- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Show Left Links
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Started By
Message
Smoke Detector Hell
Posted on 9/18/23 at 2:37 pm
Posted on 9/18/23 at 2:37 pm
Was working outside when I heard a deafening screech that seemed to come from everywhere.
Went inside to find all eight of our home smoke detectors going off.
Searched for signs of smoke, found nothing.
Called a buddy at the VFD who checked everywhere with a carbon monoxide detector and found nothing.
Then I learned that our hard-wired First Alert smoke detectors are designed to all go off when any one does.
Cutting power to the house didn't stop the alarms, they all kept screeching on 9v battery power.
Luckily my buddy figured out which detector had had gone bad, disconnected it from the 110 volt line and yanked the battery. That quieted all the others.
But wow, what a shite show.
ETA: we replaced these First Alert detectors with the same model, newly manufactured.
The discarded detectors were all stamped with a date of manufacture 15-1/2 years ago, which gives an idea of how long these lasted before failure.
Went inside to find all eight of our home smoke detectors going off.
Searched for signs of smoke, found nothing.
Called a buddy at the VFD who checked everywhere with a carbon monoxide detector and found nothing.
Then I learned that our hard-wired First Alert smoke detectors are designed to all go off when any one does.
Cutting power to the house didn't stop the alarms, they all kept screeching on 9v battery power.
Luckily my buddy figured out which detector had had gone bad, disconnected it from the 110 volt line and yanked the battery. That quieted all the others.
But wow, what a shite show.
ETA: we replaced these First Alert detectors with the same model, newly manufactured.
The discarded detectors were all stamped with a date of manufacture 15-1/2 years ago, which gives an idea of how long these lasted before failure.
This post was edited on 9/24/23 at 1:08 pm
6
Posted on 9/18/23 at 2:42 pm to WB Davis
Have this exact issue it seems like monthly. Except mine tend to go off in the middle of the night. I've been looking at the nest smoke/cm detectors but @ $119 I'm hesitant to pull trigger
Posted on 9/18/23 at 2:44 pm to slapahoe
Buddy said he found the bad detector by spotting a brief flash in the little red status light.
I looked but didn't see it.
I looked but didn't see it.
Posted on 9/18/23 at 3:22 pm to WB Davis
had this issue shortly after we moved in (several times, in fact). Middle of the night. Always. Trying to locate "the one" that starts it in a house with really high ceilings and hardwood floors is next to impossible. I think what had happened was dust etc had gotten to the sensors. cleaned them out and didn't have the issue again until the battteries started going bad. It had been 10 yrs so I replaced all of the detectors.
This post was edited on 9/18/23 at 3:25 pm
Posted on 9/18/23 at 5:38 pm to WB Davis
It only happens in the middle of the night for me. Replaced the full set of them in the last house, they lasted about 15 years which is longer than they promise to last. Once one dies, they'll all start doing it soon.
Posted on 9/18/23 at 5:49 pm to calcotron
I’m pretty sure I’m switching to all google ones. I switched one and it works amazingly. But yea $119 for like 8 of them is a lot but those 2am wake up calls with a baby sucks
Posted on 9/19/23 at 7:21 am to WB Davis
quote:
Buddy said he found the bad detector by spotting a brief flash in the little red status light. I looked but didn't see it.
If it’s low battery it is best to replace them all, because generally speaking they will all die around the same time. So if one went off from low battery and you only changed its battery there’s a good chance another one died soon. Plus, just go through the house and replace all of them and then it will stop. It can sometimes be faster than just finding the one that’s bad also.
Posted on 9/19/23 at 8:24 am to WB Davis
quote:
Buddy said he found the bad detector by spotting a brief flash in the little red status light.
When a FireX brand smoke detector flashes the status light red, it just means it's doing its built in test (BIT). When the battery goes bad, it's a chirp every once in a while. When the SD goes bad or thinks it's got a high obscuration or scatter value enough to think it's smoke...and it's tied to a daisy chain of SDs....it's Hell on Earth. And the offending one has a solid red light. Easy to find at 2am in the morning. I think that's why they always go bad at 2am...so it's dark and you can find them.
Posted on 9/19/23 at 11:54 am to NASA_ISS_Tiger
Does everyone use expensive Energizer 9v lithium batteries?
Weird to think that a pack of 6 exact replacement smoke detectors are under $10 each on Amazon, but name-brand 9v lithium batteries are over $12 each.
Weird to think that a pack of 6 exact replacement smoke detectors are under $10 each on Amazon, but name-brand 9v lithium batteries are over $12 each.
Posted on 9/19/23 at 12:52 pm to WB Davis
Not sure of what you mean by the 9V lithium statement....and my SDs are nowhere near that cheap. I wish they were. It's more like $65 for a pack of 4. Problem is I have more than 12 SDs in my house. It's tremendous overkill. I wish I knew of a way to cover some of the holes up.
Posted on 9/19/23 at 1:59 pm to NASA_ISS_Tiger
The silver lining is that wired smoke detector manufacturers seem sell identical replacements for decades.
It was easy to twist off the old units and install replacements - discarding the duplicate bases on the replacements, of course.
With First Alert the trick was inserting the tip of a flat-head screwdriver between the retaining clip on the tiny 110v receptacle and the small 3-pin plug to free up and pull the plug.
It was easy to twist off the old units and install replacements - discarding the duplicate bases on the replacements, of course.
With First Alert the trick was inserting the tip of a flat-head screwdriver between the retaining clip on the tiny 110v receptacle and the small 3-pin plug to free up and pull the plug.
