Rare Smoke Detectors

Yes, I’d say there’s a market of sorts. I’m sure to most people they’re not valuable at all, but to some collectors/enthusiasts they are very valuable indeed.

My home was built in 1978 (I purchased it in 1999) and had two Entronic Z-100 smoke detectors hard wired in. I removed one a couple years ago as it seemed to be defective. The second one started “chirping” about a week ago. I’m now wondering if it can be cleaned or fixed or if it will need to be replaced. It is essentially “useless” since when I had new windows put in I was forced to put in new smoke detectors in the three bedrooms that surround it so it’s literally surrounded by three new smoke detectors.

Given that I’ve never even heard of or seen that model, they’ve gotta be well over 10 years old, so I’d advise replacing them (don’t throw them away though, give them to a collector).

I just pulled a couple old BRK 1769ACI alarms from my parent’s house and found this forum when looking for info on them. Instead of throwing them out, I’d like to give them to a collector for the cost of shipping.

Great idea! I don’t think I’d mind taking them in.

I actually have an old Sears smoke alarm similar to the ones SER Safety has, but not the same.

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At my grandma’s, we have an old NuTone detector, that suprisingly still works!

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That’s neat, but I’d replace it if I were you, I’m sure it’s well over 10 years old by now.

Might be weird continuing this topic with an alarm that probs every house has but I’ve pulled out five BRK 86RAC detectors from my grandparents house. It’s kind of surprising how these detectors operated without battery backup, with no chirping. One was sitting in a drawer for god knows how long, and four were serving in areas of the house (one in the garage). The replacement was risky, Granddad hazardously removed the harnesses (Cut them with wire cutters). There could have been seven 86RAC in the house, but two of them in the hallway got disposed of and replaced with Kidde detectors in 2012. We bought i9010 detector for the two 86RAC, reused an i12060 (that replaced 86RAC in a hallway during year of 2013) that served drawer time from 2014-2020 (the year all the alarms were replaced). We could have bought SCO500 from Lowes but it was a town away. The replacing of 86RACs in 2013 and 2020 was quite weird, I can say how it happened if someone asks. I also have images of the hazardous removal of wire harness

You seriously mean to tell me that from an unspecified year until now those 86RACs had NO batteries in them? You’re right, it is a wonder that they went that long without chirping, unless low battery chirps weren’t a thing back when they were made.

One in the garage!? There should be no detectors there; that’s a no-no area for smoke detectors, along with kitchens & bathrooms, due to the increased chance of malfunctions, damage, & false alarms.

Yeah that’s definitely not the safe way to do it, the safe way would be this: go to the breaker panel & flip the breaker labeled as for the smoke detectors. If the breaker’s not clearly labeled as such, have someone else stand at one of the detectors as you flip one breaker after another until the power LED turns off (though for some units pushing the test button might be necessary to confirm the units no longer have power).

You saved the 5 remaining 86RACs that were replaced, right? Also I’d recommend that at some point the ionization Kidde alarms be replaced with dual-sensor alarms, as ionization detectors have been shown to be the least effective at detecting most types of home fires that break out.

Yes, ZERO batteries for ages. I tried running these alarms off AC only and I got chirps.

There’s a P3010CU there but it falsed :face_with_diagonal_mouth: (Should just be replaced with CO alarm)

And I’m pretty sure each wire for detector is tied to room breaker (lights, outlets)
Also each new detector now runs off DC (no one wants to wire it to AC, with the hazardously removed harness) Maybe wire tester?

Yes I saved the five remaining, two were sadly disposed in 2013

The other end of the hallway has no alarm there. There used to be one and the hallway is over 30ft, requires two detector.

As of 2022, the i12060 in my granddads room (served in hallway during 2013) needs replacement, I remember correctly the date said “Something something 2012”. I’m not so sure granddad approves, he has an SA710 from 2009 downstairs still sitting on the ceiling. His argument when I tried to tell him his i12060 and SA710 may need replacing: “I don’t care if they’re yellow and/or old. It will protect me from fire regardless”.

I really need to buy CO alarms for the upstairs… There are ZERO there. My aunt is smart and has CO detector in bedroom. :upside_down_face:

On the hazardously removed harness… I think I can see an electrical fire waiting to happen.

That’s to be expected: modern alarms do chirp when the battery’s low or missing.

As far as I know there should be no detectors in the garage of any kind, since car exhaust generates carbon monoxide (no wonder the detector that’s there currently false alarmed). I’d recommend removing the detector that’s there currently & leaving the garage detectorless.

You could always just turn off the breakers to all of them & then wire them like I said.

Oh well I guess, at least you saved the remaining five.

In that case I’d recommend you install an alarm where there was one at the end of the hall.

Yeah, the i12060 definitely needs replacement since you’re supposed to replace smoke detectors every 10 years, though like I said the others really should be replaced as well (with dual-sensor units) since they’re ionization. That’s what he thinks huh? He needs to watch some of the videos I’ve watched that clearly demonstrate that ionization alarms are the least effective at detecting home fires, maybe that’d convince him.

I’d say you only need a CO alarm (or possibly multiple) if your house has gas-powered appliances.

Maybe, which is all the more reason why at some point the detectors should be wired properly.

Hi there sorry this is a late reply but do you or you brother still have this unit? I haven’t posted in here in months as I had problems logging in but looks like it finally worked. I wouldn’t mind taking that off your hands if you still have it and are looking to get rid of it. that looks rare and collector worthy. Noticed too your name is Canadian. I am also a fellow Canadian. Welcome to the panel!!! I have a rapidly growing collection of vintage detectors most of which are from the 1970’s.

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Hello,
Super cool to find out that the detector is collector worthy. We still have it as far as I understand. Looks like you are in Ontario, We are located in Alberta. Would you be interested in purchasing the unit? If so what is it worth? I went to send a PM in here but could not figure out how (or if it is possible).
Talk soon.

Thanks I couldnt tell you how much it is worth but how much are you looking at if u were to sell it? would 40.00 be too high? This unit might be worth over 100 today but I am not an expert. I just know it is collector worthy. honestly I am not asking much for it even if you just charge shipping fees I will pay that much. I bought an old SA76RS that way from here 4 years ago. that was one of my firsts and now I have almost 30 pieces. I do have an ebay account I have only bought detectors but never sold any there. I am actually just about to post my collection on here. there is no rush to send this to me. I actually just purchased a Malgard model 1101 FM I should be getting it soon so I wouldn’t be able to buy it this month but next month might be good. I might be able to buy it at a bit higher price then if 75.00 is okay and since we are both in Canada I don;t have to worrt about the US exchange. anyways we can talk more about this if you still have it hold onto it because if I can buy this that would be great. welcome to the forum as well. Have a great weekend. I am in South western Ontario.

Jan

To send a PM just click on my profile pic. i just PM’d you. it has been a while for me I almost forgot as well. I thought the message I was sending above was a PM.

I know this is a smoke ALARM, not a smoke DETECTOR, but I have a First Alert SA81 smoke alarm which is kinda rare.

I found the SA81 in a Google Books listing, & from what I can tell it’s pretty much identical to the SA125 (which I have one of), except that it supposedly uses a single 9V battery as opposed to 2 like the SA125 does: Popular Science - Google Books

Late reply, but I think you mean “SA150LT”.

Oh yes, my mistake, the SA125 is similar to the SA120 (what the difference(s) is/are however I don’t know). Mine’s actually an SA125C, which appears to be the same as the SA150LT but without the light test feature.