Smoke and carbon-monoxide alarms? What's a good one?

[NewtownPA]

Just wanting to be safe. What's a good smoke / Carbon-monoxide alarm?

 

[Rhone]

Consumer reports several years ago said the Kidde brand are the best, and First Alert the worst. The radioactive elements in monoxide detectors last 6 years and it must be replaced, so ease of replacement may be a factor. Don't pay extra for one with a display unless it periodically starts going off. 99.9% of the installs your diplay will show 0, and stay at 0. In 3 years all I see on my monoxide display is 0. Not worth the extra for a display in my opinion, and if it's going off the last thing I'm going to do is run to look at it I'm grabbing my family and running out. There are two types of smoke detectors, one is better at detecting smoke the other flames. Most fires start by smouldering, so the one that detects smoke is the better choice (but having both is even better protection). I can't think off the top of my head but I'm pretty sure the better one is the photoelectric, I know the one I'm thinking is the more expensive of the two types. Elk will chime in to verify, he knows them.

 

[NewtownPA]

Do they sell a "2-in-1" (smoke AND CO) alarm or do I need to buy them separately?

 

[Rhone]

Many states & municipalities are requiring houses to have smoke & CO detectors to be hard wired. They do make combo units (Smoke & CO) but unfortunately the smoke detector in them in both the Kidde and First Alert is the ionization type, which is the cheap kind and not as capable of detecting smouldering fires (which is most common), rather better at detecting flames.

Since it's probably just a matter of time before your state requires you to have to hard wire CO & Smoke detectors in your house if you don't have them yet, I'd hard wire your house with the combo units, and install a photoelectric smoke detector outside the bedrooms also. Unless, you can find a 3-1... where it has a photoelectric detector which picks up smouldering fires, ionization which detects flames better, and CO Detector. BTW I just saw that Consumer Reports rated the First Alert duel Ionization & Photoelectric smoke detector as tops for smoke detecting. Ignore my previous comment on the First Alert vs. Kidde brands.

 

[hooligan]

I am a firefighter here in CT, buy quality, you should have both. The night-hawk CO detector is a good one as it has actual readings on it and is resettable by the home owner so you have some idea of what you are dealing with, remember with CO low level long term exposure can be as bad as a high level short term exposure. So a detector should alert you to both situations. Don't buy either just to have them, buy good ones and know how to maintain them. There are different types of detectors for smoke too, a photoelectric may be better in some areas than others. Find out what your local code is too, having smoke detectors wire in (AC) with DC back up is a good idea.

I hope you buy the best, and never use either.