You have shamed me into installing all new detectors. I know that the internals fade and stop working right after about 10 years...I'm 20+ years in my house. This weekend is smoke detector changeout week - thanks for nothing, friend - now my Saturday is shot ;)
this post was submitted on 11 Jan 2025
37 points (100.0% liked)
Dull Men's Club
1303 readers
181 users here now
An unofficial chapter of the popular Dull Men's Club.
1. Relevant commentary on your own dull life. Posts should be about your own dull, lived experience. This is our most important rule. Direct questions, random thoughts, comment baiting, advice seeking, many uses of "discuss" rarely comply with this rule.
2. Original, Fresh, Meaningful Content.
3. Avoid repetitive topics.
4. This is not a search engine or advice forum.
Use a search engine, a tradesperson, Reddit, friends, a specialist Facebook group, apps, Wikipedia, an AI chat, a reverse image search etc. to answer simple questions, identify objects or get advice. We accept very few questions, and they must be over topics much more difficult than what is easily discoverable with a search. Also see rule 1, “comment baiting”.
5. Keep it dull. If it puts us to sleep, it’s on the right track. Examples of likely not dull: jokes, gross stuff (including toes), politics, religion, royalty, illness or injury, killing things for fun, or promotional content. Feel free to post these elsewhere.
6. Not hate speech, sexism, or bullying No sexism, hate speech, degrading or excessively foul language, or other harmful language. No othering or dehumanizing of anyone or negativity towards any gender identity.
7. Proofread before posting. Use good grammar and punctuation. Avoid useless phrases. Some examples: - starting a post with "So" - starting a post with pointless phrases, like "I hope this is allowed" or “this is my first post” Only share good quality, cropped images. Do not share screenshots of images; share the original image.
8. All polls must have an "Africa, by Toto" option. Why? Because we hear the drums echoing tonight.
founded 1 month ago
MODERATORS
Sounds like an action-packed weekend to me
If you're buying now, make sure to get UL 217 8th edition standard in whatever brand you get.
Not only are they much less likely to give false alarms, they are better at alarming earlier at detection of real fires. source
Warning for the USA: while the new UL 217 8th edition standard are on sale, the law allows retailers to sell through their stock of the old ones. You'll still get a working smoke detector, but you'll be missing out on this new better technology/standard.
Thank you for this. I appreciate the info.
Get the optical triggered versions without the radioactive americium. The old cheap americium type seem to be getting insufficient americium which causes them to go off randomly, prematurely, or for every little VOC increase. I assume it is deregulation based criminality at the heart of the issue. Can't trust anything any more.
I bought the optical ones, and got so many false alarms. SO MANY. I had to remove them and get the old kind.
The old americium's went off randomly at night and at the mention of bacon... at the grocery store... The new optical ones we have are sensitive to heated aerosols like hairsprays plus hair dryers.
It's best to get the ones with built in batteries that last ten years.
I got google nests in all rooms. They are nice, interconnected, checks itself regularly, gives me the ability to just click it to mute in case I fucked up the fireplace or something but I know
Kinda expensive tho
Idk, if u don't pay for an alarm company it's nice to know when you should call the fire department even if ur on vacation
Ah, I need to change the one in the basement. Thanks for reminding me.
I ordered a fire detector, CO2 sensor combo. Then I realized I couldn't reach it with my ladder. I stored the sensor for six months until I got a taller ladder. When I finally got another ladder, I pulled the sensor out and discovered that somehow the plug that you splice to the wires is missing. I tore the closet apart looking for it, but it's gone. So, I wasted $50. I can't find a replacement plug anywhere.
I just changed all mine, got some that come with a remote to silence them. They'll all go off, you press the button once and they all turn off except for the one that triggered it. You press again to turn it off.