I had a new one from BG in May2004. Model SF350EN

Label says "Replace Unit by May 2009"

A few weeks ago it started to chirp a "Low Battery" warning (at 3:00 in the
morning of course). I removed the irremovable battery cover and put in 3 new
(but cheap) AAA batteries. After only a few weeks the alarm sounded again so
I fitted some better ones (but not Duracell's). Today it was chirping its
Low Battery alarm at 4:00am.

Question:
Should I get some Duracell's - or does the unit intentionally die after 5
years (in my case 4 years and 7 months?

In article ,
"John" writes:
I had a new one from BG in May2004. Model SF350EN

Label says "Replace Unit by May 2009"

A few weeks ago it started to chirp a "Low Battery" warning (at 3:00 in the
morning of course). I removed the irremovable battery cover and put in 3 new
(but cheap) AAA batteries. After only a few weeks the alarm sounded again so
I fitted some better ones (but not Duracell's). Today it was chirping its
Low Battery alarm at 4:00am.

Question:
Should I get some Duracell's - or does the unit intentionally die after 5
years (in my case 4 years and 7 months?

Carbon monoxide sensing elements have a limited life.
I would not assume that simply replacing the battery
(even if you do get it to work) means the CO detector
is doing anything useful.

Are you sure the chirp means "Low Battery" and not
"Low CO level"?

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

"Andrew Gabriel" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"John" writes:
I had a new one from BG in May2004. Model SF350EN

Label says "Replace Unit by May 2009"

A few weeks ago it started to chirp a "Low Battery" warning (at 3:00 in
the
morning of course). I removed the irremovable battery cover and put in 3
new
(but cheap) AAA batteries. After only a few weeks the alarm sounded again
so
I fitted some better ones (but not Duracell's). Today it was chirping its
Low Battery alarm at 4:00am.

Question:
Should I get some Duracell's - or does the unit intentionally die after 5
years (in my case 4 years and 7 months?

Carbon monoxide sensing elements have a limited life.
I would not assume that simply replacing the battery
(even if you do get it to work) means the CO detector
is doing anything useful.

Are you sure the chirp means "Low Battery" and not
"Low CO level"?

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

Just found a web site. Now was it bleeping once, twice or three time a
minute in the early hours...........?


http://www.sfdetection.com/deactivate-co-alarm.asp

1 beep per minute = Battery fault
2 beeps per minute = Fault warning
3 beeps per minute = End of detector life

On 30 Dec, 09:36, (Andrew Gabriel) wrote:
In article ,
* * * * "John" writes:

I had a new one from BG in May2004. *Model SF350EN

Label says "Replace Unit by May 2009"

A few weeks ago it started to chirp a "Low Battery" warning (at 3:00 in the
morning of course). I removed the irremovable battery cover and put in 3 new
(but cheap) AAA batteries. After only a few weeks the alarm sounded again so
I fitted some better ones (but not Duracell's). Today it was chirping its
Low Battery alarm at 4:00am.

Question:
Should I get some Duracell's - or does the unit intentionally die after 5
years (in my case 4 years and 7 months?

Carbon monoxide sensing elements have a limited life.
I would not assume that simply replacing the battery
(even if you do get it to work) means the CO detector
is doing anything useful.

Are you sure the chirp means "Low Battery" and not
"Low CO level"?

Do you possibly mean "HIGH CO Level"? Normally, I'd expect the CO
level to be zero (within the tolerance of the detector), and it would
be difficult for it to go negative.

Cheers,

Sid

On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 09:19:09 -0000, John wrote:
I had a new one from BG in May2004. Model SF350EN

Label says "Replace Unit by May 2009"

A few weeks ago it started to chirp a "Low Battery" warning (at 3:00 in the
morning of course). I removed the irremovable battery cover and put in 3 new
(but cheap) AAA batteries. After only a few weeks the alarm sounded again so
I fitted some better ones (but not Duracell's). Today it was chirping its
Low Battery alarm at 4:00am.

Question:
Should I get some Duracell's - or does the unit intentionally die after 5
years (in my case 4 years and 7 months?

My mum has one of these - same story: it started beeping.
She phoned up BG and told them what it was doing, they agreed it was
duff, and was (barely) within it's warranty period. They exchanged it
without question.

On 30 Dec, 09:19, "John" wrote:

Should I get some Duracell's - or does the unit intentionally die after 5
years (in my case 4 years and 7 months?

It probably dies in much less time than that - particularly if
anything (small, young, furry or elderly) had been partial to ****ing
near it. The sensor itself has a limited lifetime.