# I'm done with First Alert



## Old Thomas (Nov 28, 2019)

I am done with First Alert, too. I have had 3 of their 10-year lithium battery detectors fail in less than a year. First Alert replaced them under their warranty, but getting false alarms and waiting a month for a replacement got old fast. One of them is on its third replacement.


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## Chris616 (Dec 31, 2019)

I sympathize with your complaint, but you may not see anything different with other brands as far as false alarms are concerned. I’m quite sure that my wife and I won’t die from smoke or carbon monoxide during the night, but as I get older I fear that the middle of the night false alarms every year or so from our six year old interconnected Kidde detectors might give me a heart attack  

Your description of what you went through to permanently silence the alarm is consistent with the procedure described in the manual for the First Alert PC1210 *tamperproof* detector. It should have been possible to silence the alarm though (15 minutes for smoke, 4 minutes for CO) but perhaps the button was not depressed for the 3-5 seconds required?

Chris


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## Brohoho (Jun 29, 2021)

Chris616 said:


> but perhaps the button was not depressed for the 3-5 seconds required?


I held it for 3-5 seconds by hand and it still beeped. It didn't feel like anything got pressed in though. Maybe not close enough to 5 seconds. When I mutilated it with the screwdriver, I'm not sure how long I waited.

I think I'll replace it with the Kidde P3010CU. I like the big, round, normal looking button and it announces the particular hazard. I'll mount it high on the wall this time so I don't need a stool.

The false alarm was probably my fault. It's probably been over a year since I vacuumed it and I recently removed old wallpaper and did a lot of cleaning and patching in the area.


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## rogerwh (Mar 1, 2021)

Did you do any of these steps to silence it?



https://support.firstalert.com/s/article/P1210-PC1210-P1200-PC1200-nuisance-alarms


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## Brohoho (Jun 29, 2021)

rogerwh said:


> Did you do any of these steps to silence it?
> 
> 
> 
> https://support.firstalert.com/s/article/P1210-PC1210-P1200-PC1200-nuisance-alarms


"To silence a nuisance alarm, press and hold the *Silence Button* on your unit." I did that. I hate that style button though. It's like a mouse button, where if you press too close to the attached end you need a lot more pressure, except at least a mouse button is large.


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## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

Chris616 said:


> . . . as I get older I fear that the middle of the night false alarms every year or so from our six year old interconnected Kidde detectors might give me a heart attack


These things don't seem very user friendly. Not practical, although, I'm not saying not needed. If you're deeply asleep & suddenly woken up, are you going to remember what each number of beeps means?

When It happened to me with the CO detector, I cracked a window and went back to sleep!!! I guess I survived. . .


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## rogerwh (Mar 1, 2021)

Nik333 said:


> When It happened to me with the CO detector, I cracked a window and went back to sleep!!! I guess I survived. . .


So why have a CO detector if you don’t take the threat seriously?


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## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

rogerwh said:


> So why have a CO detector if you don’t take the threat seriously?


No, sorry, I guess I wasn't clear. I'm very concerned about CO poisoning. When you're awakened and you've been deeply asleep, you don't always make the best decisions. That's what concerns me. Plus, it's too complicated, imo. for a sleepy person in the middle of the night. Maybe I need a big sign or a voice that tells me what to do. Or the heater shuts off so that eventually it gets too cold to sleep. . .


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