We put a man on the moon 56 years ago, but somehow we can’t put a simple “power low” LED in the unit itself? We have to stand next to each one and wait 5 minutes for the chirp, only for it to be another one? Fuck outta here with that shit.
this post was submitted on 16 Mar 2025
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Smoke alarms have a 10 year lifespan, so if you have any others the same age you should be replacing them all.
Good call. There are a good number of them so I’ll add this to the budget.
I work in that industry and a technician once was sent to a flat where the smoke alarm "violently went off" (statement of the renters).
Turned out the washing machine was done with the colour program.
Under ten years: replace battery (we also put a print sticker with the change date on it).
Older than ten years: replace, they start getting unreliable.
It may not be malfunctioning. It might be it's way of saying my battery is low, so replace me.
There are 3 types I've seen over here.
Wired into mains, 10 year battery and 9 volt battery.
I think some places changed building codes so all sold or new dwellings had to have either a 10yr or mains, but some 9 volts still exist and I know one which will start chirping when the battery is low.
A couple of mine each take two AAs but I used lithium batteries which I'm expecting to get about a decade out of. We'll see, if I'm still alive by then.
In my case I did a round of battery replacements about a year ago to get them all synced after a couple annoying staggered battery replacement chirps, so I’m familiar with the codes. There was one of these that did the 3 chirps late last year and I got that warrantied successfully, so based on that experience I went ahead with replacing this one.
I've been thinking we should have a monthly safety topic in here.
We just had one need a battery replacement. Unfortunately they were all wired together. So I have no idea which one needed to be changed.
When I doubt, use a larger hammer.
- ancient Klingon proverb
Anyway .. I changed all of the detectors batteries. I should be good for a while
Additionally a "battery daddy" is worth picking up
It's good practice to replace all the batteries at the same time regardless. If one is dying, they probably all are. Discharge rates will be different, so not all batteries will be fully dead. If you replace one fire detector, replace them all.
Safety equipment is best managed equally and a little bit of waste is acceptable. (Waste being: replacing a not dead battery in this case.) Consistent processes, no matter how simple, are important. Use the almost dead batteries for something else if you want, but not safety equipment.