Quote:
Originally Posted by lawgolfer
Our last house before TV had 20' ceilings in the kitchen and living/dining room, requiring the use of an extension ladder to change the batteries in the detectors. I did my best to change the back-up batteries on a schedule before they would fail and start "chirping". However, batteries don't always keep to a schedule. For two years straight, one of the detectors started chirping, once when I was away on a golf trip and once a hunting trip. I came home to a very PO'd wife who, being unable to handle an extension ladder, relied on the generosity of a neighbor to replace the batteries. Of course, the batteries had failed in the wee hours of the morning and it was 8+ hours of constant chirping before she could get them replaced.
To resolve the problem, I removed all of the hard-wired/battery back-up detectors, capped off the electrical wires, and replaced them with First Alert detectors powered by a 10 yr, single-use, lithium battery. We lived in the house for five more years before moving to TV, without having a problem with any of the new detectors. Removing and replacing the standard hard-wired/battery back-up detectors with the First Alert 10 year detectors was one of the first things I did after we settled into our new house. If I outlive the new 10 year detectors, I'll again replace them. To date, none has failed in the 4 years we've lived here.
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The only difference between the regular detectors and the sealed detectors is that the sealed ones have 9-volt lithium battery.
But you can buy lithium batteries for the regular detectors and get the same lifespan. However, if you have a situation where the detector is not hardwired to your house power (stand alone), you need a sealed detector to comply with the building code.