THE New Family's new home needs lots of maintenance and repairs, and some expenses and efforts are more gratifying than other. New kitchen appliances are very gratifying. New smoke detectors are not.
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Ungratifying expense |
While relaxing in bed one night, Dad heard what he thought was a chirp from the Master Bedroom smoke detector indicating that it had a low battery. However, its chirp was far too quiet. If you have ever tested a residential smoke detector, you know that they are generally loud.
The following day Dad tested it. Indeed it was functioning incorrectly. Its siren was to quiet. Curious Dad pulled the detector off of the wall and immediately noticed that it was wired for AC power. Further it had a third wire with which Dad was unfamiliar. A few minutes research revealed that the smoke detectors in the house are integrated into a system whereby when one detects an alarm condition, they will all sound. That is a nice feature to have. If a fire starts in the basement, Mom and Dad may not hear it on the second floor.
Dad decided to replace all seven detectors under the assumption that they are all original, were installed in 1999, and have a service life of about 10 years.
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Old detector doesn't work. |
Further research revealed that the detectors, FireX branded alarms, were
old enough that the wiring harness does not fit the new style alarms.
Dad had some rewiring work to do.
Above, the wiring harness fits the pins on the back of the detector. They are all in line.
The new wiring harness on the new detectors fits pins in a triangular pattern.
Wiring in the new harness was a easy as removing the old wire nuts, matching up the color coded wires (black to black, red to red, and white to white). Dad turned off the AC at the electrical panel before doing this of course. He further tested for the presence of service at each location before touching any bare wires.
Dad found paint on what should have been clean bare copper beneath the wire nuts. That could cause resistance which could create heat and could start a fire, so Dad cleaned them up with emery cloth. He spliced in the new harness using the patented Silbrico splice developed Bruce J, a retired employee.
With the new detector, came a new mounting plate Dad switched out.
Once the first one was done, Dad spent about 90 minutes switching out the remaining 6 detectors. From the basement he tested the system. All of the sirens went off simultaneously.
It is nice to have the protection of smoke detectors, but they are not the kind of thing Dad will point to when giving a tour of his new home to visitors. Actually he did since there is little else he could point to that showcases his handyman efforts.