New - smoke detectors for house.

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Another new question. A friend had a small fire, nothing serious. But I looked around at my motley and incoherent collection of fire and smoke and carbon monoxide detectors of various types, ages, and qualities and thinking about coherent, planned, quality replacements for a large house. I see you can get 10 year units, interconnected wired units, heat detectors, 10 year lithium batteries, wi-fi units, and others. Any thoughts for good prices for a batch combination? Other than amazon or wal-mart? I'm not sure I'm in the $150 nest price range. This will be in year 2016. Opinions? Thanks!
 
Whatever you do, don't buy Kiddie photoelectric detectors; all 3 of the ones I had bought failed within 2 months. They screech continuously as soon as you hook a battery up. I actually have a 4th one, but it's going in the garbage.
The 2 Kiddie ionization detectors I bought at the same time are fine.
 
We have 11 fire/smoke detectors that are all interconnected, one in each of the 5 bedrooms, one in each hallway (different sides of the house), 1 in the laundry, 1 in each office, 1 in the utility room and 1 in the main room of the lower level. On each level of the house there are also CO detectors, and on the lower level is a gas detector.

I don't remember the brand, but I do remember replacing them about 8 years ago (they were just over 10 years old). I found a fire safety discussion forum and followed a couple of threads that discussed callbacks and nuisance alarms; I based my replacement brand decision on that, and have had no problems with them. I suggest you do the same in order to get a good idea of what brands/models currently offer the best quality when you're ready to make the purchase.

They are all due to be replaced in 3-4 years, and I'll do the same research to determine which brands/models have the same low callback/no nuisance qualities. Since quality and models can change, basing a future decision on any current model is foolish.

In addition to the smoke/fire detectors, it's also a good idea to keep fire extinguishers located in strategic locations: we have one in the mud room just off the kitchen, one in a closet at each end of the main level of the house, one in the utility room, one in the laundry room, and one in a closet on the lower level. 2 in the attached garage and 3 out in the shop.
 
I have smoke alarms connected to my alarm panel and have a bunch of stand alone units. This reminds me i was thinking of replacing the ones that are over 8 years old.
 
I got a kidde wired/battery detector at WM and it wasn't until I got it home that I read its instructions that told me the battery HAD TO BE GOOD or it wouldn't work.

Bluffing? Hard saying.

Get a pdf of the manual for a detector you'd consider and read the gotchas.

I also got a "fancy" CO detector with LCD PPM display and thought it would be cool to read sub-alert levels of CO. It doesn't do that. The directions also told me that it started a 7-year hari-kari clock ticking when I inserted its first battery. Yup, they need periodic replacement, but I would have liked to have budgeted for that before I bought it.
 
I have 2 Kidde Smoke & CO Detectors.
Both are hard wired with 10 year Battery back-up.
One in Basement near Furnace, other in Hallway, outside of Bedrooms.
Bought at Home Depot / Easy to return.
1-2 years old / no problems yet

Just as important:
I asked myself what is the biggest chance of starting a fire (for me).
It was in the Garage - pouring Gasoline.
I bought new gas cans made by Justrite.
Also hung a 5 lb. Dry Chemical Extinguisher in Garage.

Also bought (2) Halotron & (2) Dry Chemical Extinguishers for in the House.
After using, the Halotron evaporates (vapors could be harmful).
 
Originally Posted By: bmwjohn
Another new question. A friend had a small fire, nothing serious. But I looked around at my motley and incoherent collection of fire and smoke and carbon monoxide detectors of various types, ages, and qualities and thinking about coherent, planned, quality replacements for a large house. I see you can get 10 year units, interconnected wired units, heat detectors, 10 year lithium batteries, wi-fi units, and others. Any thoughts for good prices for a batch combination? Other than amazon or wal-mart? I'm not sure I'm in the $150 nest price range. This will be in year 2016. Opinions? Thanks!


A. just because your collection is incoherent to you (whatever that means) doesn't mean they don't all work. Put one in each bedroom and bottom top of stairwells and basement and you should be good. Check each one and see if it's functioning correctly and not expired.

B. I would NOT tear up my house to install hard-wired units. That would be a lot of work and expense if you're not already wired for it.

C. The 10 year battery is great for detectors that are hard to get to. The smoke detector in my bedroom is about 12 feet up and my fiberglass ladder doesn't reach forcing me to lug out the bigger, heavier Gorilla ladder. So, yeah, the 10 year battery is great for that application.

I have First-Alerts. The ones that came with the house had a lot of false beeps so I replaced all of them for about $10 each.

If you go wi-fi, just one of them should be enough to alert you something is going down.
 
Ionazation works for flaming fire.. i.e grease/cooking fire etc. A Photoelectric alarm is for smoldering fires. Both are reccomended by manufactures seeing as they detect different fire types.

I like Photoelectric. If you do happen to get a smoldering smokey fire it will go off WAY sooner than a Ionization alarm. After all most fire deaths are caused by the smoke not the fire.

Also, Some areas the red cross and fire dept give away alarms and will install them as well or give you tips on where to install them for free.
 
Originally Posted By: JBinTX30
fire dept give away alarms and will install them as well or give you tips on where to install them for free.


We do here.

Originally Posted By: bmwjohn
Opinions? Thanks!


Three things:

1. No smoke alarms
2. No working alarms
2. No fire extinguishers

Fire prevention is of course #1, but outside of that, these are the biggest problems. From the perspective of an individual who responds when your house is on fire, I'm completely fine with what's on the shelf of your local Walmart. No need for fancy/big $$$ items.

