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While visiting my parents this summer I realized they had no working smoke or CO detectors. I ordered some 10 year lithium units on Amazon (not Nest Protect). T

While visiting my parents this summer I realized they had no working smoke or CO detectors. I ordered some 10 year lithium units on Amazon (not Nest Protect). Two weeks after we left one of the smoke detectors went bananas and wouldn't stop beeping. My father had to pull the "permanently disable" tab to get it to shut off. My point is no technology is perfect; not even normal "dumb" smoke detectors.

userbinator 11y ago
My point is no technology is perfect; not even normal "dumb" smoke detectors. There is far less to go wrong with those, however. Many are based on a single analog IC with no microcontrollers or firmware at all.
patcheudor 11y ago
We've had interconnected smoke alarms for years in our houses and it has been my experience that what's describe with the Nest happens with every brand of interconnected smoke detector I've ever had. In the last 20 years or so we've had at least a dozen alarm events, many at night and during the winter where all of them will go off. It turns out that there are two sensor types, optical and ionizing radiation. Both are susceptible to interference by bugs, specifically small spiders as well as their waste products and webs. Moths also can cause a problem if they get inside a unit and cause dust to be kicked up. I suspect false alarms happen more in the winter because spiders and other critters might seek out the additional warmth at night that the units provide. Typically when our alarms go off, I trace it back to the originating unit, pull it down, disconnect it from the mains and take the battery out. If it happens in the middle of the night I'll wait till morning to take it out to the shop to blow it out with an air-compressor. I won't buy any unit that doesn't allow me air-gap the power - that's why I walk right past the Nest units at the local hardware store. To mitigate this problem with my existing detectors, I've started lining the inside of the units with double-sided sticky tape when they have a false alarm event. My hope is that it will trap insects. It seems to work, but your mileage may vary.
- DanBC 11y ago
  Doesn't poking a vacuum cleaner nozzle at them once a month / week work?
Reason077 11y ago
Two weeks after we left one of the smoke detectors went bananas and wouldn't stop beeping. My father had to pull the "permanently disable" tab to get it to shut off. This is, of course, the correct failure mode for a smoke detector. If something goes wrong with it you want it to go crazy and beep a lot. Not sit silently doing nothing for 10 years.
- waqf 11y ago
  If something goes wrong I want it to email me. I have pulled out and disassembled two generations of landlord-installed smoke/CO detectors, because waking me up at the random moment they decide their battery is low is just not OK.

userbinator 11y ago

My point is no technology is perfect; not even normal "dumb" smoke detectors. There is far less to go wrong with those, however. Many are based on a single analog IC with no microcontrollers or firmware at all.

patcheudor 11y ago

We've had interconnected smoke alarms for years in our houses and it has been my experience that what's describe with the Nest happens with every brand of interconnected smoke detector I've ever had. In the last 20 years or so we've had at least a dozen alarm events, many at night and during the winter where all of them will go off. It turns out that there are two sensor types, optical and ionizing radiation. Both are susceptible to interference by bugs, specifically small spiders as well as their waste products and webs. Moths also can cause a problem if they get inside a unit and cause dust to be kicked up. I suspect false alarms happen more in the winter because spiders and other critters might seek out the additional warmth at night that the units provide. Typically when our alarms go off, I trace it back to the originating unit, pull it down, disconnect it from the mains and take the battery out. If it happens in the middle of the night I'll wait till morning to take it out to the shop to blow it out with an air-compressor. I won't buy any unit that doesn't allow me air-gap the power - that's why I walk right past the Nest units at the local hardware store. To mitigate this problem with my existing detectors, I've started lining the inside of the units with double-sided sticky tape when they have a false alarm event. My hope is that it will trap insects. It seems to work, but your mileage may vary.

DanBC 11y ago
Doesn't poking a vacuum cleaner nozzle at them once a month / week work?

Reason077 11y ago

Two weeks after we left one of the smoke detectors went bananas and wouldn't stop beeping. My father had to pull the "permanently disable" tab to get it to shut off. This is, of course, the correct failure mode for a smoke detector. If something goes wrong with it you want it to go crazy and beep a lot. Not sit silently doing nothing for 10 years.

waqf 11y ago
If something goes wrong I want it to email me. I have pulled out and disassembled two generations of landlord-installed smoke/CO detectors, because waking me up at the random moment they decide their battery is low is just not OK.