Smoke

My son reminded me that we should replace the smoke detectors that came with the house. We have been here 13 years and the USFA suggests that 10 years is the life of a smoke detector.

User requirements: Same size as old model – no repainting or touch up. AC power. Common Alarm.

I found a replacement at Lowe’s in a 2-pack. Just what we need. When I told Phillip that he would be doing the installation, he was a bit taken aback. He has never done the electrical work. He found the circuit breaker while I was at work since he had a holiday off. We needed to replace the connector plug for each unit as the new detectors were a different brand than the ones the builder had installed.

He did the first unit but somehow the wire nuts did not connect properly. May they just needed a bit more twist as that is all that I did. On the second unit, he was uncertain that the circuit was dead and was reluctant to work on it. He did point out that the thing had not had power for some time as the hot lead had pulled out of the old plug and was loose in the box. It was a plastic box or it would have shorted and blown the breaker. Even though I pointed out that it was the “middle” of the circuit as a pair of black and white came into the box and another left and we could tell that the other unit was off, he let me do this one.

After much discussion about the radioactive ion detector, Phillip found a source on the web that said that we could dispose of the units in the trash. So I threw them in the covered trash can in the kitchen. A couple of days later, before the trash went out, they started to chirp. I had not checked that the batteries were removed and the decomposition products in the trash were enough to set them off. I had to fish them out and get the batteries out.

We also discovered that the Elvis, our cat that is blind and mostly deaf, can hear the smoke alarm just fine. He starts singing at the top of his lungs when he hears it. If there is a problem, we will not be forgetting him.

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