View Poll Results: What maintenance do you do on your smoke detectors

Voters
29. You may not vote on this poll
  • Clean and test as per the instructions

    3 10.34%
  • Clean and test occasionally

    8 27.59%
  • Test very occasionally

    9 31.03%
  • Ignore them completely

    5 17.24%
  • What smoke detectors?

    4 13.79%
Results 1 to 8 of 8

Thread: Smoke detector maintenance?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Upstate NY
    Posts
    3,788

    Smoke detector maintenance?

    We have done tire pressure and oil level checking. How about smoke detectors.

    One of mine started chirping, after I replaced all the them 6 months ago (old ones were 10 years old). It took me 20 minutes to find the right one; the battery good until 2018 was dead. Oh well.
    That got me looking at the instructions to see if there is any way to find the bad one except by ear; there isn't. But I saw instructions for testing them every week and vacuuming them every month.
    Got me wondering. So who does maintenance on their smoke detectors.
    Last edited by Wade Lippman; 12-07-2016 at 7:28 PM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    The Hartland of Michigan
    Posts
    7,628
    Quote Originally Posted by Wade Lippman View Post
    So who does maintenance on their smoke detectors.
    ...Nobody does that I'm aware of. They are supposed to be recycled/properly disposed of. But I don't know where to take the old ones.
    I didn't answer your poll. We test them every month.
    Never, under any circumstances, consume a laxative and sleeping pill, on the same night

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Northern UT
    Posts
    762
    Smoke detectors are one of those things no one thinks about until they burn some toast and set off the SD. However, I did a little research on them about a year ago and realized how much things have changed since my were installed. My house is 22 years old and so are the detectors. Ones today are so much better, plus as I recall, they only last about ten years at most.

    I actually looked at starting a business replacing smoke detectors since no one thinks about them, but have been too busy to give it any more thought.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Monroe Twsp NJ
    Posts
    74
    I replaced mine after 6 years. Kidde now has smoke and smoke/CO detectors with batteries that last 10 years. No replacing batteries yearly. When I replaced mine, I sent the old ones back to Kidde. I had to pay shipping, but it was the right thing to do.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Mandalay Shores, CA
    Posts
    2,690
    Blog Entries
    26
    I test and replace the batteries every time daylight savings time changes (2x / Year). While doing that I use compressed air to blow out any sale, dust or dog hair that finds its way there.

    I was informed that the wife expectancy of smoke detectors is ten years. When I visited my aging parents, I had theirs all replaced.
    Shawn

    "no trees were harmed in the creation of this message, however some electrons were temporarily inconvenienced."

    "I resent having to use my brain to do your thinking"

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    5,582
    I typically react when one of them starts chirping for a battery change and then I change them all and blow the dust out so they are ready to go

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Toronto Ontario
    Posts
    11,236
    I give mine a poke monthly on the test button, vacuum and change batteries when DST clock setting.

    Where I live the city picks up electronic waste if you put it in a clear plastic bag beside the recycling bin (big stuff doesn't need to be bagged), so disposing of detectors and dry cells is easy..........Rod.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Duvall, WA
    Posts
    706
    Quote Originally Posted by Shawn Pixley View Post
    I was informed that the wife expectancy of smoke detectors is ten years. When I visited my aging parents, I had theirs all replaced.
    Shawn, was that reference intended or did Freud get inside your head?

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