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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.
https://www.southernliving.com/how-often-should-you-replace-smoke-detectors-8774122
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:
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.
This is plain WRONG and DANGEROUS.
The issue is NOT the Americum but the natural degration of the photoelectric cells and the accumulation of dirt within the test chamber.
Even before that time the risk for false alarms is increased substantially by degration before the chances for sucessful alarming decrease rapidly. Due to that they actually withstand aging actually worse than ionisation based devices.
Sientific sources?
here.
(Besides: Americum has a decay time of over 400 years,btw)
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.
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.
Alec in his own video mentions that the issue isn't that the Americium decays, but that the electronics themselves age and fail, which applies to both the ionization detectors and photoelectric detectors.
This is one of the things you just don't wanna mess with, as such a failure is completely unpredictable, and from what I know some manufacturers are even beginning to make detector units with non-replaceable batteries, intended to be replaced whole when the battery dies after years of runtime, to make it impossible to keep using a detector after its rated lifetime.
I know some manufacturers are even beginning to make detector units with non-replaceable batteries, intended to be replaced whole when the battery dies after years of runtime, to make it impossible to keep using a detector after its rated lifetime.
I'm sure that's the reason say they do it, but that smells like standard corporate planned obsolescence and profit seeking with a great PR team.
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.
Edit: watched it again so ionization smoke detectors are better at detecting active fire, although his conclusion is that the benefit is not as big and overall photoelectric ones are better.
They make ones now with an internal battery that lasts 10 years. No more chirping and swapping 9V batteries.
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.
You know those have a 10 year warranty right? Including the specific model you linked.
Reminds me of this, couldn't find the OG image unfortunately.
Hate it when people overlay unnecessary text, I guess it's for the simpletons
You should know I passive aggressively want to die.
That's a reasonable reaction to the current state of things.
You're supposed to test them fairly regularly.
I get that monthly might be a pain, but once or twice a year is probably smart, for safety equipment.
Mine expired and decided to sing me the song of their people at 4am.
That was an exciting night, I'll tell you that...
They always wait until night.
I'm not betraying a hard worker like that, they've shown up for work everyday for 7-10 years and you think I would replace them with some young'n?
that’s my landlord’s problem 😎
It's ok, they can paint over the smoke damage and get a new tenant.
If you're not living in USA-land you're probably fine to simply change the battery every few years because you've got a photoelectric smoke detector.
Ionization based smoke detectors (that require changing because radioactive...) are more unsafe and usually only allowed in special cases in non third world countries like the EU.
Oh and you also can't just throw them into the trash because you know radioactivity... except in USA-land...
Photoelectric smoke detectors also need to be replaced every ten years or so, and the radioactivity of ionization alarms is well within safe levels as long as you aren't taking them apart to eat the ^241^Am. They're sensitive to different things but the photoelectric ones are probably better suited to modern home fires (but they're more prone to false-positives from kitchen smoke).
Pointless America Bad and radiation fear-mongering.
Aaaaaaaand let me tell you, I had a sleepless night last night knowing there were no detectors installed.
This seems really weird. Smoke detectors are important, but the odds of a fire any given night are incredibly low. To me, replacing a detector would be a chore I'd get to within a week, and I definitely wouldn't lose sleep over it.
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)
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.
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.
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.
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?
No but it isn't wise to generalise two of Europe's less... regulated countries to just "Europe". Pretty much every European country north of the Alps and west of the Vistula have mandatory smoke alarms/fire detection. It's not a mystery why. 5000 Europeans a year die in residential fires and social housing, ie paid for by the tax payers, is disproportionately damaged by fire every year.
You can say where you're from. Nobody's coming to find you.
And yes, I'm probably more emotive about this issue than average. I'm sure that's not a mystery why either.
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.
Nah, OP is just a troll. Most European countries by now have legislation to mandate them or are currently introducing these. All of them heavily advise them.
Wood as a construction material is not really the problem, it burn fairly slow. The problem is our furniture and other stuff changed from wood to MDF and petroleum based based products, reducing the time you have to react from 15 minutes to 3 minutes.
If you look at a map of where smoke detectors are mandatory and where not in the EU, it's more about rich vs poor: https://www.q-certified.eu/en/smoke-detector-legislation-in-the-european-union/
Detect fires, save lives.
In Germany they are mandatory 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.
Don’t they all do that now? Tell you when they’ve expired?
Maybe, if it is made past a certain date. Mine in the image, from 2005, did not.
Ours were just replaced in our rental house. They were last replaced in 2004 and our corpo landlord just doesn't give a fuck.
I don't think our dryer vent has been cleaned in a decade. This place is a fire trap.
It's also important to date the new ones when activated, so that they can be replaced at the appropriate time 10yrs from now, even if it's not you doing it.
If you live in a state that observes time changes you should get in the habit of checking them on that day. It means you check them twice a year and you’ll be mindful of the expiration date.
Living in a country where smoke detectors basically don't exist and house fires are extremely rare (rare, not nonexistent, we had a pretty terrible fire in a bar on silvester) I always wonder if we are just stupid for not having them or why there are so many in places like the USA.
I'd say stupid. I live in a country where most houses are brick walls + concrete floors, and smoke detectors are still common + since a few years also mandated by the government.
The government mandate came after it was found that of the dozens of people that died every year from house fires, 95% suffocated in their sleep.
Some numbers for my region: ~7m population, 70% of houses had smoke detection before the mandate, on average 63 died per year from house fires.
Some incorrect approximative math: Lets assume that the amount of dead could have been halved if those 30% houses had 2 smoke detectors per person (lets say 2 cheap ones for 2x20 euros per 10 years): 7m x 0.3 x 2 x 20€ /10 /63 x2 = a cost of 267€ per year per life saved. Imo that's a no brainer, it'd be stupid to not invest in smoke detection.
You mean those things that make noise when I don't want them to?
Yeah, I removed the batteries.
Dying from smoke inhalation in my sleep sounds like one of the easier ways to go.