Smoke Alarm Hell

[DTisme]

We got tired of changing our smoke alarm batteries, plus the damn things would go off willy nilly for no apparent reason - so we bought 2 Kidde units that supposedly have 10-yr batteries. 2 weeks in, confident in the solid green lights that mean all is ok, one of them starts chirping. I disconnect from power source - it's hard-wired - and still the chirping. (w/ Doggie going nuts and shaking like a chihuahua, because, you know, he's a chihuahua.)

No help from Kidde help line, who insultingly assume I've installed it wrong and who I'm sure deal with pissed off people all day long who are TALKING VERY LOUDLY bc their eardrums have been shattered. Kidde dude says it sounds like the battery has not been initialized. I say, "uh, I'm holding it here, 20 feet from any power source, and it's chirping. That's gotta be the battery giving it the power to do that, right?" He suggests I reinstall and I reluctantly agree.

3 installs later - definitely installed right ea time; it's not rocket science - and each time a few minutes later, the damn chirping returns. Each time this happens, I think about a previous neighbor whose African Gray parrot heard the smoke alarm ONE TIME and from then on could imitate it perfectly whenever she wanted attention. Alas, my neighbor lost his sanity but kept the bird.

Well. I finally realize this thing's way sensitive to the humidity. I'm returning it and am debating returning the one that seems to be acting ok. They are not cheap, these 10-yr units.

I am telling you, after six years of fighting this *&%&*#@ thing, I am at my wit's end.

So my first question is: You have to have smoke alarms installed to be up to code, right? Do they have to be hard-wired?

And my 2nd is: what do YOU do in the way of smoke alarms?

[hotinhawaii]

I am a builder. Smoke detectors must be hardwired with battery backup to meet code. One in living space, one in each sleeping are, one in hall outside sleeping area, at least one on each level of house. Most people end up disconnecting them in my experience. I spoke with Kidde years ago and they recommended using only the photoelectric type as they are less susceptible to moisture. I have used the PE in several homes as well as my own. They still go off periodically. It is often at 2 or 3 am when temperature is low and humidity is high and wind is light. I think there is more condensation then. There is no magic solution to this. I have found that when they go off ( ours are about 16' up) turning on the ceiling fans full blast shuts them up pretty quickly.

[Seeb]

The vog,dust and humidity raise hell with them. You can use a rate of rise type in the kitchen, the photo type smoke heads seam to hold up a little better except that spiders set them off sometimes.

[DTisme]

Thanks!!!

hotinhawaii, do photoelectric ones actually say that on the box? The one I got - Kidde "worry-Free" (ha!) - doesn't say photoelectric anywhere, but who knows? It just says "Intelligent Multi-Sensor Alarm" - What do you look for, for photoelectric? Do you have a preferred brand?

[terracore]

I had the same problems! The hard wired smoke alarms (which weren't that old) would go off FOR NO REASON. All the time. Because they were wired together it was impossible to know which unit the "culprit" was, I began disconnecting them one at a time, but it didn't seem to make a difference.

Eventually every hard-wired smoke alarm in the house wound up getting tossed into the garbage. I replaced them all with these:

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00002N865

No false alarms...yet, though the battery doesn't seem to last a full year before it starts making that chirping sound (always... ALWAYS AT 3 AM).

Smoke alarms are here for our safety, why do they seemingly purposely design them in such a manner that we want to take the batteries out or toss them?

[birdmove]

That smoke alarm with battery looks about the same price as 9 volt lithium batteries.

Jon in Keaau/HPP

[Norm]

Bought a Pack of 4 Units @ Home Depot, The Life of the units are 10 Yr's
Hard wired with Batt. Work Fine for me

[kimo wires]

As an electrician I've installed lots of smokies.
FireX are the best ionization type and have had fewer call backs with these than any other type.
But these will also malfunction if they are not in the proper area. That is if they are installed in an area with dead air ,like in-between two open beams too close to the apex of the ceiling or too close to the edge of a room/corner, the change in dew point/humidity in more confined spaces ,which happens around 3-5 am, will make them go off. They need consistent humidity or a little bit of ventilation/air flow. Also dust on the sensor will cause nuisance alarms.
You should vacuum the vent slots out every 6 months.
They state that they will last 10 years but in East Hawaii you can cut that in half.

[bgiles]

For me, it was ants. Took one down and it was full of ants. Put it adjacent to a paper towel with ant poison on it and the ants had lunch and that was that.

bamboo2u

[hotinhawaii]

There are two types of smoke sensor, photoelectric (sometimes indicated by PE) and ionization. Most types are now do al sensor types with both ionization and photoelectric. I usually order just PE ones on Amazon. You usually can't find just PE ones locally.