In The Villages, the type installed by the builder are not sealed. The batteries are replaceable. If you replace the alkaline battery with a lithium battery, then you essentially have a 10 year smoke detector, that will function just like the sealed units. By code, sealed units are only required when you are adding a smoke detector in a remote location where the detector is not connected to the house electrical system. My point is that there is no need to replace the non-sealed detectors with the sealed type. Just replace the battery. If you want it to last 10 years, then use a lithium battery.

I live in Devon Villas in Charlotte Village. My smoke detectors and about 5 neighbors all went out about the same time. The fire department at Sarasota said they all needed replacement as these only last about 7 or 8 years. I have five smoke and one carbon detectors. Bought replacements on Amazon for less than $90. Easy to replace. Just twist unit out and unplug old ones. Replug and twist in new ones.
:ho::ho:

When one of the originally installed combo smoke/CO2 detectors (First Alert brand) in our CYV started beeping 5 times, indicating that it was time for replacement (not just a battery change out), we replaced them all. It you look on the back of the detector, it will indicate the manufacture date...all of ours indicated July 2013. The manufacture stated that they only last between 5-7 years, so at least we got 7 years out of them/ No battery change will eliminate the beeping once they are out of date!!! Just replace them all...30 bucks on Amazon...quick fix. If anyone needs help in replacing them, just give me a shout...I'll do it for $50/per detector.

I just ordered online, 6 First Alert combo detectors. Ours are 10 years in age so I thought best to replace. I went with the original installed version since the model #'s matched and connectors looked the same. There are two listed under the name of First Alert. The other is BRK. Since Google is your friend, I find BRK is the contractor division of First Alert. The other is the retail version. Cost was around $28 each plus tax and shipping. Looking at lithium batteries instead of what is being pushed now. Reading the advertisement on the package it states 10 years of life, well look closer and it reads 10 years of shelf life. I plan on putting new or newer batteries in when I get the new detectors anyway.

A friend had them installed. Of course, to know if they work, one would have to have a fire. She indicated that she wishes she had not spent the $$ on the system. I researched the new technology as best as I could and chose the combination photo/ion type and installed them myself. Our older home is wired to activate all detectors when one goes off, with the exception of the CO detector.

It's interesting. I went to their web site and looked at the video. Although it looks like a "scare" tactic it's not. Most people don't realize or understand that Fire, Carbon Monoxide AND Water need to be monitored via a system that can alert you and or some central station. Although the primary goal is to protect your family, you also don't want your house burning down or flooded when you are not home.

I can't comment on the cost of this system, but you can get a system from Simplisafe, ADT and others to monitor all this. If you don't feel it's worth it you can replace your smoke/carbon monoxide detectors with detectors from Nest. They are about $100/detector but they last 10 years, fit right where your existing detectors are and has an App to alert you. It will tell you on the app and by speech when it smells smoke, when it's getting to the point of sounding the alarm and when the smoke dissipates after you take care of the problem. You can label every detector so it will speak which one has the alarm so in the middle of the night you don't have to guess what's going on. It also does an automated check each month and sends you a report.

Even with these more comprehensive and expensive systems, they don't have devices to turn of the water main if water is detected. To me this is a big problem. You can be out shopping and a washer hose bursts and you come home to a flooded house. You can Google systems that detect and shut off the water such as Homeseer and others. Out of everything they talk about in the video, water and flooding is probably one of the most likely events that will happen over the time you live in your home since most people don't routinely change their washer, sink and toilet hoses or change their water heater until it leaks. BTW Rheem makes a water heater with a water sensing and shutoff system called Gladiator. It's slightly more expensive than the regular heater but it will protect you from water heater flooding.

Hope this helps.

I had the company come to our house. After hearing their second presentation, we were floored by the price. 8 combined smoke/CO detectors and 3 heat detectors = $8400. I thanked them, ushered them out of the house, and ignored all their phone calls. They eventually got the message and stopped calling.

Any company that pays for hundreds of free dinners to deliver their spiel is clearly overpriced. The system is just unnecessary overkill with good marketing and I feel sorry for the people who fall for their tactics.

Thank heavens for using your brain/common sense. Now I’d like to hear from someone that purchased this system.

The battery is only used as a back up system, so it doesn't draw down power when installed in the detector. So, the shelf life and the usage life are basically the same. The actual life of the battery would be much less than 10 years if it were providing electric power on a regular basis.

We sat through the presentation last month. Price for a complete system smoke, heat, carbon monoxide, and water for or Gardenia was $7,355. That was about double what I expected. Well, the free dinners were O.K. plus we got a free fire blanket for the stove. They did convince me to purchase a good residential/commercial fire extinguisher which I ordered from Amazon for $65 including delivery.

I passed on the rest. No high pressure, but the salesman told me we were the 11th presentation that day and all previous 10 purchased his system. I told him 10 sales out of 11 calls was a darn good day for him as I escorted him out the door.

I purchased a system from Coastal last month. After hearing the presentation, believed there was value in what their program offered. Cost was $7500 for 7 smoke detectors, 6 heat only detectors, 2 CO detectors, 12 moisture detectors, and router/comm link. Alco included fire extinguisher.

:ohdear: It's unfortunate but...... IMHO P.T. Barnum was right!

Yes