I bought 2 of these alarms to replace a couple other alarms in my home as they were about 15 yrs. old & thought it might be wise to "update". The long-life lithium batteries was a real selling pont to me. The one thing that concerns me about these new detectors is that aren't nearly as sensitive as my old detectors were. My wife ocassionally burns things while cooking, or gets the oven too hot. My old detectors would "go off" when this happened. These new ones have not signalled when this happens but the old ones still do. I tested the new ones by heating an iron skillet on the stove with a bit of grease in it. LOTS of smoke bellowed out, the old detectors sounded immediately but it took a couple minutes longer and a lot more smoke for the new ones to finally signal. Hope this isn't over-reaction on my behalf but I sort of like the sensitivity level of the older detectors compared to the new ones. First Alert SA305CN Smoke Alarm with Long Life Lithium Battery
After reading that smoke alarms should be replaced every 10 years, and not knowing the age of some in the house, we replaced them all with these devices. They're inexpensive, and if they operate as advertised the lithium battery will cost less than 10 years worth of alkalines. Besides, I get tired of getting out the ladder for the one in the high ceilinged room and with these there's no worrying about remembering to change the batteries. I just wrote the month and year installed with a Sharpie on the one in the basement and we'll replace them in a decade or so.
I was happy to see this model come out with a long life Lithium battery. I have about 4 of these in my home and it annoys me to have to change batteries at 4:00am to stop the chirping. Installation is simple, detector is loud and easy to operate. Worst complaint is the ugly design as it looks a bit too industrial for indoor use.
My experience so far with this smoke detector (which I've owned for about 3 months): It has gone off twice. One time was because I burned something in the oven. This did create a significant amount of smoke, and the smoke detector is placed near the entry to the kitchen. Although an inconvenience, I was glad that it went off. There is a button on the face of the detector to quickly silence it when this happens. The other time was after I took what must have been a particularly lengthy, hot shower. I was a little disappointed that this set off the alarm, but I have had similar experiences with other alarms. I think it is merely poor placement on my part (so close to the bathroom when I don't have an exhaust fan).
Overall, I think it works fine.
I replaced several of my old smoke detectors with the First Alert SA305CN, and it was quick and easy. These are "no frills" basic detectors, but the lithium 9V is a nice addition. While the lithium batteries will last much longer than alkalines, don't trust them to last 10 years. Even so, it saves a lot of trouble of having to change the alkaline 9V every year, especially if you have it mounted on very high ceilings.
Connect the battery, attach to ceiling, and sleep soundly. What could be simpler?
The California building code requires smoke detectors as follows:
1. On the ceiling or wall outside of each separate sleeping area in the immediate vicinity of bedrooms.
2. In each room used for sleeping purposes.
3. In each story within a dwelling unit, including basements but not including crawl spaces and uninhabitable attics.
This seems to work really well - no false alarms thus far.
The reason you bought this model was because it comes with a 10 year battery. That is pretty much the selling point for this and I'll have to report back in ten years to tell you how well it lived up to the hype.
One flaw, and the reason I deducted one star, is that it is not really obvious which direction the battery goes in ( + and -) when installing. I guess it really only fits one way, but there are no indications of which side is which.
Also - not sure if this is in the description - the base removes for easy installation.
I bought these smoke detectors because they have the lithium batteries included. I like the idea of not having to change out the batteries for long periods of time. I would have gone with the type you wire into your home electricity, but the locations I needed to place the detectors were not conducive to hard-wiring. They seem to work ok. Haven't had to really use them yet...knock on wood. - First Alert - Smokedetector - Smoke Alarms - Smoke Detector'
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