NA - Need house smoke detectors

SixPapaCharlie

SixPapaCharlie

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I recently bought a set of smoke detectors. Stand alone, 10 yr battery.
So far 2 have started going off for no reason and I couldn't get them to stop.
My angry, middle-of-the-night, dad move was to throw them in the pool. That works by the way.

Today one started going off and a combination of water and pliers did the trick.

I need 8 Smoke detectors, preferably smart so I can turn them off without using the pool or tools.
I would like to just be able to press a button the phone and put them back to sleep.
Amazon is doing the thing where there are a million options which may secretly all be the same thing disguised as different brands and the reviews are all as Steller as they are awful.

Anyone have a smoke detector brand / product you like?

Also, why are technical advancements making products worse? For 40+ years, I hear a chirp, I replace a battery and never a false alarm.
I get new fancy ones and they end up in the pool.
Dad never threw smoke detectors in the pool when I was a kid and if they were going off it was because I did some stupid crap and generated smoke.

Recommendations?
 
Get the nest one’s using your new pilot wages.

I put in 3 combo non nest CO and smoke detectors during Covid and they have the 10 years battery backup with AC power and never had a problem. You just had bad luck or you are using it wrong. Did you get a 10 year battery only or 10 years backup battery?
 
This what I had bought. They are not backed up by anything, just have a 10 year battery.
Also they are not water proof.



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SebIp said:
Get the nest one’s using your new pilot wages.

I put in 3 combo non nest CO and smoke detectors during Covid and they have the 10 years battery backup with AC power and never had a problem. You just had bad luck or you are using it wrong. Did you get a 10 year battery only or 10 years backup battery?
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Those look great but $1000 is pretty steep
 
I've been using First Alert SA320CN and SCO5CN as appropriate, with lithium AA batteries.
 
GeorgeC said:
I've been using First Alert SA320CN and SCO5CN as appropriate, with lithium AA batteries.
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Those look pretty standard and budget friendly. Any ballpark on battery life? I know you are supposed to change them annually but I am more of a "change them when they chirp" kinda guy which tends to be 4-5 years.
 
They have one chirp for "replace the batteries" and another chirp for when the unit reaches EOL.
I do write the month and year on the back when I replace it (I do the same with LED bulbs).
Battery replacement is infrequent enough that it doesn't annoy me.
The hardest part is figuring out WHICH of the four in the house is the one that's chirping...
 
GeorgeC said:
They have one chirp for "replace the batteries" and another chirp for when the unit reaches EOL.
I do write the month and year on the back when I replace it (I do the same with LED bulbs).
Battery replacement is infrequent enough that it doesn't annoy me.
The hardest part is figuring out WHICH of the four in the house is the one that's chirping...
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ok That sounds good.
 
TECHNICALLY......fire causes smoke. smoke causes smoke alarms to go off. alarms cause homeowners to scramble to put out the fires and save the family but also spend time and money on fixing things, buying new smoke alarms to detect new fires, fire extinguishers, etc. this causes time away from and money spent on things other than flying, which TECHNICALLY makes this thread not NA (is that a double negative?). just wanted to point out that technicality in the thread title. could confuse folks. first thing I thought when I read the thread title of "NA - Need house smoke detectors" was "this is clearly aviation related, therefore I need to read it". you're welcome, bud.
 
eman1200 said:
TECHNICALLY......fire causes smoke. smoke causes smoke alarms to go off. alarms cause homeowners to scramble to put out the fires and save the family but also spend time and money on fixing things, buying new smoke alarms to detect new fires, fire extinguishers, etc. this causes time away from and money spent on things other than flying, which TECHNICALLY makes this thread not NA (is that a double negative?). just wanted to point out that technicality in the thread title. could confuse folks. first thing I thought when I read the thread title of "NA - Need house smoke detectors" was "this is clearly aviation related, therefore I need to read it". you're welcome, bud.
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Your task if you choose to accept it it is to go tie all NA threads to Aviation. That was great!
 
The last time I replaced my smokes I picked up a contractor pack, 6 I think, of either Kidde or First Alert. The basic 9V kind. Our code is one smoke alarm per floor (including basement) and one per bedroom. A 2 story house needs three plus one per BR so the 6 pack plus one more took care of all 4 br.

They are all hardwired and interconnected but they do have a flashing LED to let you know which one triggered first. And if one won’t shut up you can unplug it and remove the battery.

I think it’s been about 10 yrs now so I probably should think about replacing them again.
 
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also, this thread reminds me of something, can’t quite put my finger get on it…..



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Matthew said:
The last time I replaced my smokes I picked up a contractor pack, 6 I think, of either Kidde or First Alert. The basic 9V kind. Our code is one smoke alarm per floor (including basement) and one per bedroom. A 2 story house needs three plus one per BR so the 6 pack plus one more took care of all 4 br.
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I eradicated most everything in my house that uses 9V.

One per BR? Oops, I went with one per floor and called it good enough.

At some point, maybe the kids will use the escape rope ladders to sneak out at night, so they won't be entirely useless purchases.
 
GeorgeC said:
I eradicated most everything in my house that uses 9V.

One per BR? Oops, I went with one per floor and called it good enough.

At some point, maybe the kids will use the escape rope ladders to sneak out at night, so they won't be entirely useless purchases.
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I haven’t looked for a while: are there still hardwired smokes that still use 9v or have they all gone to the 10yr batteries?
 
No idea; my house is old and nothing is hardwired.
 
