YSK Your smoke detectors should be replaced every 7-10 years

Submitted ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨nocturne@slrpnk.net⁩ to ⁨youshouldknow@lemmy.world⁩

https://slrpnk.net/pictrs/image/a730867b-0e94-46d9-8995-d7b411d04756.jpeg

Yesterday while cooking I set off the smoke detector, no I did not burn anything. They go off when I cook over a high heat. And yesterday once they started going off they would not stop. I ended up having to disconnect them all (they are hard wired with an interconnect) and I replaced them this morning. Aaaaaaaand let me tell you, I had a sleepless night last night knowing there were no detectors installed.

southernliving.com/how-often-should-you-replace-s…

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GreenKnight23@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago
don’t sweat it. decades ago nobody slept with them and did just fine. you’ll be ok for one night.

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Gork@sopuli.xyz ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
This is only true for the Americium based smoke detectors. The newer photoelectric cell fire detectors don’t decay like Americium detectors, and as long as you replace the battery it’ll be good for however long it’s internal components (capacitors and whatnot) will last.

Technology Connections has a good video about this subject:

https://youtu.be/DuAeaIcAXtg

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- ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨19⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago
  The half life for americium 241 is like 450 years. The 10 year replacement has nothing to do with decay. It’s just a non specific safety in case any of the electronics or board etc start to fail. Photoelectric detectors have the same 10 year recommendation as a max.
  
  It’s actually recommend by many organizations (like the NFPA) to replace photoelectric detectors more often than ionization detectors, if anything.
  
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- wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz ⁨16⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago
  A motion to rename every element that’s named after a place. All in favor updoot, all opposed downdoot
  
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- bamboo@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  This is anecdotical but I moved into an apartment with a 30 year old ionizing smoke detector, and the failure was it was too sensitive, I assume because there were less electrons being emitted from the radioactive element, any faint smoke caused it to go off. Eventually it got into a state where it would always be in an alert state, and was beeping 100% of the time, which was when the landlord finally replaced it.
  
  My assumption with the 10 year replacement recommendation for Americium based smoke detectors is to replace it before it becomes too sensitive and annoying, because they were worried some people would remove the battery and just live without an active smoke detector.
  
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  - ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨2⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago
    There’s no radiation drop after just 30 years from americium 241. It has a 450 year half life. After decades electric components start to fail and\or things get dirty. After 30 years of getting smoke in it, there was probably a layer of dust\smoke over where the radiation is at that were blocking some of the radiation all the time, that made it more sensitive.
    
    Same issues will happen with photoelectric detectors. It’s recommended to replace both types after no longer than 10 years. I have no idea where the person you responded to got the information about them not needing replaced as often as ionization detectors. If anything, it’s actually the opposite.
    
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- takeda@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  I was about to link to the same video. From what I remember though both types have strength and weaknesses in regards to the type of fire.
  
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- evasive_chimpanzee@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  According to the one i just had to replace, combo carbon monoxide detectors need to be replaced. I don’t know how the carbon monoxide part works, but i wonder if it’s a reagent or something.
  
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kinkles@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
They make ones now with an internal battery that lasts 10 years. No more chirping and swapping 9V batteries.

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- Raiderkev@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago
  It sucks ass. I’ve gone through about 5 of them well short of 10 years. I do see that this brand released a new version, but this is the one I had. Absolute garbage. They kept giving false positives, and they have no replaceable batteries so they just become E-waste after you disable them. This is the one I had.
  
  www.homedepot.com/pep/…/203534175?
  
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  - halcyoncmdr@piefed.social ⁨38⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago
    You know those have a 10 year warranty right? Including the specific model you linked.
    
    https://www.kidde.com/warranty-information
    
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doug@lemmy.today ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago
that’s my landlord’s problem 😎

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- ammonium@lemmy.world ⁨17⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago
  Your landlord’s responsibility, your problem
  
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MantisToboggon@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
You should know I passive aggressively want to die.

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- Thrydwulf@lemmy.today ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago
  Better by fire than by ICE.
  
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- Mac@mander.xyz ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  That’s a reasonable reaction to the current state of things.
  
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- theunknownmuncher@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  But are you fine with dying from burning or smoking inhalation?
  
