I don't have specific brands but I watched a news story on CM detectors recently and they had a fire fighter taking about how they are not as effective as they should be if you have them on your ceiling. He said they need to be placed at hip-height on the wall to detect CM early. In one case, the hip-height detector went off a full 20 min. before the ceiling one detected anything and he said it could be the difference between life and death. That story stuck with me, so we are looking into getting hip-height ones that are just dedicated to CM (not CM/fire combo).
We have the plug in ones (with battery backup) plugged in on every floor. I believe we also have the dual ceiling ones. (We will in our new house for sure) There was a whole family who rented a luxury vacation rental in Vail a few years ago that all died because of CM poisoning. It was like a family of 4 or 5. Parents, kids. It has stuck with me so I'm always worried about it.
I don't know about the smoke dectectors. Ours are all hardwired into our house. As for the CO detectors they do expire. I actually just bought a new one last night because ours was expired. Mine had a date printed right on it. I got a kittiehawk plug in battery backup with digital screen. It was much more spendy but I swear our last one only half worked. The whole hold two buttons to program and then do XTF plus TYW to work just wasn't cutting for me. It beeped randomly and I always felt like it was never right.
I don't know about the smoke dectectors. Ours are all hardwired into our house. As for the CO detectors they do expire. I actually just bought a new one last night because ours was expired. Mine had a date printed right on it. I got a kittiehawk plug in battery backup with digital screen. It was much more spendy but I swear our last one only half worked. The whole hold two buttons to program and then do XTF plus TYW to work just wasn't cutting for me. It beeped randomly and I always felt like it was never right.
Thank you for using the right formula for Carbon Monoxide.
Our smoke detectors are also wired in. We have a Kidde CO Detector with Digital readout and battery backup.
New smoke detectors have a 7 year life. Once they are plugged in or energized they will start beeping after 7 years so you have to replace them.
CO also have a life which is printed on the device. Smoke/CO combos will have to be replaced after that time as well not the full 7 years a regular smoke detector would last.
Smoke detectors should be hard wired with a battery back up. That requirement is starting to become code in each state.
We have plug in CO detectors with battery backups (think Kidde brand) in every bedroom. So they are a foot or so up from the floor. Our smoke detectors are hard-wired and are on the ceilings in every bedrooms and in the hallway in front of every bedroom door.
Post by mrs.jacinthe on Feb 21, 2013 11:40:29 GMT -5
Our CO detectors are brand new (FHA required the sellers to install them prior to sale) and they have a warning "end of life" beep, at least according to the packaging. Also, I realize it's a convenience thing, but the end-of-life beep makes me crazy because they NEVER start beeping during the day when you can do anything about it. In our rental (which is 7 years old), every single one started beeping, approximately 1 week apart, at about 3am. Totally annoying.
I believe our 2nd story smoke detector is hardwired, but I want to replace it before the baby gets here. It's probably original, so 20+ years old.
We need to add a 2nd CO detector to the first floor, maybe a plug-in. I'll check the date on our current one upstairs.
I did buy a fire ladder.
Sounds like a good plan. Is your garage on the first floor or a different level? If you have an attached garage on a different level you'll want to add a CO detector on that floor as well.