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Vape Detector Accuracy

Do Vape Smoke Detectors Really Work?

Vape Smoke Detectors Are Generally Very Accurate But Keep These Factors in Mind

Hundreds of Schools in All 50 States Rely on Triton for Advanced Vape Smoke Detection and School Safety

Ceiling Height

  • 3D Sense and 3D Sense Pro are tested using standard bathroom ceilings that are 9-11 feet (2.7-3.4 meters) high
  • Rooms with ceilings greater than 9 feet high may require an extension pole or conduit box to bring the sensors closer to the vape emission.

Air Flow

  • Try to install your device in a central location but away from ventilation that may disrupt the air flow (e.g., exhaust blowing air away from the vape sensor)
  • Opening windows and excessive ventilation can interfere with the airflow and disrupt vape and smoke emissions from reaching the sensor.

Room Size

  • We recommend installing one 3D Sense unit within every 170 square feet (15.79 square meters) of space in the room. However, this is a cautious estimate based on maximum expectations and many of our customers have great results installing just one in a central location of larger rooms.

Student Behavior

  • Vaping is, unfortunately, a social activity among many teenage students. While some students have been able to temporarily get around vape detectors by exhaling their vape smoke into a flushing toilet or plastic water bottle, taking this step ruins some of the fun of vaping for the students and thus is a sign of the detectors working.
  • Students usually vape in groups of two to three, pass their vaping devices around, and spend an average of 8 minutes in the room before leaving.
  • Some students might try to tamper with and vandalize the sensor. All Triton detectors include tamper detection and a 80db alarm to discourage tampering and lead to fast apprehension of vandals.
  • Some students might try to spray perfume to cover the scent of vapes. Masking detection is standard on all Triton detectors and alerts you to this behavior.

Facts to Remember

  • Ever 14 seconds a student is caught vaping by a Triton Sensors vape sensor.
  • Vape Detectors and school safety devices free up staff time so they no longer have to constantly monitor bathrooms.
  • Vape Detectors record time stamps to sync up with video cameras.
  • 3D Sense and 3D Sense Pro vape detection sensors are installed in hundreds of schools around the world and receive very high satisfaction rates.
  • You can get a free demo unit of 3D Sense to try in your school before you make a purchasing decision

How Vape Sensors Work

A Vape detector like 3D Sense work by using a particulate sensor to detect the presence of vaping and other unwanted behaviors. The sensor can detect particulate sizes down to 0.3 microns, which is small enough to identify the presence of vaping particles. The detector also uses a machine learning algorithm to accurately identify the behavior. The algorithm is trained on data collected from sensors in bathrooms and other spaces where vaping is likely to occur. This data includes information on the size and concentration of vaping particles in different environments. By using this data, the machine learning algorithm can accurately identify the presence of vaping particles in any environment.

3D Sense installs over Ethernet just like security cameras. 3D Sense Pro a more advanced version, has an integrated mic for loud noise detection like vandalism and bullying and also keyword detection. It also has a built in sensor and alarm to detect if a student is tampering .

Vape smoke sensors work well, but…

The idea behind vape detectors is the same behind vape detectors. When it detects smoke/vape, it is supposed to alert you. With smoke detectors, the goal is to alert everyone around so they can evacuate. Vape detectors, on the other hand, are designed to be more discreet. This leads to the question of reliability.

You might have seen articles like this from Wired which features ways that teens try to circumvent vape detectors in their school. Notably, it features students trying to avoid detection by exhaling into the sleeves of their shirts. While this may be a drawback for other detectors, 3D Sense is not limited by this as it detects particles much smaller than what is filtered out by shirt sleeves. 

Vape detectors are generally very reliable. The 3D Sense detector, for example, has been meticulously engineered and calibrated to minimize false-positive and only send alerts when vaping is likely. However, when students go out of their way to mask vaping or when only one sensor is covering a very large area, it may take a long time for the vape to reach the sensor or it may never reach it at all.

Depending on which sensor you are using, different non-vaping events can set a vape detector off. For instance, vape detectors in a locker room have the chance of being set off from steam from a shower. With 3D Sense, this is rare, however. Because it has been engineered to only send an alert to the events strongly associated with vaping, the chance for false-positives is low. Additionally, we have added operating hours to only alert you during and around school hours so aerosols like cleaning supplies do not set it off after hours. 

How Vape Smoke Detection Devices Prevent Vaping

Vape detectors are generally very good at detecting when students vape in the right conditions, but they don’t stop there. One of the most powerful features of any vape detector has nothing to do with its design, but the psychology behind it. The mere presence of a vape detector in a ceiling has been shown to reduce vaping dramatically. And even for students who persist, 3D Sense has tamper-detection so you’ll know if a student tries to mess with it. And it can be synced with security footage to give an accurate idea of who might be responsible for vaping.

3D Sense also comes with these benefits:

  • Half the price of other vape detectors
  • Cigarette smoke detection
  • Cloud-enabled Machine Learning
  • Tamper Resistant Design
  • Built for air-flow
  • Real-time notifications
  • learn more

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