Smoke detectors aren’t the most exciting gadgets to discuss or the most attractive to look at. However, there are few things in your house that are more important. Louise van der Veld, a Dutch designer, undertook a redesign of the smoke detector and won a design contest in her country. She based her design on the American black-capped chickadee, the tiny birds miners used to take into the mines with them as an early warning system for dangerous gases. The alarm is fully UL-approved and warrantied for 3 years. The Chick-a-Dee Smoke Detector has a status light that blinks every minute to let you know it’s working. (Batteries should work for 18 months.) It sounds an 85dB alarm when smoke is detected. The smoke detector is available in black and white, as shown, or in all white. It’s attractive enough to put in every room in your house, and would be especially cute in a baby’s or young child’s room. It’s available for $75 from A + R Store.
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Modern smoke detectors in the U.S. are hardwired, with battery backup. It’s important that all of the smoke detectors in a home be on the same circuit, and of the same make and model.
When one smoke detector is set off, it sets off the others on the same circuit, so that the alarm is raised throughout the building.
Going in for a novelty smoke detector in a nursery sounds neat, unless you ever need it, in which case, cute is the last thing you need in a smoke detector.
@John You do know that not every house has hard-wired systems, don’t you? If cute will get one installed, then cute is just what you need.
@Janet, It’s been a requirement for over a decade that new construction/remodels do include hard wiring. I’m still in favor of a high-quality, brand name smoke detector, which should run < $20, and come with a 10-year warranty.
Sorry if I was harsh, I'm just picturing "good" smoke detectors coming down, and these going up as replacements. I work in multifamily housing, and this is the kind of stuff that makes me loose sleep.
@John How many people DON’T live in a house built in the last 10 years, 20 years, 30 and beyond? I’ve got my hand up… I have various detectors scattered around the house. No hardwired system here…
It may be a requirement that new homes have wired detectors but the vast majority of existing homes don’t have them.
John’s point is well taken, although most of us in the Buffalo area live in houses that are AT LEAST 30 years old or older.
The code here is any permit required construction that includes remodeling or a new service or new wiring requires a hard wired master and wireless battery operated slave detectors (minimum). So there are a lot of home remodels that won’t have the hardwired units.
But quality should NEVER be sacrificed in a smoke detector/CO detector.
This is a battery-powered device. It doesn’t require remodelling nor permits to hang one of these on the ceiling. It is also UL-approved, so you have no basis for thinking that you are sacrificing quality simply because it’s not a utilitarian hockey puck.