Basic, battery-powered alarm is $10. Put them up around your house. While there, get a kitchen extinguisher (low velocity sodium bicarbonate), and traditional dry chems (monoammonium phosphate) for elsewhere in the house.
 
@Ramblejam.. what type of detectors do u prefer? Photoelectric or Ionization. I know any alarm is better than none, but Ionization I just don't like it. I have seen many test where it wont even sound with a house full of smoke.
 
Having a motley assortment of alarms has its plusses. What if you bought a matched set but they were all defective and get recalled five years from now?

For that matter, what if I bought a 4-pack of 9V batteries at once and THEY were all defective?
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Originally Posted By: JBinTX30
@Ramblejam.. what type of detectors do u prefer? Photoelectric or Ionization. I know any alarm is better than none, but Ionization I just don't like it. I have seen many test where it wont even sound with a house full of smoke.


NFPA recommends using both for best protection.
IAFF recommends photoelectric only.

Actual data here: http://www.nfpa.org/~/media/files/research/nfpa-reports/fire-protection-systems/task-group-on-smoke-detection-followup-final-report-july-2009.pdf?la=en
 
Originally Posted By: Ramblejam
I'm completely fine with what's on the shelf of your local Walmart. No need for fancy/big $$$ items.

Basic, battery-powered alarm is $10. Put them up around your house. While there, get a kitchen extinguisher (low velocity sodium bicarbonate), and traditional dry chems (monoammonium phosphate) for elsewhere in the house.

This..I buy the cheapie ones and stick one in every room. Strength in numbers. Batteries last 2 years.
 
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Depends on the state law. As a real estate broker, we have to make sure that the fire department inspects the home for smoke alarm compliance before the sale. They now require photoelectric alarms when they're within 20 feet of a bathroom or kitchen. More than 20 feet, both photoelectric and ionization. Ionization tends to false alarm. I use Kidde products all the time as that's what Home Depot tends to stock. Thing is, if you interconnect them, they basically have to be the same brand to work so if you get heat alarms, it's easier to get all the same brand. I have a lot of rental property so I do have those alarms go bad once in a while. I just send them back, costs about $1.50 or so in postage and they send me a new one.

As for carbon monoxide alarms it's well known that they only last 7 years, just the nature of the detectors although I think I've seen one brand that claims they will last 10 years. It's why I avoid combo alarms, if it's smoke and CO, you'll have to throw it away after 7 years, but if they're separate, the smoke will be good for at least 10 years.

As for lithium alarms, they tend to charge an extra $10 for them, but you can buy the batteries for $5-$6. I do it depending on location. Hallways I like to use lithium, for tenant units, I just use regular batteries because half the time they end up taking them out and losing them.
 
Depends on local code.

Ten years ago my dad had an electrical fire at a breaker box in his house.

Insurance company replaced the breaker box but local code said he needed wired in smoke detectors (at his expense).

An electrician came out to the house and ran direct wire smoke detectors with carbon monoxide through the attic into the ceiling. It was not a big job for an electrician to do, maybe an hour.
 
All depends on your home. When I remodeled mine last year I just replaced the 2 hardwired detectors with the cheapest ones from Home Depot. One is right outside the bedrooms, the other is near the kitchen. I didn't feel a need for CO2 detectors since the furnace is in the attic and the water heater is in the garage.

I also added a fire extinguisher under the sink in the kitchen.
 
Originally Posted By: dishdude
All depends on your home. When I remodeled mine last year I just replaced the 2 hardwired detectors with the cheapest ones from Home Depot. One is right outside the bedrooms, the other is near the kitchen. I didn't feel a need for CO2 detectors since the furnace is in the attic and the water heater is in the garage.

I also added a fire extinguisher under the sink in the kitchen.


Go back to the store. Purchase five alarms, and three extinguishers.

1 alarm in each bedroom
1 alarm in garage
1 alarm in living room area
1 alarm in attic

1 extinguisher in each bedroom (2.5lb. dry chem/monoammonium phosphate)
1 extinguisher in kitchen (2.5lb. low velocity sodium bicarbonate)
1 extinguisher in garage (5lb. monoammonium phosphate)
 
Originally Posted By: dishdude
All depends on your home. When I remodeled mine last year I just replaced the 2 hardwired detectors with the cheapest ones from Home Depot. One is right outside the bedrooms, the other is near the kitchen. I didn't feel a need for CO2 detectors since the furnace is in the attic and the water heater is in the garage.

I also added a fire extinguisher under the sink in the kitchen.


The only time a CO detector isn't needed is if you use electric. I think if the heat exchanger is bad in the furnace, you can still get CO poisoning.

For CO detectors, usually one on every level and state code here requires one within 10 feet of a bedroom so if you have 3 bedrooms next to each other, one will work for all 3. Someone's alarm just went off in this area, turned out there was an electrical cable underground that was smoldering and it produced CO gases so their alarms went off.
 
Originally Posted By: Wolf359


As for carbon monoxide alarms it's well known that they only last 7 years, just the nature of the detectors although I think I've seen one brand that claims they will last 10 years. It's why I avoid combo alarms, if it's smoke and CO, you'll have to throw it away after 7 years, but if they're separate, the smoke will be good for at least 10 years.


Well and if they're separate there's more redundancy in case one of the pair have some sort of motherboard issue etc.
 
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