hard-wired smoke detectors (floor, furnace, heating, installing)

[karen_in_nh_2012]

I am about to buy a house. Currently it has a few battery-powered smoke detectors, which I would like to switch out for hard-wired detectors. (During the inspection, my inspector pointed out that if there were a fire on one end of the house or in the basement and I were in the master bedroom, I very likely wouldn't hear the alarm -- kind of scary! The new house is quite a bit bigger than my current house so I haven't had to deal with this in 9 years.)

I am trying to figure out where to have the hard-wired detectors installed. Does this sound reasonable?
- kitchen (1st floor) -- is 1 on the first floor enough? The first floor is about 1,200 square feet plus a 12x17 screened porch and a large garage.
- each bedroom (they're all on the 2nd floor) -- maybe the long hall to the back bedrooms too if I would usually leave the bedroom doors closed? (which I likely would in the winter to save on heating costs -- the back bedrooms each have their own thermostat)
- basement
- garage? -- do people put smoke detectors in their garage?

I did a search for variations of "hard-wired smoke detectors" and didn't get any hits in 4 different searches (surprised me). I'd appreciate any advice! Thanks!

-Karen in sunny New Hampshire (gorgeous today!)

[sturmgeist]

Karen, I had to install hardwired smoke detectors. The code was one in every hallway and bedroom or room, I forget but I will find out for you an a couple min. Definitely don't need one in garage, at least not for code, unless you plan to sleep in your garage I assume our codes are the same

Do you have an electrician or do you plan to wire them yourself? You need 14/3 wire for smoke detectors so that they all go off at once.

Oh and yeah it is beauuuuutiful here in north central MA,I just posted a video and some pics from today in my thread about my house remodel and you can see how nice it is!

Oh yeah, and I found a brand of smoke detectors for hardwiring on amazon with free shipping that were very cheap and are nice if you want me to send you a link, LMK

[karen_in_nh_2012]

lol at the idea of installing them myself -- as I have written before, I WISH I had your skills, Sturmgeist!

I expect that the codes for Mass. and N.H. are very similar if not identical. I do have an electrician who does "code-compliant" work so I should be all set there (will be meeting with him next week but wanted to find out what to buy -- I'll want these installed as soon as I close and that's just 2 weeks away, eeek!!).

I've seen several brands on amazon -- which did you go with? It's fine to post the link! :-)

I will look at your posts this weekend although I always get frustrated that I am so lame at more than twice your age, lol!

thanks,
karen

[Chrisk327]

jsut did this in my house. there are a few things that we did that were more above and beyond but I believe code is
1 in each BR
1 in the common area upstairs,
1 on the first floor
CO detector on all floors, I think basement included


we also did a CO and smoke in the attached garage- my thought being there are more chance of fire from things in the garage than a lot of areas of the house.

Also CO detectors are more effective loewr to the ground, where smoke is better up high. so we have seperate CO detectors mounted lower.

Also there are photoelectric and ionic types of smoke detectors. They work differently. there is some debate as to which is better where, but some people recommend a mix in your house, you can google it.

[karen_in_nh_2012]

Chrisk327, thanks for the info! I have plug-in CO detectors at my current house, which I will be taking with me. They have a "test" button on them which I try to remember to test at least every week or two.

My upstairs hallway is u-shaped because of an addition to the house so I may need 2 in that hall. I will also check with the electrician of course.

[Bydand]

1 in each bedroom, 1 in the Hall, NOT the kitchen because it will constantly give a false alarm. Unless it is a heated garage I would skip that also because the temp fluctuations will cause condensation and also give false alarms. Basement might be a good idea if that is where your furnace is, check to see what your Electrician says. There does need to be one on the 1st floor, but without seeing the lay-out of the house it would be difficult to make a suggestion as to where it should be. Again ask your Electrician.

I put them in the following locations when I added them to my house : each bedroom, hallway, family room, living room, basement. Bedrooms and hallway are upstairs, living and family rooms are 1st floor.

[Coldjensens]

A much better option is communicating battery operated detectors with 10 year batteries. They communicate just like hard wired, only they use batteries. With 10 year batteries you do not have them going off or going down all the time for dead batteries. (hard wired ones often alarm when one unit has a dead battery).

The biggest advantage is that is it easy to turn one off and you can move them if the location turns out to be a poor choise, or you move something in your home. You also avaoid ripping up your walls and cielings if you do not have wiring installed already.

We have a hard wired system and most of the detectors are sitting on dressers either becuase of a false alarm or because of a dead battery or because their location was or became a bad location and they alarm frequently.

Hard wired is a bad choice. It is too inflexible.

[Coldjensens]

By the way, whatever you use, test each one from time to time by blowing smoke into it (not just by pushing the button). Many of them do not work from day 1, many of them stop working.

[karen_in_nh_2012]

Coldjensens, I didn't even know there WERE battery-operated smoke detectors that could communicate with each other. That sounds like a very reasonable option (and much cheaper because I won't have to have an electrician install all of them!).

I will research this more. Thanks!!

[greg42]

Yes there are battery operated detectors with wireless interconnect. That would be the easier way rather than having to interconnect via wiring, though they do cost significantly more per each unit. Maybe not more than paying an electrician though.

I have a couple of hard wired ones here, haven't had problems with false alarms. I replaced them recently (about a year or two ago) because I think the others were original to the house (over 20 years old). The new ones have battery backup and a hush button so no ripping them off the wall for false alarm (which they don't do anyway).

I could use one or two more perhaps but it's a very small house so don't feel unsafe with just the two. It's not technically to current code. Have been meaning to get one more just to have a photoelectric sensor in the house because the others are ionization sensors. You can get detectors that have both types of sensor in one unit, but they don't typically offer all the other options you might want. The only way I've seen a dual-sensor unit is straight battery with no interconnect options.