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| Get my pies outta the oven!  |
My BIL just bought a house and they never changed out the smoke detectors since it was built in 2004. I'm helping him get these all replaced and will buy from HD or Lowes. They are currently Firex hardwired models and my choices in hardwired replacements are First Alert (Lowes) or Kidde (HD). Is one brand better than the other? I have Kidde at my own home and they seem well made. Thanks! | ||
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| Member |
Firex are made by Kidde. It would probably be better to use them as your connectors should be the same. Also, in my experience I have seen more false alarms with First Alert products and malfunctions that require replacement sooner than recommended FWIW although neither can be perfect. | |||
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| Thank you Very little  |
Most new models come with pigtail adapters to hook them up to different wiring, hard to sell DIY people if you have to cut n splice. We have a Nest with the night light for the daugthers house, works good, ties into an app, has the annoying voice prompt scream LOL It's also the CO alarm as well and works with Alexa Of course if you're concerned that Amazon will know if you wife burns the meatloaf one night and they will hear someone complaining then connected home products might not be right for you LOL Link Nest | |||
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| Just for the hell of it  |
Lowes was running a good sale on them. The newer ones have adaptors that plug and play with the older connections so no re-wiring. Also, check your local codes. Around here they have to be hardwired with 10 year battery. CO2 on any floor that burns something and one floor above/below. The 10-year backup battery is more expensive up front but since you don't have to buy batteries there are no real savings in the long run with the others. _____________________________________ Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain. Jack Kerouac | |||
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Member |
I bought several First Alert Combination Smoke / CO Detectors at Costco. They have 10 non-replaceable batteries (no provision for hard-wiring) for a very reasonable price. This was to supplement Kidde hard-wired smoke detectors I had put in a few years ago to replace the originals installed when the house was built. The Kiddes had adapters so that wasn't hard. I will have to check the codes here to see if I can do away with all the hard-wired alarms when these need replacing. It would be nice to do away with the pain in the neck battery replacement every six months. ... stirred anti-clockwise. | |||
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| Member |
Both brands give false positives. I have one in my office sitting on a shelf, it went off two days ago for no reason, I could figure out. I had one in my car that I was going to return. The second time the one in my car went off I pitched it out the window. | |||
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| Get my pies outta the oven! |
Why are you doing that? The standard is one year I thought? I have the 10-year sealed battery smoke detectors but have battery-powered CO detectors and I change out the 2 AA's in them each New Years Day. | |||
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| Member |
I thought they were supposed to be changed with the time changes in the spring / fall. ... stirred anti-clockwise. | |||
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| Member |
Check with your local fire department. They actually enjoy answering questions like this. Check your fire extinguishers as well. | |||
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His Royal Hiney |
I looked at the functionality after I figured the existing detectors are not compatible connector-wise. There were two-kinds of detectors - a particulate detector and an ionization detector. I opted for smoke detectors that did both. For the one on the high ceiling, I installed one with a 10-year battery versus the others are one-year battery replacement schedule. I didn't want to have to go up a tall ladder every year. Every detector was on a wire chain as in if one goes off, every one goes off. In addition, I do have a Google smoke and CO2 detector which doesn't work daisy chained and I also have two battery only detectors installed by ADT. "It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946. | |||
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Member |
I went with Nest. 2 of them. Smoke and Carbon Monoxide detection. They work excellently. No mics or eavesdropping bs. They test themselves once a month and notify me prior. They also have motion detection so at night when you walk near one there is a small LED. Really impressed with them. Mine are the wired versions. I like that if I’m not at home and there is a fire, or a gas leak, I’ll get notified immediately, anywhere, on vacation, etc. One of the better home automation products I’ve put it in the house. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Go...=AUC-238248-23-12030 What am I doing? I'm talking to an empty telephone | |||
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| Get my pies outta the oven! |
Update post on my BIL’s house: I ended up buying him Firex by Kidde; 5 regular smoke and 3 combo smoke/CO, all hardwired plus two additional plug-in CO detectors. Installed everything today, everything in that house dated from 2003 manufacture and was sorely due for replacement. At some point the wiring harnesses and plugs changed so I ended up having to change those out for each one, not a big deal. Here is where things got a little strange; circuit breaker panel in basement had a breaker labeled “Smoke” but it was only for the basement and first floor. Good thing out of habit I used a voltage tester to check each wiring harness as I change them out, because the upstairs ones were all hot and on a separate circuit, marked as “Bedroom Outlets” but all the bedroom outlets still worked. Maybe just mislabeled breaker? The one bedroom smoke detector power seemed to be tied into a wall switch, which didn’t make sense. Another bedroom’s smoke detector, the black wire was never hooked up. SMH Everything is wired in and tested and working correctly now. I feel much better about getting it all done for him since they are literally about to have a baby this week. | |||
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| Member |
Mine are old school , battery powered . One of them started chirping yesterday . That's the first time in my life that it happened during daylight hours . It usually happens at 1 oclock in the morning . | |||
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Ammoholic |
That is not typical, possible the basement was finished at a later date and put on a different circuit. This still can work as long as there is a signal wire (red) tied between the two circuits or a wireless detector at both ends of the two circuits. Did you test to make sure the basement units also alarm the top floor and vice versa? Jesse Sic Semper Tyrannis | |||
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Member |
Must be a Euro market model, so it wasn't adjusted for the time difference  Never had one start chirping in daylight hours. The Enemy's gate is down. | |||
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אַרְיֵה |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soIZ6JQNdLk הרחפת שלי מלאה בצלופחים | |||
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| Get my pies outta the oven! |
I'm not sure but they all do not go off when one is activated as they are two separate circuits. The basement and the first floor all go off, they are one circuit together. The second floor all go off, they are on one circuit together separate from the basement/first floor circuit How would I get them tied together easily? I saw that the wiring was 14/3 and the red wire was used as the signal wire. Can this be done at the panel? | |||
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Member |
Amazon Link I bought this 4-pack of Kidde detectors primarily because changing the battery is easy...right on the front panel of the unit. "If you’re a leader, you lead the way. Not just on the easy ones; you take the tough ones too…” – MAJ Richard D. Winters (1918-2011), E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil... Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel." - Isaiah 5:20,24 | |||
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