4 ms·

I disagree. My dumb detectors started false positives after just a few years. Their mute/silence buttons didn't work so burnt toast meant two minutes of screech

by seized 6y ago

I disagree. My dumb detectors started false positives after just a few years. Their mute/silence buttons didn't work so burnt toast meant two minutes of screeching. No options for remote alerts (without external smart hardware). Batteries would only fail at night even after a few years. Or dust? Or carbon monoxide? Never knew, because the beeps were a terrible form of communication. Smoke detectors SHOULD have some safe, reliable smart technology. All my Protects have outlasted the simple Kiddes.

brudgers 6y ago
After a few years smoke alarms are supposed to be replaced. They have a lifespan based on radioactive decay of the detector. Making them $200 a pop makes this less likely. They are safe reliable technology. Convenience features make them less so. Because we live in a world where some people can’t even operate a toaster.
- tinus_hn 6y ago
  You don’t replace your car because the windscreen wiper rubbers dried up. You could replace the cheap detector part and keep the expensive smart part. Of course the manufacturers would rather have you buy the smart part over and over again. Sounds like a great idea and now they have nothing.
  - brudgers 6y ago
    The Venn diagram of people who don't change batteries, can't reliably make toast, and want a feature rich smoke alarm is non-empty based on this thread.
    - AstralStorm 6y ago
      Well, you could have a mains powered rechargable battery (or supercapacitor) backed detector. Then again, it better be designed so that the sensor part is replaceable and it fails loud. (Though neither supercapacitor nor nickel-* cells are very expensive, we put them in random MP3 players for $10 a pop.) The feature richness is a scam though.
      - brudgers 6y ago
        The half-life of commodity rechargeable batteries is significantly less than the half-life of Americium. And people who don't proactively replace smoke alarm batteries are unlikely to proactively change the alarms...changing out an alarm is a bigger job than changing batteries. A smoke alarm is not a consumer product.
    - tinus_hn 6y ago
      What’s your point? What do you want? Some people are stupid, you can’t change that.
- tzs 6y ago
  I seem to live in some sort of weird temporal anomaly where things last longer than they should. My smoke detector seems to be working fine, judging from its propensity to go off when I do something in another part of the house that emits smoke, even though it has been here for the 14 years I've owned this house. The security light over my garage, which is controlled by a light sensor and is on overnight every night, is still on the same bulb it was on when I moved in. Figure an average of 10 hours a day for 14 years and that is 51000 hours. I'm not sure exactly what kind of bulb it is, other than it is not LED, but all the other possibilities (LPS, HPS, mercury vapor, florescent, metal-halide) should be somewhere in the 12000-24000 hour lifespan range. My washing machine and dryer are also the ones that came with the house, and are still working fine. They aren't very fancy--if a time warp landed then in a house in the 1960s no one would realize they are from the future--but they get the job done. The washing machine was made in August 2003 and the dryer April 2004 [1]. The heat pump compressor is around 40 years old. I've been told that is about twice as long as they are expected to last. Other things that came with the house that are still going strong are the well pump, water heater, and all the major kitchen appliances except the fridge. The fridge died a couple years ago or so. [1] Probably. GE recycles year codes, so all I can say for certain is that the washer was made in one of {2015, 2003, 1991, 1979, or 1949} and the dryer in {2016, 2004, 1992, 1980, or 1950}.
  - brudgers 6y ago
    You have a washer and dryer. Statistically, you are a very very lucky human. The replacement cycle of a smoke alarm has a built in safety factor because it was designed by engineers. If your life was hanging by a rope, you're betting on it's absolute strength not it's rated load. Smoke alarms are ten bucks a pop at Walmart. You can pick up a CO alarm and a box of waffles while you are there.
    - tzs 6y ago
      Yeah, I will. I wasn't suggesting that I should continue using mine past 10 years (looking at the datestamp on it, it was actually made 3 years before I bought the house, so it is 17 years old). Just noting that many things around my house seem to be working well past when they should. Looks like Walmart even has one that is the same brand (First Alert) as my current one and appears to use a compatible mounting plate for $7.67, so should be an easy replacement.
- cuspycode 6y ago
  > They have a lifespan based on radioactive decay of the detector. Americium-241 has a half-life of 432.2 years, while the recommendation is to replace a detector after only 10 years. But only 1.6% of the Am-241 has decayed after 10 years, so there must be other reasons for the short life span.
kwyjobojoe 6y ago
If your smoke alarm is faulty you should replace it. Unlike most hardware, faulty smoke alarms can directly lead to the death of yourself or family. It's the one form of tech that I 100% replace when any problems occur. There is no situation where you should accept or ignore a faulty smoke alarm.