GeorgeC said:
The hardest part is figuring out WHICH of the four in the house is the one that's chirping...
Click to expand...
In our last house, we had three smoke detectors in bedrooms off of the second floor landing, and two on the small landing itself (the extra was the only one we added, connected to the SimpliSafe system). Because of the way the house was laid out, all were within a couple of feet of each other. Like all smoke detectors, they seem to have a timing chip that will only start the low battery chirp between the hours of 2 am and 5 am.

The last time we got the chirp, I got up in the middle of the night hoping I could quickly address it. I couldn't figure out which one was chirping. My wife got up, and also couldn't figure it out, even by going room to room, closing the door, standing under the detector, and waiting for the next chirp. We'd probably spent a good 30 minutes chasing the elusive chirp before we figured out it was an end-of-life chirp from the CO detector plugged into a floor-level outlet on the landing. We hadn't thought about that one for 10 years, so it hadn't made the suspect list.
 
Dust and crap can sometimes build up in the detector. One may be better served by sucking with a vacuum.
 
Interconnected was mentioned by @Matthew. They are now required by current code for new construction or remodels. So, I would look for that feature. I think you may silence all interconnected alarms by pressing the button on any of the alarms. Not as convenient as your phone, but if one is placed at an easily accessible location it might work for you. That is so long as you resist the urge to throw it in the pool and just press its button.
 
I'd prefer my smoke detectors to be standalone, not connected to the internet where some random attack disables them.
Kidde seems to be one of the top brands, and they work well.

That said, the new smoke detectors that don't use radioactive stuff seem to be prone to more false alarms.
 
AV8R_87 said:
I'd prefer my smoke detectors to be standalone, not connected to the internet where some random attack disables them.
Kidde seems to be one of the top brands, and they work well.

That said, the new smoke detectors that don't use radioactive stuff seem to be prone to more false alarms.
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Quoting for clarity of those who may infer incorrectly, interconnected fire alarms are not internet connected. They are connected to each other but not typically connected to the internet. They are standalone in the sense they aren't online, but they talk to the other units in your home and work in unison with your other units.
 
FORANE said:
Quoting for clarity of those who may infer incorrectly, interconnected fire alarms are not internet connected. They are connected to each other but not typically connected to the internet. They are standalone in the sense they aren't online, but they talk to the other units in your home and work in unison with your other units.
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Yeah - if one triggers, they all trigger. If the one in your basement senses something, you'll know about it in your upstairs bedroom.

I didn't think about interweb connected smoke alarms being a thing, but I guess there's an app for everything. I suppose it would be nice to know your alarms are going off while you're on vacation.
 
Internet connected fire alarms would be awesome…………….until your router is on fire. :)
 
eman1200 said:
And who do you call then, the fire department or IT??
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You never call IT, you’ll only get a condescending attitude three days after you needed them. :).

(I will say that the IT folks in my current job are pretty damn good.)
 
FORANE said:
Interconnected was mentioned by @Matthew. They are now required by current code for new construction or remodels. So, I would look for that feature.
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Does wireless (e.g. Zigbee) count?
 
8 smoke detectors? Say “I think my kids are smoking dope in house” without saying, “I think my kids are smoking dope in the house”. :)
 
Dave Theisen said:
8 smoke detectors? Say “I think my kids are smoking dope in house” without saying, “I think my kids are smoking dope in the house”. :)
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The house came with eight.

I'm guessing there's some sort of rule because three of them are in about a 3-ft radius of one another but technically in three different parts of a room It's kind of hard to explain but it doesn't make any sense to me.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
The house came with eight.
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We have 7. But there aren’t any in the same room. There are two that are close together but they are on either side of a bedroom door.

There’s probably some reason yours are located that way. It might not be a GOOD reason, though.
 
I've been dealing with this issue for years...once in a long while the things will go off...and yes, mine too are programmed to only do this between 2AM and 5AM.
My biggest issue is that the ceilings in my house are all too high to easily reach, and the two detectors that seem to be the worst offenders are way up...like maybe 15ft or something. Ugh!!
I think there's some glitch in the wiring that connects these things, but I can't figure it out.
Several years back I replaced mine with the 10 year battery version... all new.

Note to self, make sure my next house has lower ceilings
 
I have a lot of rentals. Only buy the Kiddie contractor pack. They are 10 year. If two of four go bad, I take them all back and get a new set. They are more sensitive than some other brands I used before. Also noted before, use a vac and suck at the vent.

BTW, the detectors should be mounted 12" from the ceiling, including in vaulted rooms for best and earliest detection. Makes it hard to service.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Dad never threw smoke detectors in the pool when I was a kid and if they were going off it was because I did some stupid crap and generated smoke.
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I had this same problem. The cause is that you and I both have smoking hot wives. :D :rofl:
Matthew said:
Yeah - if one triggers, they all trigger. If the one in your basement senses something, you'll know about it in your upstairs bedroom.

I didn't think about interweb connected smoke alarms being a thing, but I guess there's an app for everything. I suppose it would be nice to know your alarms are going off while you're on vacation.
Click to expand...
In my neighborhood, if my house started on the fire during the day the only thing that a smoke detector would do is make it burn down LOUDLY. I wanted Internet-connected detectors so I could actually call the fire department instead of just coming home to a smoking hole in the ground. The ones I have are *also* interconnected (wirelessly) so the whole house goes off if one does.

They're Kidde and AA-powered instead of 9V. They're also due for replacement, and I don't need smart ones any more: My Apple HomePod will listen for anything that sounds like a smoke alarm and send me a Critical Alert (skips past do-not-disturb and other focus modes). So, I'll probably just get some "dumb" Kidde ones.
 
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