I purchased 4 Kidde PI9000 Dual mode detectors to replace working, but old detectors in our home. One failed within a month and after returning to Kidde at my expense they replaced it. Took at least 4 weeks to get the replacement. A few months later another failed, again I sent it back and received a replacement. Now at less than 2 years, two more have failed. I bought 4, I've had 4 failures, and I have two working at the moment.
I can't see how this failure rate is acceptable by any standard. Kidde PI9010 Battery-Operated Dual Ionization and Photoelectric Sensor Smoke Alarm
Even though there are many, many types of smoke detectors available, there really isn't much choice. Literature on fire safety says to get one that has both the ionization feature and the photoelectric feature. You see many that only have one feature or they combine it with a carbon monoxide detector. Get a smoke detector that focuses on its job. Get a separate carbon monoxide detector and locate it down at your level instead of high on a ceiling.
The alarm is nice and loud, which I need. I wish it could wirelessly activate the other alarms when it goes off. You have to remove the smoke detector to change the battery, but that is very easy to do.
Don't forget to mark on your long term calendar to replace it in 8-10 years. The ionization feature may not work after that.
I purchased several of these alarms for use in our home's bedrooms. Today, I came home to the sound of a smoke alarm going off. In our bedroom.
I rushed upstairs, but all seemed to be well. The alarm was continuous, just like an actual smoke alarm, rather than a low battery signal, which has a longer pause between beeps. I changed the battery, and the result was the same. It didn't matter that there wasn't -- thankfully -- so much as a spark or whiff of smoke in sight (or smell.) I took an identical alarm out of another room and placed it in our room. No alarm. And, yes, the self-test worked.
Looks like I'll have to buy another. I am only glad that the alarm didn't go off at, say, three am. I can only wonder if the unit would have worked in the event of an actual fire, as I have no way of diagnosing the cause of its malfunction. Needless to say, I'm strongly considering finding a comparable unit from another manufacturer.
Two of Three units have not worked since purchase. Have tried calling Kidde multiple times. Once got hung up on by rep (after waiting 11 minutes on hold to be connected to a rep) because I asked where to find information she was asking for on product. I called again and (after waiting 14 minutes on hold to be connected to a rep)got immediate hang up by customer service without being able to talk to a rep.
I had purchased the 'First Alert' dual sensor alarm (with remote feature), and it gave me nothing but false alarms, some in the middle of the night! Not so with the Kidde. Plus getting to and installing the 9V battery was much much easier on the Kidde than on the unintuitive 'First Alert'. This Kidde dual sensor alarm is the way to go if you want simplicity, ease of use, and peace of mind. I think I am going to purchase a few more now that I know this model works flawlessly.
I bought 3 of this in September 2008, and as of now, July 2010, 2 out of them have already died within two years. They died in the same way: just beep for nothing and would not stop. If you push "HUSH" button, then they silence for 10 minutes and resume beeping for nothing. This is crap, expensive crap!
I did a lot of research before buying this alarm. I ended up buying two this model and the Kidde 900-0102 both are dual sensor. I placed this model in the basement and the other alarm upstairs because it has a voice alarm that I liked. Each unit installs in a snap!
I purchased three Kidde PI9000 smoke alarms and one failed straight out of the box. I put the battery in and attempted to test the alarm. The test failed. I took the battery out and noticed it was hot and could smell that the alarm was "cooked." I am sure it is a fine smoke alarm, but am posting this to give folks an idea of the failure rates.
I have created a 9 volt power supply for my main residence and a vacation home, used to power dual sensor smoke alarms, that are tied into my security systems. First Alert sensors at the vacation home repeatedly false alarmed. I replaced the two there with pi9000 Kiddes. They have worked fine for well over a year. However, not so "lucky" here at main home. I bought 4 to replace 10+ old dual sensor First Alerts. One only is working fine so far ( 1 week). But the other three are failing. They will, after several hours on the 9 volt supply, suddenly drop the voltage in the system, and an ammeter shows they are pulling over 150 ma! This must be what is happening to others folks who are reporting failures. There is some component in these units, not all of them, that is failing. Now what do I do? When not failing, these are the best dual sensor units on the market, but how many do I have to buy before getting the ones I need?!! - Photoelectric - Smoke Alarms - Ionization - Kidde'
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