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  - RisingSwell@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    Smoke inhalation yes burning no
    
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AbsolutelyNotAVelociraptor@piefed.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
I’m genuinely curious: why do you need smoke detectors? I’m asking as an european that has lived without them all their life in more than one country. They are not mandatory here and not even common. What’s the reason to install ther? (I know the reason is to detect smoke, I’m asking the underlying reason behind the need to detect smoke)

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- MarieMarion@literature.cafe ⁨14⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago
  Here in France rentals must have them, I believe. But I’ve never known anybody whose home caught fire. Maybe it has to do with building materials and regulations? In my région buildings are stone. My house had 90cm-thick granite walls. Radon is a bigger concern than fire.
  
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- TheOctonaut@mander.xyz ⁨22⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago
  They are mandatory in Ireland, so please stop the “Europe” stuff.
  
  House fires were a huge cause of death and in apartment blocks they also can let one person’s mistake kill hundreds of others.
  
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  - AbsolutelyNotAVelociraptor@piefed.social ⁨9⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago
    
    They are mandatory in Ireland, so please stop the “Europe” stuff.
    
    I haven’t said they are not mandatory in Europe. I have said that I am European and haven’t seen them in the countries I lived in.
    
    Tell me, are Spain and Italy countries that for some reason disqualify you from being European or did you just have a rough morning?
    
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- lonefighter@sh.itjust.works ⁨57⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago
  I work in EMS. When we respond to house fires in the middle of the night there’s kind of two different ways they go. When people have smoke detectors and their house catches on fire in the middle of the night they’re the ones who call us and we get on scene to find them outside their home in their pajamas, watching their house burn, very shaken up but ok. They never need anything from us ambulance-wise except maybe some blankets. When people don’t have smoke detectors in their homes and they catch on fire in the middle of the night a neighbor or passer-by calls the fire in and we get on scene and the firefighters are dragging bodies out to us.
  
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- ViatorOmnium@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago
  In Germany they are mandatory for new buildings for a while now. And at least my landlord sends a company to check if they still work every year, so I assume that’s mandatory too.
  
  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/347808687_Analysis_of_the_effectiveness_of_the_smoke_alarm_obligation_-_Experiences_from_practice has an overview of the regulations and an analysis of the impact in Germany.
  
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- RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  If you are asleep and your house catches fire, the idea is that the smoke detector will wake you up with enough time hopefully to escape the fire. That is really their primary purpose.
  
  Some European countries do require them. Germany and Britain require smoke detectors in all residential buildings, for example.
  
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- The_Hideous_Orgalorg@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Possibly a difference in construction materials. Most stuff in the US is made of wood and other flammable materials. From what I understand, brick/stone based materials are the most common in European buildings.
  
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- deranger@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Detect fires, save lives.
  
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Zachariah@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
nice try, big detector

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scarabic@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
And please check them to see if they are safe to throw in the trash before you do. Some of them contain small amounts of really nasty stuff. Even the hazardous waste dropoff on my county was reluctant to take a batch from me. They said “you’re really supposed to send those back to the manufacturer.” But they did eventually take them.

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Mac@mander.xyz ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
I don’t even have smoke detectors. lol

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RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
If your smoke detectors go off when you are cooking, then the smoke detectors are too close to the kitchen. At least where I live, building code mandates one smoke detector in each bedroom, one in each hallway leading to a bedroom, and at least one smoke detector on each floor of the home. Generally, avoid placing smoke detectors near kitchens or exterior windows which, when open, are right next to a grill or other cooking appliance. Otherwise you’re going to be getting a lot of false positives.

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- nocturne@slrpnk.net ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  The closest detector to the kitchen was in a bed room.
  
  There had been a different detector in the living room but had gotten knocked down a while ago and broke (and never replaced), it was not on the interlink system, and when the other detectors would go off while cooking the one in the living room would not.
  
  As you can see from my image, the detectors I replaced were from 2005, and needed replacing for quite some time.
  
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DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Yeah, that’s when I replaced mine, too. When they became too sensitive. They lasted about 16 years.

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reddig33@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Such a waste. Especially when the detector has WiFi in it. Gotta be a better way to do this.

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- ada@piefed.blahaj.zone ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  The ones we have installed respond to IR signals from your TV remote. It doesn’t matter what the signal is, just point the remote at the smoke alarm and it will turn off
  
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  - Pixel_Jock_17@piefed.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    That’s not something I knew, thanks for that!
    
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