First Alert smoke detector...non replacable battery supposed to last 10 years...dies after 2...for warranty contact, the verify you're human puzzle does not work on 3 different browsers I tried
This is a shitshow, probably illegal and the "10" years smoke detectors never last more than 6, like i know a German Youtuber did some magic math and testing, the 10 years is even under laboratory conditions basically impossible, in the real world the thing may go off once or twice, and are tested if they work, already taking out at least 1 year of time...
I fucking want my 9V powered smoke detectors back.
The smoke detectors in my house are hooked up to the main power, but they still take a battery and beep when the battery is dead. I thought the battery was backup, but they die after about 2 years, so it can't be backup, it must be used for something.
I found that out one very exciting morning, when it decided to sing me the song of its people. If you've never stumbled down the stairs at 4am looking for a fire with your bollocks flapping about, I heartily recommend it.
Work at a fire dept. These fail so often we do not recommend 10 year battery detectors anymore. Just go get a new one with without that "perk", don't warranty replace it.
Off topic, but do you know what to do about smoke detectors that chirp like once a week? I'm in an apartment, have 4 smoke detectors in here for some reason, and 3 out of the 4 will randomly chirp like once a week. We've changed the batteries, they're flashing green, if you hit the test button they work, but they just chirp once in awhile. Sometimes it's only once, sometimes it's 2 or 3 times in a day and then will go a month or more without chirping. Management is a PITA so I don't want to complain if there isn't an issue, but I'd rather not die a horrible death if my apartment burns down and my detectors don't go off.
Yep. First thing to do is run a vacuum over them. Even the tiniest bit of dust can make them cranky and chirpy. If that doesn't work and you don't know how old they are, pop them off the ceiling and look at the back for a manufacture date. In general, smoke detectors (even without the ten year battery) have a life span of about 10 years. If they've hit that milestone, it's a good chance they are beeping because they are old and they should be replaced. Next would be a call to the PITA management about them. If you get no love from management, look up what fire department covers your address; many departments will go out to check your detectors if you can't get them to stop beeping and your landlord is being a butt. If your department is a volunteer one, it may be next to impossible to get ahold of them as there will probably not be anyone at the station to answer phones. For volunteer departments in my area, you need to call the county fire marshal / emergency management office in order to get hooked up with the volunteer department as they have the personal contact numbers for the volunteer chiefs, so I would try that (or the equivalent for your area). If it's a career fire department, you should be able to call them directly. Even if they are out of the station, if it's normal business hours and you call their HQ, they likely have a business office that will answer.
Many smoke detectors only last for 10 years. What you're describing is what mine did in my house when they hit the 10 year mark. If you remove it from the ceiling, they usually have a human readable date printed on the ceiling facing side of the smoke detector.
I'm betting if you pulled one of your "one chirp" smoke detectors down, you'll find a date more than 10 years ago printed on it. Buy new ones, dispose of these. Note on disposal: old school smoke detectors contain a very small amount of radioactive material. If you have one of these there will be a radioactive logo on itPLEASE DO NOT PUT THIS IN THE LANDFILL TRASH! Please dispose of these and your registered hazardous waste site.
Newer style smoke detectors don't use radioactive material and instead use regular light sensors. These are safe to dispose of as regular ewaste.
I had a whole house of this brand of smoke detectors (5) and bought them back in 2019 and my wood burner had wind blow back down the chimney. It filled my house with smoke and the only one that went off was the smoke detector that i had taken down an set on my table that was the previous i was replacing . this should be illegal to sell something that is this important to someones safety. regardless to say im never buying first alert again
Two different types of sensors. Photoelectric use light and are good for detecting thick smoke(produced by smoldering, incomplete combustion) like you're describing, which is likely what your old one was. Ionizing sensors use radiation and detect small particles more common in active fires(complete combustion).
I'm not an expert and it's definitely possible they're shit, but I remember doing research for buying new smoke detectors and finding out about all the different types of them. Like some don't even care about smoke, they only care about heat.
And others use different methods of detecting smoke that can be better for different types of fires (kitchen grease fire vs electrical fire).
Anyway I had no idea there was more than one type, I feel like that should also be made more obvious when buying new ones.
I just used the phone number on the back of the device to call them. I found them rather pleasant to deal with and they sent me a free replacement within a couple of days. Good luck, friend.
If you really want to pursue being ripped off I would recommend contacting your local district attorney. They seriously do great work for us common folk.
Most fire codes require hardwire or non replaceable battery nowadays. Supposed to reduce the amount of homes with dead battery smoke alarms I think. Also ensures the sensor still works.
Was this one of the ones advertised for 10 year battery life? Could you maybe share the model number? I've seen 10yr life span, no battery replacements needed before, never really trusted it though. For safety devices I prefer hardwired with battery backup...ya know cause life's are on the line if it's needed.
Smoke detectors work using sensors that require special materials that only work for about 10 years before they begin to seriously loose functionality. You don’t want to replace the battery on a ten year old smoke detector, it should be replaced.