim you never saw the “no-vape” signage and you’re sorry for going against the rule. Most definitely, you’ll be pardoned, since it’s probably your first time in that area/environment. But trying to deny it wasn’t you that vaped and set off the alarm, nah! That would do more harm than good.

Conclusion

So, what’s the summary of all these we’ve been saying? Firstly, you can’t really outsmart vape detectors; they’re more accurate most of the time than they are not. To avoid triggering these detectors, it is best to not vape in monitored areas. If you’re unaware of a vape detector being installed where you are, and then you vaped, remain calm when you’re approached by security and explain yourself. Hopefully, this article helps really good, yeah?

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