My leukemia's back.

[bruceha2000]

Re: fire detectors. When half the house was rebuilt the electricians put in hardwired smoke detectors ... because they are required to. They are about a foot down from the ceiling but there is no attic upstairs so the damn things are about 10' up. I can JUST barely touch them standing on a chair. Even though they are hardwired they apparently drain the AA batteries anyway. WHY??? Royal PITA to get a ladder to change them. Plus, if one goes off they ALL go off. You have no idea if you should run left or right, east, west, north or south. A few months ago I pulled the upstairs ones and capped the wires (Don't tell anyone) and replaced them with the new 10 year battery detectors. When the battery goes, it is time to replace the detector anyway. The hardwired ones have to be replaced in 7-10 years as well. I see no value in hardwired detectors, just downsides.

 

[N F C]

Re: fire detectors. When half the house was rebuilt the electricians put in hardwired smoke detectors ... because they are required to. They are about a foot down from the ceiling but there is no attic upstairs so the damn things are about 10' up. I can JUST barely touch them standing on a chair. Even though they are hardwired they apparently drain the AA batteries anyway. WHY??? Royal PITA to get a ladder to change them. Plus, if one goes off they ALL go off. You have no idea if you should run left or right, east, west, north or south. A few months ago I pulled the upstairs ones and capped the wires (Don't tell anyone) and replaced them with the new 10 year battery detectors. When the battery goes, it is time to replace the detector anyway. The hardwired ones have to be replaced in 7-10 years as well. I see no value in hardwired detectors, just downsides.

That's interesting Bruce...I've never heard that hardwired detectors were a building requirement. Wonder if that's a local or state specific requirement.

They sound like a royal pain to deal with. (I won't tell anyone about the switcheroo.)

 

[bobbi-j]

Re: fire detectors. When half the house was rebuilt the electricians put in hardwired smoke detectors ... because they are required to. They are about a foot down from the ceiling but there is no attic upstairs so the damn things are about 10' up. I can JUST barely touch them standing on a chair. Even though they are hardwired they apparently drain the AA batteries anyway. WHY??? Royal PITA to get a ladder to change them. Plus, if one goes off they ALL go off. You have no idea if you should run left or right, east, west, north or south. A few months ago I pulled the upstairs ones and capped the wires (Don't tell anyone) and replaced them with the new 10 year battery detectors. When the battery goes, it is time to replace the detector anyway. The hardwired ones have to be replaced in 7-10 years as well. I see no value in hardwired detectors, just downsides.

When we rebuilt, we had to hardwire them in, too. And yes - when one goes, they all go. Usually about 2:00 am.

 

[perchie.girl]

That's interesting Bruce...I've never heard that hardwired detectors were a building requirement. Wonder if that's a local or state specific requirement.

They sound like a royal pain to deal with. (I won't tell anyone about the switcheroo.)

building requirements vary from state to state. New construction here I belive require sprinkler... and if you are remodeling and it is more than a quarter of the price of the house you have to modernize everything.

The las time I read building code thumbnail lists was in 2000 We are in California and in a fire region. Fire insurance is expensive....

deb

 

[ronott1]

Well, this fire won't give up. It has jumped a highway up this canyon we are down from, now closer. Yes, smelling more smoke again. More evacuations. Plus, another sad thing ... just the town over, and just blocks away from 3 different kids of ours that live there, a small plane crashed into a home! That home is right up on a mountain side, a very dry mountain side. Thankfully the firemen got out there quick, got the fire out. Pilot dead, the two folks in the house lived! They explained that it was a huge fireball, engulfed the main part of the house. It happened around 2:30 in the morning, so guessing the people were asleep. 2 story home, and also guessing their bedrooms were upstairs. No details as to why it happened. Oh, and it did clip the neighbors shed across the street as it came down. Will be interesting to know more. They know the plane is a Utah plane, but can't say much more at this time, for a couple of reasons.

Very Sad! Good thing that the home owners lived

 

[ronott1]

building requirements vary from state to state. New construction here I belive require sprinkler... and if you are remodeling and it is more than a quarter of the price of the house you have to modernize everything.

The las time I read building code thumbnail lists was in 2000 We are in California and in a fire region. Fire insurance is expensive....

deb

Our house was built in 1995 and has sprinklers.

 

[getaclue]

We have the hard wired smoke detectors. They only time they all go off at once, is when the batteries need replacing. That's because we replace all the batteries at the same time. I know they work, because I was broiling hamburgers in the oven, and would pour off the excess grease, then it would smoke, setting off the alarms.

 

[N F C]

We have the hard wired smoke detectors. They only time they all go off at once, is when the batteries need replacing. That's because we replace all the batteries at the same time. I know they work, because I was broiling hamburgers in the oven, and would pour off the excess grease, then it would smoke, setting off the alarms.

You know the old saying getaclue...dinner is ready when the smoke alarm goes off!

 

[bruceha2000]

And the batteries, at least alkalines, last WAY long than the "replace every 6 months" like we are told to do. I didn't realized they had put a detector in the crawl space until I couldn't figure out where the "low battery" beep was coming from. That was 3 years after they were put in. Wasting a lot of batteries in this country.

 

[bobbi-j]

We have the hard wired smoke detectors. They only time they all go off at once, is when the batteries need replacing. That's because we replace all the batteries at the same time. I know they work, because I was broiling hamburgers in the oven, and would pour off the excess grease, then it would smoke, setting off the alarms.

Yes, and mine choose to tell me the batteries need replacing at 2:00 am. Seriously, can't they let me know during daylight hours?