[TVARC] Combination Smoke/CO detecctors

[George]

Clubmates,

Last evening one of our combination smoke/CO detectors started chirping sporadically.  We figured it was time to change the battery.  So we did.  I got out the step ladder, climbed up and changed the battery, climbed down and patted myself on the back for another domestic task well done.  Not so fast, big boy.  Still chirping intermittently.  So Karen got a different battery and swapped it into the detector.  Ten minutes later, chirp, chirp.
Two batteries later, and after trying lots of tricks, it was still chirping with long and varying intervals between chirps.  So Karen called Community Watch and we went back to watching March Madness.  Next thing we know, the Big Red Firetruck is out front, and three of Public Safety’s finest are at our door.  Here’s what they told us:
1. The combination smoke/CO detectors are only good for five (5) years, then they should be changed.  Ours are dated May 2012.
2. Use Duracell or Energizer batteries.  Don’t use those batteries that ASI sends out each year.
3. The non-combo smoke detectors are good for ten (10) years.
4. Public Safety will do the actual swapping out of detectors if we provide them.  All we need to do is ask.
So we are off to Ace today.  If your detectors haven’t been changed in a long time, you might want to replace them also.
73,
George K2DM

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/tvarc/attachments/20190323/c4abff59/attachment.html>