Smoke Alarms: Battery or Hard Wired and why?
 

On Sunday, February 16, 2003 at 7:36:51 PM UTC-4, Alistair Gillanders wrote:
I'm going to be replacing a couple of smoke alarms here shortly and a debate
has arisen...which is best, battery powered or hard wired? And why? What
does code have to say about the matter (State of Delaware).

Facts welcome, opinions can be good too!:-)

Thanks

Al

Yesterday our hard wired smoke detector in the basement went off, it didn't cause the one up[stairs to sound an alarm, so that has me thinking it is defective. Aren't the two of them supposed to alarm at the same time??? We replaced the battery and it didn't help stop the alarm. Tried calling the company's 1-800 number but was on hold for almost an hour. Eventually got it shut off by disconnecting it. Now worried the other one might not work.. Also, thinking maybe some battery only ones should be installed as well. Can't hurt! Any comments or suggestions are welcomed!

Smoke Alarms: Battery or Hard Wired and why?
 

Smoke Alarms: Battery or Hard Wired and why?
 

On Friday, December 29, 2017 at 9:07:20 AM UTC-5, wrote:
On Sunday, February 16, 2003 at 7:36:51 PM UTC-4, Alistair Gillanders wrote:
I'm going to be replacing a couple of smoke alarms here shortly and a debate
has arisen...which is best, battery powered or hard wired? And why? What
does code have to say about the matter (State of Delaware).

Facts welcome, opinions can be good too!:-)

Thanks

Al

Yesterday our hard wired smoke detector in the basement went off, it didn't cause the one up[stairs to sound an alarm, so that has me thinking it is defective. Aren't the two of them supposed to alarm at the same time???

Typically, yes. In new installations code would require them to be
inter-wired. If you turn off the power and remove it from the mounting
you can see if they have a third interconnect wire.





We replaced the battery and it didn't help stop the alarm. Tried calling the company's 1-800 number but was on hold for almost an hour. Eventually got it shut off by disconnecting it. Now worried the other one might not work. Also, thinking maybe some battery only ones should be installed as well. Can't hurt! Any comments or suggestions are welcomed!


How old are they? I think the service life of these is supposed to be
10 years, after which they should be replaced. If they are old, in doubt,
they aren't that expensive and are easy to replace. As to what's required,
you could check for your local code, usually google works. Here new
installations have to be both AC and battery. If it were up to me, I'd
be happy with what I have now, which is AC only. Those batteries are a
bitch, I've seen brand new ones that are AC plus battery that start
chirping in just a year. IDK if that's because the battery is truly low
or because it has a clock running. If it's a low battery, something must
be screwy with the design, because the battery should be for standby,
in case it loses power.

They have new ones now that have 10 year batteries that are not replaceable..
That way every 10 years, you change the whole thing, which is the end of it's
rated life anyway. You don't want to wind up like those 12 dead people
in NYC. How that spread so far so fast, killed so many at 7PM, IDK.

Smoke Alarms: Battery or Hard Wired and why?
 

On Fri, 29 Dec 2017 06:07:14 -0800 (PST), wrote:

On Sunday, February 16, 2003 at 7:36:51 PM UTC-4, Alistair Gillanders wrote:
I'm going to be replacing a couple of smoke alarms here shortly and a debate
has arisen...which is best, battery powered or hard wired? And why? What
does code have to say about the matter (State of Delaware).

Facts welcome, opinions can be good too!:-)

Thanks

Al

Yesterday our hard wired smoke detector in the basement went off, it didn't cause the one up[stairs to sound an alarm, so that has me thinking it is defective. Aren't the two of them supposed to alarm at the same time??? We replaced the battery and it didn't help stop the alarm. Tried calling the company's 1-800 number but was on hold for almost an hour. Eventually got it shut off by disconnecting it. Now worried the other one might not work. Also, thinking maybe some battery only ones should be installed as well. Can't hurt! Any comments or suggestions are welcomed!

I suppose there are alarms that can RF the signal to each other but
most need to be hard wired to relay the alarm.