Aside #9V: If you have a night job (meaning that you sleep during the day), does your smoke alarm peep only during the day?If you don't know what I'm talking about then you're probably one of those sick people who dutifully changes the batteries in their smoke alarms each year when you switch back to daylight saving time (or are you supposed to do it when you go back to standard time?).
But as a founding member of the local chapter of the Procrastinator's Club (well, I will be when I get around to helping found it) I tend to put off replacing the batteries until one of them dies, causing the alarm to start chirping (at 2 a.m.). Actually, I tend to think that the first failure is premature and wait until the second or third before 6/10ths manages to force me to replace them all.
And I did just that — changed all the smoke alarm batteries — a couple months ago. So why did that smoke alarm start chirping at 2 a.m. last week? And why did it chirp 3 times, then stop? For a couple of days. Chirp three more times (at 2 a.m.), then stop? And why did the second one start doing the same thing? And maybe even a third?
After testing the batteries I came to the conclusion that the batteries were not bad, but the smoke alarms had crossed that magical threshold called "the end of the warrantee period". Unfortunately, further research revealed that they were probably well beyond the warrantee period. And when they tell you to replace your smoke detectors every 10 years, they mean it. If you don't follow that advice you can expect to deal with a lot of chirping that stops just before you manage to zero in on the offender. At 2 a.m.
I decided to bite the bullet and replace all of my smoke alarms. That's when I figured out why my builder's own house burned to the ground — it was probably torched by an irate homeowner who was ticked off by the constant and malicious use of products that are either non-standard sizes or regional brands from some other region than our own. Current example: Firex brand smoke alarms. Not sold at Home Depot. Not sold at Lowes. Not sold at Elliots. Not sold at Ace. Not sold at True Value. Not sold at Target. Not sold at Wal-Mart.
What can you get at all those stores? Kidde brand.
I'm not trying to imply that Firex doesn't make good smoke alarms or that Kidde makes a better smoke alarm. I have no way of knowing and have had no complaints regarding my Firex smoke alarms (except for the 2 a.m. chirping). The problem is that all of my smoke alarms are wired together and there is no standard for such connections. You can't replace one Firex smoke alarm with a Kidde if they're wired together.
Why would you wire together smoke alarms? Well, if your smoke alarms are wired together then they will all go off if one senses a fire. So the alarm is sounded throughout your McMansion, helping to ensure that everyone gets out safely.Guess what I did last weekend? Yep. I bought seven new Kidde smoke alarms and replaced the whole lot. I'm set for another 10 years.
5 comments:
my smoke alarms am [sic] electric-powered, so I don't replace batteries - ever.
I should add this mandate to my fledgling When I Become King blog, eh?
Thanks for the comments on smoke alarms and taking the actions needed to help protect life and property. A few items that may address your concerns and questions:
- replacement at 10 years is recommended for 2 reasons; the electronics in these alarms has been "on" steadily for 10 years. Electronic components do wear out, and the sensors in the alarm can get blocked with dirt and dust [even in a clean home] which could affect their ability to detect and alert.
- Underwriter's Laboratories [UL] certifies these alarms. The testing is extensive. And UL does the testing of new designs at their facility, rather than letting the manufacturer to do the testing using UL specs.
- UL specifies that alarms from differnt vendors should not be interconnected. It would be too difficult to test all the possible combinations. That would apparently be the case even if there were a standard for interconnection.
- Kidde, FireX and FirstAlert are the leading brands in the US, but there are dozens of other manufacturers / importers.
- you are correct that interconnection provides additional safety. The CPSC and NIST [government labs] have determined that the length of time people have to escape a fire has come down dramatically over the past 20 years, due to different materials in most homes. So, having all the alarms go off when one detects smoke increases the chance of being warned and escaping in time.
- FireX - has been making smoke alarms for over 25 years [and now carbon monoxide / combo alarms as well]. The company sells primarily through Electrical Wholesalers to electrical contractors, and mostly for installation in new homes.
- While you were able to make swap, but for many people - older, too busy, not handy - it's smart to have a professional contractor do the work. That helps assure compliance with current local code and evaluate the addition of carbon monoxide protection even in states that don't yet require CO protection
- there are probably over 100 million smoke alarms over 10 years old in the US, and groups like National Fire Protection Association [NFPA], CPSC and others recommend replacement at 10 years. As you note, replacing the batteries and pushing the test button is NOT an assurance that these older alarms.
I checked with Kidde, and they assured me that their interconnect detectors are compatible with Firex. But...yours probably needed to be replaced anyway!
You can get an adaptor so that the Firex plug will fit into Kidde. But you need to replace all of the Firex, the manual states that you can only connect Kidde.
We change our smoke detector batteries annually since it came with no specification as to when the old one dies. But, some have manufacturer instructions for specific models, so it is important to check if you have those. We also make sure to have the correct type and that the battery is properly installed.
Odessa Hanton
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