Yesterday while cooking I set off the smoke detector, no I did not burn anything. They go off when I cook over a high heat. And yesterday once they started going off they would not stop. I ended up having to disconnect them all (they are hard wired with an interconnect) and I replaced them this morning. Aaaaaaaand let me tell you, I had a sleepless night last night knowing there were no detectors installed.

https://www.southernliving.com/how-often-should-you-replace-smoke-detectors-8774122

  • carrylex@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    15
    arrow-down
    5
    ·
    12 hours ago

    If you’re not living in USA-land you’re probably fine to simply change the battery every few years because you’ve got a photoelectric smoke detector.

    Ionization based smoke detectors (that require changing because radioactive…) are more unsafe and usually only allowed in special cases in non third world countries like the EU.

    Oh and you also can’t just throw them into the trash because you know radioactivity… except in USA-land…

    • Soggy@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      8 hours ago

      Photoelectric smoke detectors also need to be replaced every ten years or so, and the radioactivity of ionization alarms is well within safe levels as long as you aren’t taking them apart to eat the 241Am. They’re sensitive to different things but the photoelectric ones are probably better suited to modern home fires (but they’re more prone to false-positives from kitchen smoke).

      Pointless America Bad and radiation fear-mongering.