So, I just read online that the state of MD is asking people to get smoke detectors with sealed 10 year batteries, and they hope that soon all regular smoke detectors will stop being sold. I am totally against this because 1, I keep fresh batteries in my smoke detectors, test them once a month, and replace them every ten years. I even replaced my grandma’s smoke detectors for her as a birthday gift. 2: since the battery is sealed and once the battery dies, you have to dispose the unit, how is it possible that people will be collecting these in the near future? 3: there are no photoelectric smoke detectors on the market with a sealed 10 year battery, so I assume they want us to go all ionization, which is a VERY bad thing. I hope this all fails to happen and no one comes knocking at my door. Does your state have any rules like this?
Out here in California we have HAZMAT waste disposal facilities. You take your batteries, household cleaners, sealed 10 year smoke alarms, anything that would be bad in the garbage to these places and they will take them.
Posting false information REALLY pisses me off. When you post something as fact, that can easily be debunked with a simple google search I quite frankly think you should be given a warning. It’s simply unfair to state a false fact and lead people with bad information.
There are multiple lines of 10 year units. Any combintation that you can think of is out there from combo units, to both photo and ion units. IF anything a home should have each type depending on the area it’s placed.
Secondly, it’s a FANTASTIC idea. Replacing the battery is something normal people forget to do, let alone testing it every month. Most of the units have a hush button now to make it easy to silence and less likley to be removed durring a false alarm, with that said it makes it imposible for someone to take it down and remove the battery instead of using the hush feature.
I also doubt you are even 15 years old, so I am not sure how you have been changing them every 10 years.
Wait, I just did a big huge search. Kidde does have 10 yr alarms with 4 combinations. I’ve never heard of this lineup of alarms. It must be new.
Big huge search as in it took about 5 seconds?
I like this idea, having to replace batteries less often, makes it less likely to come across a unit in the field with a dead battery within the ten years of recommended operation; another example with a similar case would be when LED emergency exit signs that featured NICAD batteries, became widely available to electrical contractors and building owners, It provided an alternative to the traditional way of replacing batteries every two to three years and gave a more simplified way to check and inspect these units. The problem that still remains however, whether it is an emergency lighting unit or a smoke detector, is that there will always be somebody who fails to regularly inspect these units; henceforth, the purpose behind the non-replaceable batteries are an attempt to consolidate battery life and the life of the smoke detector into one “expiration date”. In short terms; battery life would be the same as the detector’s life, instead of the more common use of four batteries for a smoke detector that lasts for ten years.
I love the idea of 10-year smoke detectors, but consider this…
Whenever we hear our detectors chirp, we remember that we actually own a smoke detector. We usually replace the batteries instead of ripping it off the ceiling. Why? Because we don’t want to die in a fire. It’s real annoying, but thing about it. Every time you install a new battery, it beeps. At this point, we know at least the piezo works. Then, we might clean off the dust a bit with a vacuum or whatever. Because all smoke detectors need to be cleaned to work, right? After our little maintenance affair, we forget that the smoke detector even exists, because no normal person would pay attention to it.
Now a ten-year smoke detector, as convenient as it is, takes away the cleaning and the testing. “Gee, that’s one of those 10-year smoke detectors. I don’t have to touch it at all! It will take care of itself.” Now, who’s cleaning it? Who’s testing the piezo? Let’s admit it. What working class citizen is going to find the time/initiative to clean and test a smoke detector? Next thing you know, the smoke detector is caked in dust; either causing false alarms, or no alarms at all!
I do understand that all standard smoke detectors should be replaced every ten years. I get it! But maybe, all newer detectors can have a GIANT replacement date on it… right next to the battery! (the battery that we have to replace, of course!) I can see it like this: “IF YOU DO NOT REPLACE YOUR SMOKE DETECTOR BY MARCH OF 2024, THIS SMOKE DETECTOR WILL NOT SOUND IN THE EVENT OF A FIRE. Have a nice day!”
Just my opinion. Maybe we should slow down, and think about what standard smoke detectors actually force us to do.
I don’t like the idea of this. I think people might forget they have smoke alarms if they don’t change the battery’s. Is this just me who worries?
People already do forget about smoke alarms. That is what causes aging batteries to go unchanged in the first place.
How many times do we have to go over the “no bumping” role to get people to stop doing it?