Question: I have heard that smoke alarms stop working after 10 years, but when I press the test button mine still buzz. How do I know when to replace them?
Answer: All you were testing is that the AC power or the batteries are still powering the audio alarm. You were not testing whether the smoke alarm still detected smoke. Over time this sensor gets contaminated with cooking grease, perfume, pet odors, and other things in the air. This contamination prevents the smoke sensor from detecting smoke and sounding the alarm.
These failures start to happen at 10 years. Since you canât easily test for this, the only safe thing to do is assume at 10 years your smoke alarms are no longer working and replace them. I recently helped a neighbor replace her more than 10-year-old smoke alarms and found that Kidde improved the design of the replacement Firex alarms that makes replacement much easier with no need to change the wiring connector. It took thirty minutes to change out five smoke alarms. Kidde now provides an adapter that plugs into the old connector and then connects to the new Firex smoke alarm.
If your old smoke alarm is a Firex model ADC you can replace it with a Firex model i12060 which now contains the wiring adapter described above. The alarm also has some nice feature like the front loading battery that allows you to change the battery without taking down the smoke alarm and without any tools. The new alarm also has one button designed to operate the hush and alarm test.
If you donât have a carbon monoxide detector (they werenât required the first few years of Sun City construction), you should get and install one. These are especially important if you have a gas stove or a gas dryer.
Information from Neighbors Helping Neighbors
A while ago, you ran an article about smoke detectors and potential problems. Just FYI, on our street down from the woodshop here in N33 (Canary Lane), the homes were built from 2008 to 2010 or so, and they had installed combo smoke/CO detectors by First Alert in the ceiling positions, interconnected, etc. First, we found out that most residents did not know they were dual-capable, nor did they know the difference in the alarms (number of beeps), much less how to react to them. So as part of NW/NHN, we helped them to understand, and know how they interacted with the house, how the fire suppression systems were not related, and even how the front light flashers worked. Then we started having false CO alarms in several of the houses, including ours. We handled them case-by-case, and the company freely replaced the faulty ones. (Most everyone thought it was a smoke warning, and it must be the battery….)
We determined that they were defective, and apparently the company knew it. For our house, I ended up asking and replacing free all of our ceiling combination detectors with smoke-only versions, then added a more standard CO detector in an outlet. When new neighbors recently moved in across the street, I found out that their combo ceiling units had been disconnected, and the battery removed. They were then replaced in the ceiling, in this inoperative condition, probably to avoid nuisance alarms. I fixed them up…wonder how they passed the warranty homeownerâs inspection?
If you have suggestions for future tips or have questions about maintenance around your home submit them to ask.the.woodchucks@gmail.com.
