Test your smoke alarm!

[nicer20]

Even at my level of insanity I only test my smoke/CO detectors monthly. They're all ceiling mounted so I use a broom handle to push the button.

I have an extensive maintenance database that has items come up monthly, spring, summer, fall, and/or winter. The monthly stuff is mostly safety stuff, furnace and other filters, and the Shopsmith which is ancient tech and you have to lube everything that moves manually ... and frequently. My monthly schedule takes about three hours on the first Saturday of every month. Quarterly's take the whole day.

That's outstanding !!

As a side note - I am concerned about these combo smoke/CO detectors. In my opinion, it is fundamentally wrong to combine these two functions in a single unit. These units get typically mounted on Ceiling.

Smoke is lighter than air so it rises and accumulates near ceiling so it is correct to have Smoke alarms on ceiling. BUT CO is heavier than air. So CO starts accumulating near the floor. We would be dead long before the CO rises to the ceiling level and triggers alarm. So CO alarm should be closer to the ground - lower level than our beds as that's possibly when our noses are closer to ground.

My $0.02

- NG

[cwsmith]

We've got a home security system which includes door and window protection in addition to the smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. When the batteries need to be replaced, the alarm control panel signals and tells you which battery needs to be replaced. In our last home we had detectors that would chirp when the batteries got low. Annoying, because it wasn't alway clear where the chirp was coming from and I'd have to wander around looking for the source.

CWS

[twistsol]

Even at my level of insanity I only test my smoke/CO detectors monthly. They're all ceiling mounted so I use a broom handle to push the button.

I have an extensive maintenance database that has items come up monthly, spring, summer, fall, and/or winter. The monthly stuff is mostly safety stuff, furnace and other filters, and the Shopsmith which is ancient tech and you have to lube everything that moves manually ... and frequently. My monthly schedule takes about three hours on the first Saturday of every month. Quarterly's take the whole day.

[LCHIEN]

I think the big thing now is to have dual ionization and particle detectors in the smoke detectors.

I just ordered replacement dual sensor devices (the old were ionization only) with 10 year lithium batteries.

I guess the batteries in my unit though more than 10 years old are not low to set off the low battery indicator circuits but I think the ionization detectors get questionable after 10 years and there's no easy way to sense that.

[nicer20]

"Weekly Checking" - ha !!

It is just CYA - as instructed by lawyers !!

BTW, my two CO alarms had some internal clock that timed out before the 10 year date and they both started chirping annoyingly just within a day apart from each other. The code on front panel said "Expired" and the only way out was replacing both of them.

[LCHIEN]

I last replaced my old smoke alarms with the Kidde 10 year alarm - supposedly with 10 year battery.

Heck, I have 9 foot ceilings and its not easy to check the alarms which are within about 1 foot of the ceiling.

So I don't remember when I replaced it and failed to have a schedule for checking. I expected low battery to chirp intermittently like my old battery alarms.

So I pulled it off the wall today and pressed the test button... nothing.
Found out you have to hold it for 5 seconds before it beeps.

The label on the back says I should check weekly. Hah! who does that on a alarm 9 feet in the air? Isn't that a bit optimistic?
Anyway I made an install note on the back and it says Jan 2010,

The instructions say it flashes the LED once every 45 seconds. Yeah, its very dim and hard to see and you have to be perfectly in front if it... low view angle. No way to see from the floor below.

Allegedly the ionization source in these things only lasts 10 years.

So, it appears that they are both still operating but 11 years old. Guess I need to order two new ones.

Don't forget to test frequently.