Smoke detectors saved my friend's life. His house is about 30 years old. He thought he smelled smoke but couldn't locate anything and assumed it was coming from outside. 5 hours later in the middle of the night his smoke detectors went off. Him and his wife got out safely but a lot of damage to their house. He had an electrical fire inside his house's wall. We set our clocks back this weekend (for those of use that observe daylight saving time) and that's a good time to check or replace the batteries and working conditions and test your smoke alarms.
Smoke detectors - Make sure they work! PSA
- Thread starter Leo99
- Start date
AutoMechanic
Site Donor 2024
Glad he got out ok. We always check the batteries in ours at least once a year.
There are two types of smoke alarm detection technologies: Photoelectric and ionization.
Some states and cities banned the cheaper/older ionization smoke detectors.
Some detectors utilize both technologies.
Some states and cities banned the cheaper/older ionization smoke detectors.
Some detectors utilize both technologies.
Yikes. Wonder what went wrong? I remember hearing about aluminum wire being bad, and a certain model of breaker box (Federal Pacific?), but I think those are more an issue on 70s houses.
My house was built in 1960, but has recently updated wiring, breaker box, and a linked smoke detector system. Had something weird happen that I guess might be a safety feature in the event of a dead smoke detector battery, but I don't know. One morning I got up and it was like the power was out, but it wasn't out on my street. Went to my breaker box and every breaker was in the full off position. Everything came back on fine, but immediately the battery warning chirp started on one of the smoke detectors. I replaced the batteries in all of them, and haven't had any repeat of the weird breaker incident. Haven't really looked into it.
My house was built in 1960, but has recently updated wiring, breaker box, and a linked smoke detector system. Had something weird happen that I guess might be a safety feature in the event of a dead smoke detector battery, but I don't know. One morning I got up and it was like the power was out, but it wasn't out on my street. Went to my breaker box and every breaker was in the full off position. Everything came back on fine, but immediately the battery warning chirp started on one of the smoke detectors. I replaced the batteries in all of them, and haven't had any repeat of the weird breaker incident. Haven't really looked into it.
Carbon Monoxide detectors are important too! I know personally of an incident that resulted in brain damage for someone.
Mine are wired in but have backup 9 volt batteries. I replace them at Christmas. Easy to remember. They are also wired to each other. My only complaint is they speak in both English and French, warning about either fire or carbon monoxide.
Also, I had to change the one in the attached garage to a fire only as the carbon monoxide sensor was set off too easily by my vehicles.
Also, I had to change the one in the attached garage to a fire only as the carbon monoxide sensor was set off too easily by my vehicles.
X2.....I just bought another one for my house. 1 in my basement and 2 upstairs.
They sell spray test smoke to check smoke detectors. The recommend not to use real smoke.
What's nice about maintaining smoke detectors now is that some brands of 9V batteries have a stated life of 5 years.
You would just get lithium 9v batteries. That's basically what they have now in 10 year sealed smoke alarms. I put them in a house a bought back in 2008. A few of them have died but I think I still have a couple going from when I first put them in. They're battery back up for hardwired detectors so they don't really get much use. Probably wouldn't have lasted more than 10 years if it were just a battery detector. Means I don't have to change them every year or so and at the time, they were only around $2-$3 each that I got on eBay. Normally they were $6-$7 each, but worth it if they last you 10 years as even regular 9 volt batteries cost over $1 each.
They all pretty much have a test button. I just hit that whenever I replace the battery. That's all the fire department does when doing a smoke
detector inspection.
If the garage is not heated and the temperature drops below 40 degrees Fahrenheit, you should have a heat detector as regular smoke detectors don't work well below that temperature.
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- Sep 19, 2020
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And change them when they're 10 years old! They do go bad, just like the batteries.
Nick1994
$100 site donor 2024
We have an ADT alarm system, and that also includes a smoke alarm. So we will get alerted if there's a fire and we're away from home too. At my grandpa's we have a carbon monoxide alarm built in too. We know the smoke alarm works good, we've set it off a couple times accidentally from the barbecue in the back porch, ADT calls immediately and starts calling the fire department.
I have them on all 5 levels of my home - mine all chirp when the batteries start getting low, they seem to last about 1.5-2 years. All are CO and smoke detector combo's. My wife had a house fire when she was a young girl and lost everything - so needless to say she coaches me to be super diligent about these types of things.
I just installed replacements at Mom's house that have sealed-for-life batteries that are supposed to last 10 years. When it starts chirping, out with the old and in with the new. I just wonder if she'll really get 10 years out of them...
My Mothers next-door neighbor died from it.
He was working in his garage (door closed) and felt sick / He made it outside and collapsed / body found by another neighbor.
Left behind a Wife and Daughter.
Here are two ten year alarms from Kidde, including one with a carbon monoxide detector. Looks like replacing batteries will be a thing of the past. Enjoy.
The hardwired smoke alarms still have a battery backup. I've had the battery only photoelectric alarms last 15+ years, but you won't be able to change the battery after 10 years on these new ones, you'll just have to throw them away.
Yes, presently I believe ALL smoke detectors must be replaced every 10 years. They all have a replacement date. Correct me if I’m wrong. 
