Residential smoke detectors

N

nizak

Senior Member
Curious as to what brand most here are using for residential smoke and CO detectors.

Prices have gone up almost double in the last couple years .

Anyone using anything other than Kidde or BRK?
I have seen some off brands on Amazon that are less expensive but don’t know of the quality or reliability.

Thanks
 
I typically use BRK/ First Alert: Just to be consistent. I've had issues with both brands.
When I get to the point that I have to replace to alarm in a customers house I install it in my own home. For some reason it never randomly initiates in my house.
I believe 99 percent of the time that it's environmental smoke, steam, dust, bugs, dirt, etc.
 
Some of the slum lords around here use the X-sense smoke alarms off Amazon. We accept them because they meet the right listings. No idea on quality and reliability. I used Kidde in my house. Mostly see Kidde installed.

I did have a Kidde alarm start going off for no reason at 4 in the morning, but it was a 10 year sealed unit, not hardwired. It was only one year old.

Pro tip: a combination smoke/CO alarm is not a good thing to do if it's your only CO alarm - when it goes off at 4 in the morning you don't know whether you need to leave because of CO gas or if you need to hunt for a fire you can't see or smell. I got a stand-alone CO detector and a stand-alone smoke detector to replace that unit.
 
NEC Inspector said:
Some of the slum lords around here use the X-sense smoke alarms off Amazon. We accept them because they meet the right listings. No idea on quality and reliability. I used Kidde in my house. Mostly see Kidde installed.

I did have a Kidde alarm start going off for no reason at 4 in the morning, but it was a 10 year sealed unit, not hardwired. It was only one year old.

Pro tip: a combination smoke/CO alarm is not a good thing to do if it's your only CO alarm - when it goes off at 4 in the morning you don't know whether you need to leave because of CO gas or if you need to hunt for a fire you can't see or smell. I got a stand-alone CO detector and a stand-alone smoke detector to replace that unit.
Click to expand...
I believe some of the voice units specifically say CO detected. ( or something to that affect)
 
NEC Inspector said:
Some of the slum lords around here use the X-sense smoke alarms off Amazon. We accept them because they meet the right listings. No idea on quality and reliability. I used Kidde in my house. Mostly see Kidde installed.

I did have a Kidde alarm start going off for no reason at 4 in the morning, but it was a 10 year sealed unit, not hardwired. It was only one year old.

Pro tip: a combination smoke/CO alarm is not a good thing to do if it's your only CO alarm - when it goes off at 4 in the morning you don't know whether you need to leave because of CO gas or if you need to hunt for a fire you can't see or smell. I got a stand-alone CO detector and a stand-alone smoke detector to replace that unit.
Click to expand...
If you can count the difference between "3" and "4" you shouldn't have an issue. If it's a listed alarm, it will sound temporal 3 for smoke and temporal 4 for CO.
 
gadfly56 said:
If you can count the difference between "3" and "4" you shouldn't have an issue. If it's a listed alarm, it will sound temporal 3 for smoke and temporal 4 for CO.
Click to expand...
nizak said:
I believe some of the voice units specifically say CO detected. ( or something to that affect)
Click to expand...
All of that is true, and lovely in theory, but when the alarm is going off at 4 in the morning (actually it was 3:30) in the smoke alarm beep pattern and there is no smoke you can find, and the alarm is only one year old, you are already 90% sure that the alarm is malfunctioning in some way.

What you don't know is if it is totally a false alarm because the alarm is defective, or if there is CO and the alarm is defective in a way that causes it to go off in the smoke alarm beep pattern (beeep - beeep - beeep) instead of the CO pattern (beepbeepbeepbeep), or if there really is a little hotspot somewhere that you are missing. Trying to figure out which while half asleep and alarm going off so you can't hear yourself think is difficult at best. You just aren't at peak cognitive function in that situation. And if there is CO, if you sleep, you die. Adds some pressure to the situation...

Most people do not appreciate how truly lethal CO is, so likely they would have disabled the only CO alarm in the house and gone back to sleep, betting their lives on the alarm having suffered the right kind of malfunction. I deal with CO detection often enough for it to be a forefront hazard in my mind and I have some older gas appliances, so that was not a route I was willing to take.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top