Before I start my responses, let me preface by saying that I agree with you all 100%. I am not trying to be argumentative (and hope I don't come across that way).
I'm just simply trying to answer the questions put forth and hopefully educate and keep good discussion going. I'm no expert by any means & am learning from you guys too. :thumbsup:
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As a home owner / resident I hate them as much as you. I have vaulted ceilings for the great out of reach locations. I have linked units so one chirps, they all chirp (by the way if your units have an indicator LED on them, the one in alarm / low battery will be the one with the light on, the rest will just be audible alert only)
I recently replaced all my units AND put brand new batteries in them. Less than 2 weeks later one is alerting low battery - I swapped batteries between it and another unit as a test and both were happy - go figure.
The problem is when they become too much of a nuisance people defeat them -- unplug them and take the batteries out, or put tape over the sensors. Then they're not doing any good at all.
The issue is we as human beings are our own worst enemy. How may of those problems/conditions that turn the alarms into a nuisance are, in reality, our own fault? We pick the wrong type or mount them less than ideal locations, we don't change the batteries according to the instructions, we don't clean them, we paint over them, etc.
I'm not saying they couldn't be made better / work better. But working with what we have at the moment - we cause a lot of our own problems and then blame the units.
I get that but the battery in either hardwired or standalone units has power to alarm plenty long enough for you to get out of the house. I see no reason for hardwired units in a home.
Again - saving us from ourselves. Case in point - my grandmother used to never be able to hear the low battery chirp on hers. Now imagine if she were the shut-in type that no one ever checked on and the battery died then there was a fire and the alarm didn't go off because the battery was dead. Or the case where the battery is removed because it was chirping annoyingly all the time and the owner said I'll get a new one tomorrow. Months later still no battery and then there's a fire.
Hard wiring provides an alternate and (mostly) reliable power source.
I don't know about your house but there is no way anyone in my house wouldn't be woken up by a single unit alarming anywhere in the house. They are amazingly loud. And I repeat the reason I don't think they should all go off at once - yes we need 2 escape paths. WHICH do we choose when all the alarms are going off?? If only one goes off, we can go the opposite direction.
There have been several studies that show that children will sleep through the alarm on smoke detectors. Now imagine a scenario where the adults & children's bedrooms are separated. Linked units are more likely to alert parents to an issue on the children's side of the house sooner. Or if a fire were in a basement and the occupants bedrooms are on the 2nd floor.
In the area where I run, we have several million dollar "Mc Mansion" resort lake homes. (I am not fortunate enough to live in one) I'm not sure you could hear the smoke alarm in the "next room" in some of these places they're so large.
Again hard wiring provides the linking capability. Newer units are starting to utilize wireless linking technologies, but hard wired remains the simplest & most reliable.
As for the escape route - always take the shortest/quickest one to the outside unless you find it blocked by fire (which is usually a window, we're just creatures of habit and want to go thru the house to a door, and if you're on an above ground floor - fire escape ladders are a great idea).
In your specific situation (Home, age, health, family make-up, etc) a couple of old school stand alone units may in fact be all that you would need. Unfortunately the device manufacturers and code writers are forced to look at a much larger picture and then work to that lowest common denominator. That's why you have what we have so far. Is it perfect? Not by any means, but it's better than what we had.
I apologize if I seem too "preachy", but I've seen families standing barefoot in the snow with nothing left but what few clothes they were wearing from fires that could have been much less severe if smoke alarms had been present (or worked) and the fire detected sooner. I have unfortunately seen them lose more than just a home and possessions.
Like I said before, I am just as annoyed & inconvenienced by them as you or the next person but they are a small price to pay for all the potential "bad things" they could prevent and if all my "preaching" saves one family or even one person from going through all that, then brother show me to the pulpit.
