Home Smoke Alarm Suggestions

[ls973800]

Nothing much showed up on a search here. My eight smoke alarms are now 10 years old and I want to replace them. I have the First Alert hard wired and interconnected smoke alarms only model 9120B. I believe they are the older ionization type sensor and not the newer photoelectric ones and do have a 9v battery back up.

Checking on line some say to go with the photoelectric, some say the ionization, some say get one with both sensors, some say stay away from both sensor types. Makes things very confusing.

I would like to stay around $30.00-$40.00 for each and will install additional carbon monoxide sensors since according to what I have read the smoke/CO alarms are not as good as they should be just yet. I have two CO only alarms now along with the 8 smoke alarms.

any suggestions or experiences? TIA

 

[PimTac]

How large a house and how many stories? It sounds like you have a lot of detectors

 

[daves87rs]

We have to have one for each room here.....

 

[Wolf359]

Did you check with the state on what the fire code requires? I install them all the time as it's require when selling a home. Mostly our fire code calls for photoelectric smoke alarms if it's within 20 feet of a kitchen or bathroom, otherwise it's dual photoelectric/ionization. I prefer just the standalone smoke alarm instead of the combos. Not only because they're cheaper, but when the carbon monoxide alarm goes, you have to replace the entire unit. In the past they were only good for 7 years because it uses an electro chemical sensor. Some of the newer ones last 10 years. But I've seen old ionization smoke alarms that were 20+ years old that were still working. Carbon monoxide alarms are required on every level and they must be within 10 feet of a bedroom. But if you have 3 bedrooms within 10 feet, one carbon monoxide alarm will do.

I'm not sure how you can stay away from both photoelectric and ionization types as those are basically the two types. If you want to spend some coin, I think Nest makes them too. Even they use a modified version of a photoelectric sensor.

 

[mattwithcats]

The dual ionization/photoelectric are the most sensitive...

I prefer the ones with escape lights, but they are unicorn tears...

I have one dual hardwired with battery backup,
and one battery powered single (not sure the type) with escape light
hanging in the upper stairway.

 

[Snagglefoot]

To save effort, you might try find the same brand with the same base for plug and play results. The ones in my house are fire and carbon monoxide, ( can’t recall which type of fire sensor,) They are hard wired and have a battery backup. They also have a voice to say if it’s a fire or carbon monoxide. The darn thing is the voice is in both English and French. ( just in case one of my Quebec sweethearts drop by) Pressing the test button gets bilingual results.

English: “ Your house is on fire, eh. “
French: (translated) “ Monsignor, your house, it is on fire.”

 

[Donald]

Look at Halo. They are the best out there. Will interconnect with some others, are fire & CO and talk. They will report the fire to your smartphone.

About $100, but worth it.

 

[rshaw125]

I replaced all of mine at once. They were 12 years old. They came in a kit/bundle from HOme Depot. Amazon also sells them by the box.

 

[ls973800]

House is 2400 sq feet two story 4 bedroom with an additional 1100 sq feet of finished basement. Basement includes a bedroom, family room, and full bath along with the furnace room and a storage room.

Right now have an alarm in each bedroom (5), the basement family room (1), and the hallway of the first floor (1) and the upstairs hallway (1). Have a CO alarm in the basement and on the first floor. I will add one on the second floor where the 4 bedrooms are located, had never even thought about one there so thanks for that suggestion.

I'll check the local recommendations and requirements and see if they go into any detail or if they just say one in each bedroom and one on the first floor.

 

[thescreensavers]

Make sure to buy one with "Dual Sensors"

 

[MNgopher]

Whatever you buy, if there are interconnected, just make sure they talk to each other.

Our house has 6 detectors in it - 3 are combo smoke/CO detectors (one on each floor), and 3 are just smokes (in the bedrooms). The combo units have been a bit troublesome to be honest, and I haven't gotten 5 years out of one yet... We have a mixture of smoke detection types...

 

[doitmyself]

Originally Posted By: ls973800
Checking on line some say to go with the photoelectric, some say the ionization, some say get one with both sensors, some say stay away from both sensor types. Makes things very confusing.


I just replaced all of our alarms this past February and did a bit of internet sleuthing to assist my decisions. I chose First Alert dual photo/ion smoke detector (SA320A battery models).

For the CO alarms, I chose Kidde model C3010-D with 10 year lithium battery. In our basement, I also installed a dual CO/Explosive gas alarm, Kidde model KN-COEG-3.

Here's some notes I compiled from my internet search:

"Ionization vs. Photo-electric: If ONLY going to have one type, photo-electric is better. A 2009 article implies not to use dual sensor type due to no standards for sensitivity vs. separate units. 2014 NFPA articles still recommends dual sensor and/or having both/but separate types in residence. Research implies best to have both types but is inconclusive about manufacturer sensitivities of dual vs. separate. https://www.nist.gov/engineering-laboratory/smoke-alarm-research"

References:
https://www.nist.gov/engineering-laboratory/smoke-alarm-research

https://www.nfpa.org/Public-Education/By-topic/Smoke-alarms/Ionization-vs-photoelectric

Smoke alarm upgrades | NFPA Xchange: https://community.nfpa.org/thread/28575

http://www.nachi.org/forum/f19/smoke-detector-placement-32766/ NFPA Smoke Placement


Links already obsolete since 2/2018. You will have to update these if interested.
http://www.sentrydetectors.com/firex/manual/4618.pdf Ceiling center and other info

http://www.systemsensor.com/pdf/A05-1003.pdf Good info

http://stillwater.org/forms/devserv/bcim/05-003_Smoke_Detector_Placement.pdf

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: MNgopher
Whatever you buy, if there are interconnected, just make sure they talk to each other.

Our house has 6 detectors in it - 3 are combo smoke/CO detectors (one on each floor), and 3 are just smokes (in the bedrooms). The combo units have been a bit troublesome to be honest, and I haven't gotten 5 years out of one yet... We have a mixture of smoke detection types...


You basically have to stick to the same brand if they interconnect, otherwise they don't talk with each other correctly and will set them off if the signal isn't the same.

As for the dual sensors as mentioned earlier, they're only good if it's more than 20 feet from a kitchen or bathroom. With ionization sensors, they are more likely to false alarm from steam, photoelectric is less sensitive to that. When the alarms go off all the time, people tend to take the batteries out which is why you want to keep the false alarms to a minimum.

Bedrooms started getting smoke alarms sometimes in the 90's around here, but you really want to have enough outside as by the time the ones in the bedroom go off, it may be too late. Probably good to have them in case the other ones are disabled. Normally you have them at the base of every set of stairs.

 

[ls973800]

I think I will go with the First Alert 3120B dual sensor smoke alarm. Right around $30.00 and will be able to use the same wire harness that is present to interconnect them. They are replacing First Alert brand that is there now and it shows to be compatible with the harness.

Using information found and also Consumer Report findings (I know how many people feel about them) the 3120B are top rated and recommended.

 

[MNgopher]

Current code here is one smoke detector in each bedroom, and one in the hallway outside of bedrooms. One on each level of a home. Hardwired and interconnected required. (Thus the 6 in our two story home with basement, 3 bedrooms). If you pull a building permit for interior building work, you will be required to bring your smoke detectors up to current code. One CO detector per dwelling is also required.