My dad took a hammer to mine.
Nice! Wish I wasn’t broke or I’d bid on it. I have always wanted a Sa76RC.
As for the big old ADT alarm, it probably is a retagged ESL. Sure looks like one. I don’t think ADT ever manufactured their own equipment. They have their name on ESL, EST, Simplex, System Sensor (Fire lite etc) and more smoke detectors.
I have a new smoke alarm in our house which replaces our 22 yr old smoke alarm
What kind?
Hopefully it’s not ionization…
Most likely it is ionization. Kudos for replacing it though! I’ve seen lots and lots of outdated smoke alarms still up when they should be replaced. You may have just saved your life someday.
Take it a step further and make sure you get photoelectric smoke alarms. They are far more likely to save your life. Ionization alarms are better than nothing, but not by very much.
One of the worst smoke alarms I’ve ever seen was at an old beat up house. It had one of the more recent First Alert octagonal smoke/CO alarms, but above it on the ceiling there was an old Black and Decker rebranded GE rectangular alarm with the big trumpet over the piezo speaker. It was yellowed, but most of all, it was just caked with dust and grime. I couldn’t tell if it was a Black and Decker grill or smoke alarm! :shock: I never found out if either actually functioned.
Did you keep the old one? If so, what kind/brand was it?
Our old smoke alarm was a 9-volt GE Home Sentry Smoke Alarm.
The model number was 8201-301
That smoke alarm is much older than 22 years. Try 37 years.
I did not know it was 37 years old
anyway our new smoke alarm is a first alert and it is a photoelectric
WHAT IN THE HELL DOES YOUR DAD HAVE AGAINST LIFE/FIRE SAFETY?! That’s what… The 3rd 4th time he has done that? We need to have Bob Chauvin,talk some sense into him.
Can you make a video of testing it?
Well, he was probably just irritated cause it was making so much noise. I try not to test my detectors that much, and when I do, I do so in the garage.
lol, I was messing with it and we just put in some Kidde Nighthawk(?) Smoke/CO alarms. Pretty sure Bob will not give a damn…
For anyone wondering, he smashed a ionization smokes with a hammer. And after i took a radiation counter to measure the levels.
I’ve abused smoke detectors. Hmm where to begin?
I put 80 volts DC through a First Alert 83R. Some resistor(s) started emitting blue smoke on the board below the horn, then the horn went silent after chirping once.
I have smashed a smoke alarm with a hammer before. It was dead anyways.
I have also dunked a smoke alarm in a bucket of water. NOT an AC alarm. It squeaked strangely then went silent. The LED was not blinking but glowed steadily and dimly. When I took it out, the horn was squealing just a tiny bit. I blew most of the water off and it chirped back to life. But, ever since then it goes off as long as it gets power.
Honestly, I don’t think ionization detectors are suitable for households… they activate far too late for the residents to safely evacuate the building, on many occasions.
You are right about that I never tested the alarm only my parents did
and as for a matter of fact I hated the sound of that old smoke alarm
Always sounded like a foghorn to me
It also was false sensitive because it went off five times one time when my mom was cooking
Oh, no. Ionization smoke alarms have a bad reputation for false positives.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnlkiZC0dd0 Here’s a study that shows that photoelectric detectors alarm much quicker in a real fire, while ion detectors do not.
I know this is off topic, but UnumProvident101, where did you get your name from? I’m only curious because it reminds me of a building I drive by every day.
I have a bad problem of accidentally breaking cover hinges/catches on smoke detectors. For example, I broke the hinge on my GE home sentry and superglued it back in place.
Our new smoke alarm does not scare me even though it’s loud and I am more aware when it goes off.
With our old one my dad always had to take the battery out when it went off and I was always worried that it would go off