Tis the season for holiday fires. I am a fire inspector and I regularly see people who maintain smoke detectors like they are a precious heirloom. The sensors inside are only designed to last 10 years. They are expendable pieces of equipment.

I see people who change the batteries and test them but all that does is test the circutry and not the sensors. Some people blow smoke into it; congratulations you just destroyed it as the sensors are now caked with smoke particles.

The dates are stamped on the back of each unit. If they do not have a date they are likely over 25 years old.

Do not buy them online as there are many knockoffs. Spend the money on something that could save your life or your home. Reputable brands include Kidde, First Alert, and I personally like Nest but they are pricey. As far as I know these are the only brands that can legally be used as they are all UL or ETL listed. If it is not UL listed do not get it.Some products on Amazon say they are UL listed and they lie (I know, big surprise, people lie) point is, buy reputable brands.

Old detectors are not reliable and you can not leave your life in the hands of an antique that can crap out.

When replacing them look to see if they are hardwired (wiring in the ceiling). If they are hardwired, replace them with hardwired detectors (as opposed to solely battery operated). If just battery operated, get the sealed 10 year battery type. (No more getting on ladders to fix the chirping detector at 2am).

Not sure what to get someone for the holidays? Get them a set of detectors for their house (generally one one each floor and may also be in each bedroom). It’s the gift that says “I like you enough to not see you die in a fire”. It’s also usually something people don’t buy for themselves. While you are at it, get at least one carbon monoxide detector to put in the hall between the bedrooms and a multipurpose ABC type fire extinguisher to be put in the kitchen.

Stay safe and happy holidays.

If you need help with your own home just message me, I do this professionally and can easily guide someone through it.

Everything online says "smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors should be replaced every 10 years".

But is this 10 years of use, or 10 years total? I can't really find an answer to that.

Like if you buy one at a hardware store and it's been on the shelf 3 years, is it still good for 10?

I keep seeing this online where people get into arguments about having to replace smoke detectors and smoke alarms every 10 years. While you have to replace smoke alarms which are normally installed in homes that have internal Sounders and that are self-contained every 10 years you do not have to do that with system smoke detectors that are connected to a commercial or residential fire alarm system. Please see this bulletin directly from the smoke detector manufacturer.

"System smoke detectors contain electronic parts. Although system smoke detectors are manufactured and tested to provide a high degree of reliability, individual components are susceptible to unforeseen failure. System smoke detectors are required by NFPA 72® - 2010 Edition: National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code to undergo regular inspection, testing and maintenance as described in Chapter 14. This includes visual, functional and sensitivity testing. While section 14.4.8.1 of the standard states that “smoke alarms installed in one and two family dwellings…shall not remain in service longer than 10 years from the date of manufacture,” this should not be interpreted to apply to system smoke detectors. Smoke detectors and smoke alarms are different devices. Whereas smoke alarms are listed to UL 217 and operate as standalone devices, smoke detectors are listed to UL 268 and only operate in conjunction with a Fire Alarm Control Panel. As such, they are required to meet different replacement guidelines. System connected smoke detectors may be successfully deployed for many years, and no scheduled end of life replacement is prescribed. Detectors may remain in operation provided they continue to pass the regular testing AND meet current standards and the application requirements for which they are installed. If you have any questions regarding System Sensor products or their application, please call Technical Services at (800) SENSOR2 (736-7672 ext. 2.)"

Have a bit of a challenge meeting all the code requirements for smoke alarms in US residential, due to kitchen being part of the main floor living area.

Are there any residential smoke alarms (specifically BRK compatible) that are listed as per below?

(4) not within 10' horizontally from fixed cooking appliance, unless listed in close proximity to cooking appliances.

What works in a situation where the alarm would have to either be located within 10' of a cooking appliance or be in an airstream created by kitchen makeup air?

Dad-bros and mom-lurkers, it isnt common knowledge that smoke detectors are meant to be replaced every ten years. Sure they might still work just fine, but will you take that chance? Its old, it's sensativity is degraded by dust... being the season of dry trees and cheap rechargeables, be safe.

When I first bought my house, I installed 9 Nest Smoke/CO2 battery driven networked alarms.

However, the Nest app just sent me a warning that the devices are reaching "end of life" and need replaced.

These were $120 each back in 2015 - but a quick Google shows them at $250 each now.

I really don't want to spend $2200 to replace them all -- will they stop functioning when it hits the built-in date?

I have Kidde KN-COSM-IB combo CO/smoke detectors in my house, they date to late 2014. One gave off the chirp of death, about every 30 seconds, which according to the table on the back of it says it’s the end of life signal. Ok, I think these are old now and should be nearing the end of their lives. And the Kidde website says CO detectors are required to chirp to indicate end of life.

But then a couple hours later, another of the same model does the same thing. And a couple more hours, so does another. And finally, a fourth does it. All four failed within about -18 hours. They’re all getting old, and they all should be replaced. But for all of them to fail so quickly after one another. Does that seem odd?

• smoke carbon

• temperature

• air quality

• siri mic would also be cool

Would be such a great addition to smart home and eliminate some need for battery sensors.

Hey ecobee 👀

Just had a night of troubleshooting chirping smoke detectors, which my husband and I have done annually since buying this house. These were Firex detectors dated from 2014 that came with the house when we bought it a few years ago (I read that Kidde bought the brand long before but didn’t see any Kidde branding on the detectors).

I’ve learned that smoke detectors expire and so we’re on a hunt to buy new ones. It led me to research better options and apparently there are none…well, except for Nest—but Google has a tendency to build a great product and then abandon support for it out of nowhere…so am reluctant to go that route.

But I thought I’d post to see if there is a smoke detector out there that doesn’t make me want to risk having my house burn down in exchange for a decent night’s sleep….bonus points if it doesn’t need to connect to WiFi or require regular vacuuming/dusting.

I have a 20 year old house in Raleigh. It has smoke detectors both inside and right outside the bedrooms. Is this a state requirement?

Hey. Today I got a nest smoke detector, packaged sealed from a person that never installed it. It was cheap ye but it's a very nice design. I was about to start installing when I noticed an expiry date on the back. It says 2020. Well now it's just a good looking paper weight. Is there any way to get it tested, calibrated or something or to just jailbreak it, reprogram it to work again? It has never been opened.

While this is a great device with AirPlay 2 and good HomeKit integration, after fourr years an internal battery died and there is nothing they can do. It chirps to warn you about the battery, you can silence it but then in a few hours it does it again. No way to disable the warning feature…

Don’t waste your money, this is borderline fraud. First Alert support just says “sorry, it’s out of warranty “

What do you think should be included in the annual maintenance of the fire alarm system?

Do all detectors and alarm devices need to be tested or is random sampling testing enough? If so how many percent of the devices should be tested each year?

It's not like the detector reads the manufactor date. I'm guessing that the radiation used to detect smoke gets less intense and once it drops below a certain level it beeps. I remember that my First Alert model SC05 had a 10 year life span but it's giving 3 beeps with fresh batteries after 8 years. I feel ripped off. You owe me 2 more years first alert!

So we have had multiple OP921 head failures the past month and had a bunch in advisory, system was commissioned in 2021 seems too soon for failures. I'm hoping that we get better life out of the multi criteria intelligent siemens heads. What have you seen with the service life with heads??

They used to just sit there and protect my house for however many years then give me a chirp when it was time for a new 9v battery. Now they go six months then explode with alerts that there's a "fault" and can only be silenced by permanently disabling them and throwing them out. I've tried different brands, I've got a dozen screw holes from all the different mounts. Fuck smoke detectors.