hardwired fire/smoke detectors

[430752]

What are the advantages of hardwired? Should I go for it?

Okay, obviously hardwired don't need to change batteries every year or two, and they are interconnected. But, they have battery powered units that interconnect by wi-fi nowadays.

My situation is that I'm renovating my home, built in the 1920's. I'll be redoing each bedoom, and also probably the kitchen, sunroom, and basement store room/work room, taking them down to stud and redoing it with new electrical and teledata, putting in insulation, making some changes, and refinishing. Why? because each room has no insulation, only 2 outlets per room, and even then on the baseboards, old single pane sieve like windows, and often cracking plaster, etc., etc. By the time I open the walls up for windows and electrical, I might as well do the whole thing, at least I get the benefit of insulation, better/quicker installation of elec and teledata, and I don't have to patch plaster.

So, along the way I'm thinking of doing hardwired smoke detectors. After all, in new construction they're required. But not sure its worth the effort. And, while I'm working a room open down to stud, going from room to room is not easy and I'd have to run the interconnecting wire and let it hang until I get to the next room. Sure, in 3 years I'd have 4 or 5 rooms done and then I've got something, but is it worth it. Can anyone make a good case for or against it?

[avbclark]

Check the Code

Where I live we are required to have hardwired, interconnected units with battery backup. We had a fire at the last house. I'm always going to have smoke and CO detectors. YMMV

[pelligrini]

I don't think hardwired will get you away from batteries with most of the systems. I'm not sure, but I think most codes require a battery backup. In most cases it is a 9v battery in the device. The condos we did recently had batteries, as well as our office and they were also hardwired. The hardwire is for the interlinks and a possible monitored connection.

You might be required to bring them up to code anyways depending on the scope of the remodel and the local codes adopted.

A good arguement for it: Is the savings in time, effort, & cost of not doing it worth it in regards to you and your family's safety?

[sparkeyjames]

I have a hardwired system in my old beat up 1925 issue house. Over all I would say it's a good thing. Each unit has it's own battery and all are interconnected. They also have high heat source detection. I was doing plumbing work in the hallway on the bathtub pipes and it got set off from the torch when I was soldering up some copper. If I forget to run the self test for a few months the darn things start doing a random short beep and it's enough to drive me nuts. I removed the detector units from 2 in the upstairs bedrooms which are nothing but storage for me (2 less batteries to replace). There are still 3 units running one in the master bedroom one in the hallway and one at the top of the stairs in the second story.

[Uncle Cracker]

You will absolutely still have to change batteries. Advantage to interconnection is that, if one goes off, they all do.

[ragswl4]

In Kalifornia the hardwired smoke detectors with battery back up are required by code, so as others have suggested, check with the building department on your local requirements. A phone call should do it.

[pelligrini]

I recall seeing a system with a single central battery, but it was geared for a commercial application. I can't remember who made the product.

[gsmittle]

Until I read that you were taking each room down to studs, I was going to vote for separates. Since you're running all sorts of other wire, go ahead and run the detector wiring, too. I would think you could mount the units in rooms you haven't gotten to yet, and they would work as battery-powered units until wired in.

I do check mine every two months or so, and it's nice to know that a fire anywhere in the house will set off all the detectors. I'm not sure my family likes me testing them at 6 am on a Saturday, however.

g.

[slieber967]

hardwired fire/smoke detectors

i think code requires a dedicated circuit with its own circuit breaker and nothing else on the circuit. i installed them in my 100 year old firetrap and sleep much better at night.

kc
slieber967@aol.com

[Handy Al]

When I re-did my master bathroom last year, I had to bring the smofe detectors up to code here in Ohio. I had to have at least one hardwired AC unit. The rest I added wireless units. When one goes off they all do.

[430752]

I know code is for new construction. Don't think for old construction remodelled, after all at my pace I'm on par for a room every 6 mos. (2 young kids, job, other stuff in the new-to-me home).

Replace batteries even for hardwired? jeez, that takes some of the incentive out of hardwired.

For Handy Al- do the woreless interconnects work well? Cuz as far as I can figure that's the big selling point of harwired, the interconnectedness. I've only recently seen the stand-alone battery only units that interconnect by wi-fi.

If I have to run a dedicated circuit for all the detectors, than screw that.

Thanks for all the replies.

[Handy Al]

Fortunately, I hadn't seen (heard) the alarms in real action. But when you hit the test button on one, they all go off.

At my age, the hearing is getting bad. Doubt I could hear an alarm inthe basement from the bedroom. High frequency hearing is shot.

[KLF]

Others have pretty much answered all the options, but I will toss this out as it's not common knowledge: all smoke detectors have a service life of 10 years, and should be replaced after that.

[BearPipes-1]

I bought a condo about 15 years ago - a new development, got to watch the thing get built, etc. It was a very small unit, but I could afford it, and I liked it.

But my idea of how a hardwired smoke detector should work was not the reality.

The reality was that the smoke detector in my bedroom, up on the vaulted ceiling, would run its battery down to replacement levels, and the first I'd know about it would be when the thing started beeping in the middle of the night.

It was always the middle of the night.

Well, the place had a lot of volume, not much square footage - which meant that reaching the smoke detector on that vaulted ceiling required the biggest ladder I owned, which had to be stored in the garage downstairs.

Many's the night I cursed the vendors/code creators/builders who didn't see fit to, say, flash an LED for a while before the battery got down to the beeping point.

And unlike my (low-ceilinged) current home, where the battery-only units that are chirping can be silenced temporarily by removing the battery, the AC power kept the units complaining. I recall being out of 9V batteries and trying to decide whether I ought just to rip the thing out of the ceiling. I think I slept in the living room the rest of the night - or tried to.

Anyway, make sure you know how they'll work, so you can better assess what reality offers.

;-)

[sparkeyjames]

Others have pretty much answered all the options, but I will toss this out as it's not common knowledge: all smoke detectors have a service life of 10 years, and should be replaced after that.

This is where having a system with replaceable sensor domes comes in. Mine has this capability. One twist and unplug interface plug and plug in a new one and twist it on.