On Sun, 11 Nov 2007 16:34:57 GMT, Dan Espen
wrote:

writes:

I'm a week late on this message but here goes anyhow.
We all hear the news that says "When you change the clocks, change the
batteries in your smoke detectors".

Never heard that.

I bought a smoke detector about 5 years ago.
About 3 weeks ago it starting beeping and saying the batteries
were low. That is when I replaced the 3 AA batteries.

If I started pulling them out every 6 months, I'd be accumulating
a bunch of partially discharged batteries.

That's the first time I ever heard of a Smoke Det. that uses AA
batteries. Every one I ever saw was a 9volt. Actually you would
really not have partially discharged batts. They dont discharge in
the detector unless the beeper is going off regularly. They just die
from age, and you may have to replace the detector if you leave them
that long because all batts do eventually corrode and leak. Not to
mention that you may be risking your life if the detector is needed.
Personally I think twice a year is excessive unless the beeper goes
off regularly, but once a year is a good policy. The one good thing
is tht they are designed to "chirp" when the batts get weak. But what
good does that do if they just keep chirping? You'll probably ask
"who lets that happen"......

Well, years ago I worked for a rental company doing repair work for
their 80+ rental units. I'd say that one out of three of them would
have a detector chirping when I entered the apartment. These were low
income units in a "ghetto" area. The tenants often had no clue how to
change the battery. Many would complain that "something" keeps making
noise (did not even know what the detector was), or if they did know,
they just did not care. To them it was the landlords job to fix. Sad
but true !!!!

I used to carry a box of batts with me and just change them whether
they chirped or not. When I started working for him, I told him it
was cheap insurance and was actually required by law to keep them
working, not to mention that they really got on my nerves when I was
working there. He agreed and bought a whole box of batteries. What I
found is that about half of them had the battery removed. We also
soon learned that a few tenants would take the battery out as soon as
we replaced it. They would use them for personal use. I just passed
this on to the landlord who would send them a "scare notice" stating
that they could be evicted if they did it again. That helped quite a
bit. And then there were the tenants who would destroy the detector
to silence it. The landlord would add the replacement cost to their
next rent bill. We never wanted to hassle these people, but there had
to be some action taken to keep things working and keep them from
damaging them. Shortly after, he added a clause in their rental lease
about detectors, which made it clear what they were to and not to do
with them.