If you live in a state that observes time changes you should get in the habit of checking them on that day. It means you check them twice a year and you’ll be mindful of the expiration date.
this post was submitted on 24 Feb 2026
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The instructions in the box (who reads those right?) says to test monthly.
Okay do that.
nice try, big detector
If your smoke detectors go off when you are cooking, then the smoke detectors are too close to the kitchen. At least where I live, building code mandates one smoke detector in each bedroom, one in each hallway leading to a bedroom, and at least one smoke detector on each floor of the home. Generally, avoid placing smoke detectors near kitchens or exterior windows which, when open, are right next to a grill or other cooking appliance. Otherwise you're going to be getting a lot of false positives.
The closest detector to the kitchen was in a bed room.
There had been a different detector in the living room but had gotten knocked down a while ago and broke (and never replaced), it was not on the interlink system, and when the other detectors would go off while cooking the one in the living room would not.
As you can see from my image, the detectors I replaced were from 2005, and needed replacing for quite some time.
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YSK that those old detectors will most likely not have the same plugs as the old ones, either. Prepare to figure out what circuit they're all on and a rewire with new dongles (pigtails? Not sure of the right name). Ah, what a fun weekend. 15 min turned into a couple of hours.
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I don't even have smoke detectors. lol
RIP. Please get at least one.
It's been ~6 years. lol
But it's not a bad idea. I will.
When done replacing your smoke detector, be sure to give me the spent one.
Mmm, yummy americium.
Most carbon monoxide detectors do too
Genuine question, how do you dispose of these properly?
We have limited electronic recycling options that I’ve found. When I brought my old detectors in, they sent me away. I suppose I could break down the plastic vs the circuit components and recycle the plastic.
What do you all do?
Your city should have a solid / chemical waste collection point.
What do I do? Landfill. Nobody near me wants the ABS housing even if I pried out the electronics and the radioactivity of ionization alarms is too low to need hazardous waste disposal. There are so many more impactful things to care about than recycling two or three smoke detectors every ten years.
See if you have a local household hazardous waste recycling program. If not, check with the fire department if they'll take em
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And please check them to see if they are safe to throw in the trash before you do. Some of them contain small amounts of really nasty stuff. Even the hazardous waste dropoff on my county was reluctant to take a batch from me. They said “you’re really supposed to send those back to the manufacturer.” But they did eventually take them.