What "10 year" smoke alarms do you recommend?

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#3327063 2-Jan-2025 18:06

timmmay:

I thought smoke detectors were mounted on the ceiling as smoke goes up and triggers the detector earlier.

The Building Code outlines the requirements for smoke detector placement. On walls, the top of the smoke detector must be 100-300mm from the ceiling.

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#3327073 2-Jan-2025 18:59

Would not recommend installing smoke detectors on a wall.

In general you don’t want them too close to a wall when installing in the roof, and you have a very limited area on the wall that is suitable for installation if installing on the wall.

If you look at the manual for the smoke detector you linked to SirHumphreyAppleby you will see that they have not even shown it as a possibility there.

You want the detector placed so that there is air passing by.

In the roof and too close to the wall and you won’t get enough smoke to the detector in case of a fire.

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#3327123 2-Jan-2025 19:24

SirHumphreyAppleby:

timmmay:

I thought smoke detectors were mounted on the ceiling as smoke goes up and triggers the detector earlier.

The Building Code outlines the requirements for smoke detector placement. On walls, the top of the smoke detector must be 100-300mm from the ceiling.

Can you please link to where it says that

i can see it says this:

"In rooms where a ceiling mount is not possible: between 100 mm and 300 mm from the ceiling"

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#3327125 2-Jan-2025 19:37

Jase2985:

Can you please link to where it says that

i can see it says this:

"In rooms where a ceiling mount is not possible: between 100 mm and 300 mm from the ceiling"

You edited your post, so I guess you found it. We've had no issue getting sign-off with wall mounted alarms. It is a far more sensible location for them for the same reason alarms are required to have silence buttons.

I note the requirements have since changed in November 2024 (NZS 4514:2021). If using interconnected alarms, ceiling mounts would be more practical from a wiring perspective.

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#3327130 2-Jan-2025 20:31

I’ve had a couple of Orca interconnected alarms installed for just over 2 years and haven’t had any issues so far.

https://orcasafety.co.nz/product/orca-10-year-wireless-interlink-smoke-alarm/

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#3327138 2-Jan-2025 21:23

Thanks for the repsonses everyone. For rentals, if you're installing new smoke alarms they must have a battery life of at least eight years, or be hard wired.

The Cavius ones caught my attention a while back, and with a lot of praise for them here, I might go with them.

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#3327168 2-Jan-2025 23:48

richms: Has anyone had any success returning them before 10 years and getting any solution from retailers? Something being sold as a 10 year device and starting to false alarm after 5 is IMO a consumer law issue. Why smoke and fire alarms are tolerated to be so crap is amazing. Imagine if you had airbags falsely going off as often as smoke alarms do.

Apart from Cavius I'm not sure any ten-year alarm actually exists, they all start to false alarm or otherwise play up after anything from a few years to maybe five years. The "ten years" is the theoretical time to degrade to ineffectiveness of the sensors, in the same way that 50,000 hours is the theoretical life of the LED emitters in a light. Neither ever get anywhere near that because various other components degrade and fail long before they do.

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#3327181 3-Jan-2025 07:34

I returned a 10-year smoke alarm to M10 after about 5 years when it started producing a lot of false alarms at night in winter. I had the receipt, no problems at all with the return.

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#3327185 3-Jan-2025 08:38

The Cavius instructions point out that all smoke alarms need a regular vacuuming to get rid of dust. The 10 year battery life of their interconnected models depends on the other RF signals present that may cause the alarm to repeatedly come out of stand by.

I understand that detectors should be replaced after 10 years but i went with Arma units because the batteries could be replaced if they went before that time. So far they've been up for 4 years without false triggering. Neither are close to the kitchen but both responded to a major burnt pot test 🙂

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#3327189 3-Jan-2025 09:28

timmmay: I returned a 10-year smoke alarm to M10 after about 5 years when it started producing a lot of false alarms at night in winter. I had the receipt, no problems at all with the return.

Same here with Bunnings - I keep the receipt and the external packaging of one pack whenever this is needed.

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#3327207 3-Jan-2025 10:33

Basil12:

Same here with Bunnings - I keep the receipt and the external packaging of one pack whenever this is needed.

I scan all receipts and any packaging that describes the warranty. I have the scan with a useful filename on my computer so finding a receipt is a simple file search.

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#3327263 3-Jan-2025 13:41

neb:

richms: Has anyone had any success returning them before 10 years and getting any solution from retailers? Something being sold as a 10 year device and starting to false alarm after 5 is IMO a consumer law issue. Why smoke and fire alarms are tolerated to be so crap is amazing. Imagine if you had airbags falsely going off as often as smoke alarms do.

Apart from Cavius I'm not sure any ten-year alarm actually exists, they all start to false alarm or otherwise play up after anything from a few years to maybe five years. The "ten years" is the theoretical time to degrade to ineffectiveness of the sensors, in the same way that 50,000 hours is the theoretical life of the LED emitters in a light. Neither ever get anywhere near that because various other components degrade and fail long before they do.

the 10 years is from the battery life (3v lithium). the exact same circuit and components are found in some 9v units.

why they only seam to last 5 years is often down to how much they quietly trigger, typically due to our damp homes. the way they get 10 years is by pulsing the circuit on/off. the less pulses the longer the lifespan. to insure proper detection, when smoke trips the lower trigger setting it increase the pulse rate, which then gives more accurate detection but uses more power. its that changing to fast pulse so often, that drains the battery.

cddt

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#3327453 4-Jan-2025 16:31

Three of our "ten year" Orca smoke alarms from Mitre 10 went off randomly (false alarm) in the middle of the night within the first six months of installation. One more failed to sound when an oven mitt was completely incinerated directly underneath it. Would not recommend.

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#3328548 7-Jan-2025 10:30

networkn:

I like the Cavius, their after sales support blew my mind. Replaced one after 9 years.

I second this. We had a problem one (interconnected) that kept going off randomly despite cleaning and they replaced without issue.

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#3334277 21-Jan-2025 18:44

cddt:

Three of our "ten year" Orca smoke alarms from Mitre 10 went off randomly (false alarm) in the middle of the night within the first six months of installation. One more failed to sound when an oven mitt was completely incinerated directly underneath it. Would not recommend.

I just can't get my head around this, I have PTSD from being woken up at 3 am (because of course it's always 3 am) by these *#*@ing things installed by the landlord who thinks all they need is a new battery.

How can they meet the standards? On the contrary the level of false alarms that are driving the reviews on the Bunnings & Mitre10 sites - not to mention my PTSD - should be illegal... will make the fire alarm marketing achieve nothing more than a false sense of security as the damn things cry wolf to the point people stop taking them seriously, or do what I did which is get medieval on them one at a time at 3:05 am and end up with no alarms at all.

How about overseas, US or Europe, are there better options?

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