Effing smoke/CO detectors !!!

[Deschodt]

I don't know about you guys, but my smoke/CO detectors only ever seem to cry wolf on sunday nights between midnight and 4AM, never ever during the day or at least a friday night, that's for sure... I'm wondering if there's a coder somewhere having a laugh at his clever easter egg...

Any reliable brand out there ? that's the second annoying false alarm these past 6 months. New battery seems to help but this was not low battery symptoms (chirping), it was full on house wire "fire - Fire- Fire".. No fire... 1 hour later full on "CO alert", hmm, don't think so since nothing's burning...
There's nothing in the house that can give out CO, except (possibly??) the gas heater which is under the house, has a good flue, and that space is vented.... I'm gonna buy a separate CO tester for peace of mind, just in case, but I'm tired of those stupid Kidde devices. I understand the Nest one is also famous for reporting CO and fire when your house is fine. Any good models that don't false all the time? Same plugs for all I hope ? (if I want to ruin my sleep, I've got kids for that)

[Baz]

Some of these detectors are only good for "X" number of years and then have to be replaced....despite installing fresh batteries....they will continue to chirp.

Mine both did this over the past 3 weeks and are now laying on my kitchen table.

Curious what others will post here - thanks!

[Deschodt]

Yeah, I'm reading up on them and the consensus is 6-7 years, plus you should occasionally air them out and/or vacuum them or blow compressed at at them.... Thing is the house was remodeled 2y ago, and those things are *new*, still on their original battery for the most part. And it's not the low battery chirp, it thinks there's a fire and CO and shouts that at me (yes it talks)! I replaced one battery and it's OK, what a $hitty failure mode - might be the battery is fine but needed reseating - I don't test voltage at 2AM ! ;-) Wondering if anyone in the business can recommend a quality product. I need 6 of the buggers.

[GH85Carrera]

It is astonishing how they only go nuts in the middle of the night.

I tried a box box store combo battery powered CO & smoke detector that had a false alarm. I had a new one installed as part of the home alarm system they is powered by the home alarm system. So far it has never had a false alarm.

[Evans, Marv]

I took the batteries out and unplugged (they're hardwired) my smoke alarms. Since the system was new (going on seven years ago), they would all of a sudden go off in the middle of the night. Of course when one goes off, the others follow suit. I tried new batteries, replacing some with new and nothing helped. They're all out of operation now, I'm sorry to say.

[motion]

I've installed 2 Nest Protects in my Montana shack... one in the living room and one in the garage to watch over the motorbikes. Very happy so far.

[aschen]

i need to do something about the one in my kitchen, It goes off everytime we make toast or open the oven.

I apreciate the sensitivity of a 12$ device, but I need something that works just a little bit worse.

[Baz]

Originally Posted by motion

I've installed 2 Nest Protects in my Montana shack... one in the living room and one in the garage to watch over the motorbikes. Very happy so far.

Thanks for your post, Richard.

FWIW, here's a link to the Amazon listing with more info including over 1,600 reviews:
Robot Check

Interesting...I'm going to read up on this one.

[Hugh R]

Nest!

[Deschodt]

I'm a big Nest fan - normally - got 2 thermostats, love'em, but their CO detector has *crap* reviews for false alarms. One of my colleagues at work recently rushed home because it told her the house was on fire ;-) If you google Nest and false alarms you get a ton of hits... Wasn't there a recall when they stopped selling it altogether recently ? For the $, not so good, unless they JUST released a new one I don't know about in the past few months... Still, I'm looking for something that covers the 6 existing wiring holes/plates on my ceilings.. 6 $nests$ seems exaggerated ;-)

[VINMAN]

Kidde Nighthawk.



.

[john70t]

I wouldn't ignore those things.
CO is deadly: Carbon Monoxide--Related Deaths --- United States, 1999--2004
"15,000 emergency department visits and 500 unintentional deaths in the United States each year."

I got mom one.
Less than a year later, her furnace was found to have a crack in it.

The rental has one (Kidde combo).
A city rental inspector found a minor gas leak which didn't set it off.
The utility company fixed it.
They will probably inspect your house for free.

[Deschodt]

Oh believe me I'm not ignoring it.. It woke me up twice last night... thing is the only gas thing in the house is the furnace which is new, the flue is new, it's been running for months but this pops up in summer (no heat) and once every few months. If it was real, and other detectors chimed, yeah, but it's clearly a glitch as it went away after I jiggled it and reseated the battery etc... never opened a window.... I'm gonna be vacuuming/blowing air at them tonight !

[Eric Coffey]

Even with new batteries, some will still randomly chirp. If it continues to act up, you might try disconnecting it from the wall/celling, removing the battery, and holding the test button down for several seconds (discharging the cap). Then put the battery back in, reconnect to the wall/ceiling and hold down test button.

[GH85Carrera]

(Start geezer voice)

As a kid I was always fascinated by the room heaters at my grandparents house. The open flame natural gas heaters with glowing hot ceramic plates. Those and floor furnaces were how the house was heated and both my mom's parents and my dad's parent's houses. All the adults were on watch to keep us kids away from the heaters.



They looked like this. Zero ventilation. Of course houses had pitiful windows and no weatherstripping so they were drafty. I guess that is why we did not die of CO poisoning.

(End geezer voice)

[Baz]

Originally Posted by Deschodt

I'm a big Nest fan - normally - got 2 thermostats, love'em, but their CO detector has *crap* reviews for false alarms. One of my colleagues at work recently rushed home because it told her the house was on fire ;-) If you google Nest and false alarms you get a ton of hits... Wasn't there a recall when they stopped selling it altogether recently ? For the $, not so good, unless they JUST released a new one I don't know about in the past few months... Still, I'm looking for something that covers the 6 existing wiring holes/plates on my ceilings.. 6 $nests$ seems exaggerated ;-)

From what I read this morning there is a second generation model that solved this issue in the first edition.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

(Start geezer voice)

As a kid I was always fascinated by the room heaters at my grandparents house. The open flame natural gas heaters with glowing hot ceramic plates. Those and floor furnaces were how the house was heated and both my mom's parents and my dad's parent's houses. All the adults were on watch to keep us kids away from the heaters.



They looked like this. Zero ventilation. Of course houses had pitiful windows and no weatherstripping so they were drafty. I guess that is why we did not die of CO poisoning.

(End geezer voice)

This is what I remember my grandparents having when I was a kid. I think we even used one from time to time.

Aladdin Blue Flame heater

[pcardude]

My neighbor has a giant ham radio antenna and when he is transmitting he used to set off my CO alarms. I put a few split beads on the power line in the wall and it stopped it.

[Deschodt]

I went around and measured all batteries (correct), there's a red blink every 30 seconds which according to Kidde could be "normal operation" or "end of life" depending on model (their doc sucks). They are 2y old so thnk it's the former...

I vacuumed them with a dyson handheld, then blew compressed air... Then tested /reset them all - apparently you need to do that after an alert (reset them all, who knew).. Not a peep last night, but who knows about next week ;-(

I've bought an independent CO meter that does not need fixed power and will not be linked to those and will sit near my bed. Just to be sure !