Kidde Heat Detector, Hardwired with Battery Backup & 2 LEDs, Interconnect Capability, Ideal for Garages

best for garage area

Used this to replace the overly sensitive smoke detector located just outside of our kitchen. No more false alarms every time I make a grilled cheese!

We put a new addition onto our house, and city code required us to install connected smoke alarms all over the house, upstairs and down. One of the smoke detectors was at the top of the stairs going down to the basement, too near our kitchen stove (less than 10 feet away). Another was in the living room, also a few feet from the kitchen area.We were getting too many false alarms with the smoke detectors, especially when some frying was being done in the kitchen. When all the alarms would go off, even our next-door neighbors would hear them, and wondered if we were all right. In the meantime, we were opening outside doors to bring in fresh air in order to get the stupid things to shut off, and getting really annoyed. We never had this problem before. But the city code required this on new construction, and we would not have originally passed the final inspection without the new smoke alarm system.After about the 3rd or 4th false alarm in about as many weeks, my next door neighbor suggested we replace the smoke detector in the kitchen with a heat detector. I did not know that such things existed at the time. So I ordered one, and replaced the smoke detector in the kitchen at the top of the stairs. That cut down on the number of false alarms from kitchen cooking, but the one in the living room was still being triggered sometimes. So I replaced that one as well, but with a carbon monoxide detector that worked in this wired system.This solved the problem of false and extremely annoying alarms, due to cooking in the kitchen (when frying something). And our next-door neighbors are happier too. The remaining smoke detectors are further away from the kitchen in other rooms, and are unaffected. I think we're pretty well-covered, and if any one of them gets triggered, they all go off.The city code had conflicting demands. Don't put them in a kitchen area, but do put them at the top and bottom of a stairwell. That was a contradiction in our case. Unfortunately, we could not find the other kind of smoke detector (not ionization) to work in our system. Even so, the heat detector made more sense as a practical replacement. And having an additional carbon monoxide detector made sense too.

Smoke detectors are recommended to be in hallways outside bedrooms. Sigh.Our hallway outside our bedroom is very "conveniently" (hint: NOT) right next to the kitchen, and very close to the gas oven, and we had a ionization/CO alarm that gave us a scare when we first used the oven and called the fire department to confirm if there is any CO leak that we didn't know of when we bought the house. That's when we learned all about "nuisance alarms". The alarm from the apartment where we used to live rarely went off while we cook so - yeah, this annoyance was new to us. Given we have about 10 of these hardwired together when one went off and I hate loud noises, I knew the smoke alarm will be my least favorite of all household electronics.We got this to replace the one next to the kitchen -- it was easy to install and test (with earplugs), and so far it did not throw any tantrums during frozen pizza nights like we used to have. I did not have to replace the existing Kidde wiring harness -- just the mounting plate. It integrated well with the variety of Kidde alarms we currently have (we plan to replace the nuisance ones at some point in the future).I also installed this in our basement to replace the ionization type that we have right beside the laundry/furnace room (that also went off when we are using our flat iron). No nuisance so far, although we make sure we don't put steam directly beneath it. Of course, I also got a separate CO alarm for the basement, though, for added protection.4-stars because while I'd rather chuck each one of these out into the dumpster, I have to have these for my own safety. I don't love it. I like it enough because it saves me from having frequent heart attacks.I wish they'd be able to manufacture more alarms that's ear-friendly, not ear-splitting, while being able to alert you with the situation. Or sound out a voice warning a few minutes before it starts beeping like crazy. It's just ironic how you're supposed to "remain calm" when these things go off, but I usually feel like joining my kitty under the couch when it starts shrieking.

These are as easy to replace as just changing the battery. You unscrew the detector, pull out the power wires, then use a new detector with new battery (instead of the old one with new battery) before putting it back. Easy enough once you can reach the ceiling to do it.The company is very soft on when to replace. The support staff mentioned that a double beep indicates failure while a single beep is just asking for a new battery. So far so good. The unit hadn't actually failed. However, that same advisor suggested they should be replaced anyway as they were 15 years old. The warranty is 5 years, so she advised replacing them. I opted to replace since we have 16 foot ceilings and I would need professional help to reach them--costing more than the new detectors. However, these units appear to use a metalic "fuse" that melts at the appropriate temperature indicating a fire and triggering the alarm. Not obvious how this can go bad--ever.