Yesterday while cooking I set off the smoke detector, no I did not burn anything. They go off when I cook over a high heat. And yesterday once they started going off they would not stop. I ended up having to disconnect them all (they are hard wired with an interconnect) and I replaced them this morning. Aaaaaaaand let me tell you, I had a sleepless night last night knowing there were no detectors installed.

https://www.southernliving.com/how-often-should-you-replace-smoke-detectors-8774122

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[–] 27 points 8 months ago (12 children)

They make ones now with an internal battery that lasts 10 years. No more chirping and swapping 9V batteries.

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  • [–] 25 points 8 months ago (6 children)

    It sucks ass. I've gone through about 5 of them well short of 10 years. I do see that this brand released a new version, but this is the one I had. Absolute garbage. They kept giving false positives, and they have no replaceable batteries so they just become E-waste after you disable them. This is the one I had.

    https://www.homedepot.com/pep/Kidde-10-Year-Worry-Free-Battery-Smoke-and-Carbon-Monoxide-Detector-Photoelectric-Sensor-3-Pack-21029899-3-21029899-3/203534175?

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  • [–] 17 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    You know those have a 10 year warranty right? Including the specific model you linked.

    https://www.kidde.com/warranty-information

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  • [–] 3 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    How many ~$25 items do you fill out a warranty claim for? Mine went into the bin and I got another.

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  • [–] -1 points 8 months ago

    Not many, but I don't buy a lot of $25 products in this day and age. Sometimes electronics fail early, that's why there's a warranty. I also don't go complaining about something when it would have been replaced by warranty either.

    The fact they warrant the devices through their entire expected lifespan instead of only a year is notable.

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  • [–] 3 points 8 months ago

    I’ve had the same problem with them. I don’t recommend them either.

    Even if they do have a warranty, they aren’t reliable enough to be worth doing the warranty claim on, imho.

    I’ve gone back to the old battery style and gotten some rechargeable 9 volt.

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  • [–] 4 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

    In fact, smoke alarms with user-replaceable batteries became illegal in Scotland a couple of years ago.

    Still waiting to see if the same regulation gets applied across the entire UK, but anecdotally I’ve noticed it’s already much harder to find anything other than 10-year battery or hardwired models in my part of England.

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  • [–] 0 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    What's the reason behind that legislation?

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  • [–] 4 points 8 months ago*

    Safety. What else?

    You can see a news report from when it came into force here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-60203081

    The guidance is here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/fire-and-smoke-alarms-in-scottish-homes/pages/where-and-what-to-buy/

    Which includes this part on batteries:

    Replaceable batteries cannot be used because the sensors in the alarm degrade over time and so will not be able to detect heat or smoke. This is why the alarm has a limited lifespan.  Sealed, tamper-proof battery units must be used because they are safer than those which allow the user to change the batteries.   

    There have been several tragedies over the years where alarms failed because their batteries expired, or people have removed them. Any alarm you buy will have information on how long it lasts, which can be up to 10 years.

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