Are lifetime sealed smoke detectors better?

last year

last modified: last year

I read they are better because you don’t have to worry about the low battery beeping starting at 3AM.

However, I also heard the sealed, lithium batteries often end up dying early. So, you are likely not going to get near the 10 year rated life out of them.

What prevents them from beeping at 3AM 5 years after you install them? Now, you can’t just grab a spare battery, pop it in and go back to bed if you forgot to put fresh batteries at the last DST time change.

Are the devices supposed to give you an advance low battery warning that can be silenced long enough to get a replacement detector shipped and installed? I have heard of people needing to smash them with a hammer because they could not find any way to turn off the beeping otherwise.

Featured Answer

millworkman

last year

Are you speaking of "lifetime", 10 year or generic battery replacement detectors as mentioned all three? Pro's and cons to all of them, just depends on you are your degree of attentiveness. Low ceiling / wall mounting height, I would go with either the replaceable or the 10 year. I have had both and currently have the 10 year type.

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Comments (8)

jaxo
Original Author
last year
As the title said. Are the lifetime ones better?

It seems convenient to never have to swap batteries, but the lifetime battery will eventually die and I‘m wondering what the experience is when that happens.

If they beep and chirp like conventional smoke detectors with low batteries, but can’t be silenced because of the permanent non-removable battery, that will be a nightmare.
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millworkman
last year
" If they beep and chirp like conventional smoke detectors with low batteries "

The do, exactly the same.

" but can’t be silenced because of the permanent non-removable battery "

Silence is temporary, same as the battery operated ones to remind you to change the entire unit as opposed to just the batteries.

I have these in my house but only 4 years old so no issues yet.
jaxo
Original Author
last year
The way to silence the low battery warning is to either replace the weak battery with a fresh battery or completely remove the battery.

Neither of those are options with the non-removable batteries in the sealed units.
millworkman
last year
Yes, but theoretically every 10 years. And if it starts beeping to often, destroy it and get another from Amazon. You really need to decide the amount of inconvenience,
jaxo
Original Author
last year
last modified: last year
I found some posts on Reddit about them. Mixed reviews.

Way too many people saying they only ended up lasting 3 to 5 years instead of 10.

10 YEAR SMOKE DETECTORS

The best choice is probably going to be a regular smoke detector with a very easy to access battery compartment on the face, so you don’t have to take down the device to replace the battery.
rwiegand
last year
last modified: last year
I tried a few, they only lasted 4-6 years rather than 10. Now I just replace all the batteries each spring equinox; no more random beeping in the night. What I'd love is a detector that told me it was the one of the 10 or so in our house that triggered the 2 AM false alarm. Blowing the spiders out of all of them when changing the batteries lowers the false alarm frequency but doesn't eliminate them.

I don't know why smoke detectors need a battery anyway, hard wired on a circuit with a UPS and backup generator for longer power outages seems pretty adequate.
Clyde Kalvin
last year
I have the 10 year and they are now 7 1/2 years old and so far no problems. We have high ceilings in our living room and I wanted a 10 year because getting to it is an issue. I still don’t know how we will get to it when the time comes. The electrician put it in the dumbest spot.