by seized 6y ago

brudgers 6y ago

After a few years smoke alarms are supposed to be replaced. They have a lifespan based on radioactive decay of the detector. Making them $200 a pop makes this less likely. They are safe reliable technology. Convenience features make them less so. Because we live in a world where some people can’t even operate a toaster.

tinus_hn 6y ago
You don’t replace your car because the windscreen wiper rubbers dried up. You could replace the cheap detector part and keep the expensive smart part. Of course the manufacturers would rather have you buy the smart part over and over again. Sounds like a great idea and now they have nothing.
- brudgers 6y ago
  The Venn diagram of people who don't change batteries, can't reliably make toast, and want a feature rich smoke alarm is non-empty based on this thread.
  - AstralStorm 6y ago
    Well, you could have a mains powered rechargable battery (or supercapacitor) backed detector. Then again, it better be designed so that the sensor part is replaceable and it fails loud. (Though neither supercapacitor nor nickel-* cells are very expensive, we put them in random MP3 players for $10 a pop.) The feature richness is a scam though.
    - brudgers 6y ago
      The half-life of commodity rechargeable batteries is significantly less than the half-life of Americium. And people who don't proactively replace smoke alarm batteries are unlikely to proactively change the alarms...changing out an alarm is a bigger job than changing batteries. A smoke alarm is not a consumer product.
  - tinus_hn 6y ago
    What’s your point? What do you want? Some people are stupid, you can’t change that.
tzs 6y ago
I seem to live in some sort of weird temporal anomaly where things last longer than they should. My smoke detector seems to be working fine, judging from its propensity to go off when I do something in another part of the house that emits smoke, even though it has been here for the 14 years I've owned this house. The security light over my garage, which is controlled by a light sensor and is on overnight every night, is still on the same bulb it was on when I moved in. Figure an average of 10 hours a day for 14 years and that is 51000 hours. I'm not sure exactly what kind of bulb it is, other than it is not LED, but all the other possibilities (LPS, HPS, mercury vapor, florescent, metal-halide) should be somewhere in the 12000-24000 hour lifespan range. My washing machine and dryer are also the ones that came with the house, and are still working fine. They aren't very fancy--if a time warp landed then in a house in the 1960s no one would realize they are from the future--but they get the job done. The washing machine was made in August 2003 and the dryer April 2004 [1]. The heat pump compressor is around 40 years old. I've been told that is about twice as long as they are expected to last. Other things that came with the house that are still going strong are the well pump, water heater, and all the major kitchen appliances except the fridge. The fridge died a couple years ago or so. [1] Probably. GE recycles year codes, so all I can say for certain is that the washer was made in one of {2015, 2003, 1991, 1979, or 1949} and the dryer in {2016, 2004, 1992, 1980, or 1950}.
- brudgers 6y ago
  You have a washer and dryer. Statistically, you are a very very lucky human. The replacement cycle of a smoke alarm has a built in safety factor because it was designed by engineers. If your life was hanging by a rope, you're betting on it's absolute strength not it's rated load. Smoke alarms are ten bucks a pop at Walmart. You can pick up a CO alarm and a box of waffles while you are there.
  - tzs 6y ago
    Yeah, I will. I wasn't suggesting that I should continue using mine past 10 years (looking at the datestamp on it, it was actually made 3 years before I bought the house, so it is 17 years old). Just noting that many things around my house seem to be working well past when they should. Looks like Walmart even has one that is the same brand (First Alert) as my current one and appears to use a compatible mounting plate for $7.67, so should be an easy replacement.
cuspycode 6y ago
> They have a lifespan based on radioactive decay of the detector. Americium-241 has a half-life of 432.2 years, while the recommendation is to replace a detector after only 10 years. But only 1.6% of the Am-241 has decayed after 10 years, so there must be other reasons for the short life span.

kwyjobojoe 6y ago

If your smoke alarm is faulty you should replace it. Unlike most hardware, faulty smoke alarms can directly lead to the death of yourself or family. It's the one form of tech that I 100% replace when any problems occur. There is no situation where you should accept or ignore a faulty smoke alarm.