This post was edited on 9/19/23 at 2:00 pm
Posted on 9/19/23 at 3:06 pm to WB Davis
I was having recurring issues with the existing detectors in my house, so I replaced them all with new ones. Needed to happen anyways since all of the existing detectors were over 10 yrs old. For us it was also a cosmetic upgrade since the older one's color had long faded.
Most people don't realize that smoke detectors are subject to malfunction and false detection due to dirt and dust build up inside of them. Never hurts to blow them out with a keyboard cleaner once a year or so. Also good practice to cover them when doing any sort of work or extensive cleaning inside your home.
Most people don't realize that smoke detectors are subject to malfunction and false detection due to dirt and dust build up inside of them. Never hurts to blow them out with a keyboard cleaner once a year or so. Also good practice to cover them when doing any sort of work or extensive cleaning inside your home.
Posted on 9/19/23 at 5:42 pm to WB Davis
When I have a choice, I always use EBL. These are $6 each, and rechargeable. SD are one place where I may not use rechargeables, unless you keep a small inventory of charged spares to do immediate replacements.
When buying batteries, always, always, check the mwH rating. You can get a 9V that has a 5400mWh rating from the link above, or you can buy the same brand from Walmart with a 600!mWh rating that cost only a dollar less per unit.
When buying batteries, always, always, check the mwH rating. You can get a 9V that has a 5400mWh rating from the link above, or you can buy the same brand from Walmart with a 600!mWh rating that cost only a dollar less per unit.
Posted on 9/24/23 at 1:12 pm to Black n Gold
quote:Like I mentioned in the edited OP, our First Alert hard-wired detectors started failing 15-1/2 years from the date of manufacture stamped on the label.
all of the existing detectors were over 10 yrs old
So if you've got one that's easy to access, you might pull it and check that little stamped date.
This post was edited on 9/24/23 at 1:19 pm
Posted on 9/24/23 at 8:11 pm to LemmyLives
quote:The batteries are rated the same. The 600 is mAh which at 9v gives you 5400mWh. This type of clever marketing is rampant on Amazon.
When buying batteries, always, always, check the mwH rating. You can get a 9V that has a 5400mWh rating from the link above, or you can buy the same brand from Walmart with a 600!mWh rating that cost only a dollar less per unit.
Posted on 9/25/23 at 12:51 pm to WB Davis
First alert here as well, lost 4 in about 6 months. called the service number and they did a series of tests (well I did) and ruled to be bad. Sent new ones in the mail. They were not 15.5 years old though. More like 5
Posted on 9/25/23 at 5:30 pm to WB Davis
I literally got a box of 6 replacement First Alerts from UPS this morning. The ones I'm tossing are 8 years old and they have cost me a lot of sleep. Two of them are high on a vaulted ceiling which I can barely reach with my ladder. Honestly, I think a ladder fall is a bigger risk than dying in a fire. In all likelihood I will probably only replace 2 of them. A friend I was talking with yesterday yanked them all out 10 years ago.
Posted on 9/26/23 at 12:28 pm to WB Davis
The first thing I do when I move into a new house is disconnect the hard wired smoke detectors and hang el-cheapo battery operated ones in their stead. 1 near the kitchen, 1 near the master BR and one near the guest rooms. I also eliminate the damned arc fault breakers and replace them with standard breakers. I also do not have a burglar alarm and most of the time there ain't a loaded pistol around the place. I am 58 years old and have never been burdened with irrational fears but I have flat out been burdened with faulty smoke detectors, shitty breakers and other folks who are scared of their own shadow being dumbfounded when they find out they ain't in imminent peril...how y'all live like that is beyond me. Just eliminate the fear...
Posted on 9/26/23 at 12:43 pm to Tigris
quote:
I literally got a box of 6 replacement First Alerts from UPS this morning. The ones I'm tossing are 8 years old and they have cost me a lot of sleep. Two of them are high on a vaulted ceiling which I can barely reach with my ladder. Honestly, I think a ladder fall is a bigger risk than dying in a fire. In all likelihood I will probably only replace 2 of them. A friend I was talking with yesterday yanked them all out 10 years ago.
A fall from a ladder is infinitely riskier than living without smoke detectors. If you ain't using space heaters the chances of a fire in your home that would be safer with functioning smoke detectors is almost nil. There are 5 leading causes of residential fires. Only two of them do not require active participation from an occupant - cooking, smoking and burning candles are 3 of the 5 and probably ain't happening spontaneously...if any of the 3 is your got a poltergeist in your house and you are fricked anyway. The other 2 are space heaters and electrical fires. If you ain'y having electrical issues the odds of an electrical fire is slim today. Unless you are overloading circuits the odds of an electrical fire is slimmer than a fire caused by a cigarette in a home where no cigarettes are present.
2500 people a year die in residential fires in the US. That is way too many. about 450 of those people die in residences with functioning smoke detectors, so about 2150 people a year die from fires where smoke detectors are not known to be functioning. Again, too many, but the risk is almost nil. Yet folks are spending a fortune worrying about it and the industry is fueling the fire, no pun intended.
Posted on 9/26/23 at 1:21 pm to Tigris
quote:
Two of them are high on a vaulted ceiling which I can barely reach with my ladder
We've got exactly the same situation, and per the NFPA those detectors must not be mounted more than 12" below the peak of the vaulted ceiling.
Who the hell wants to urgently climb to the top of a 12 Ft ladder and fidget with a 9v replacement battery to stop the constant beeping?
Getting too damned old for this.
This post was edited on 9/26/23 at 1:23 pm
Page 1 of 2
Popular
Back to top
Follow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News