Question:
I have owned two of First Alert's electronic products, which have both failed within a short period of time (approximately 2 years). I'm surprised at this, since it was supposed to be a good brand. What has concerned me, is that previous smoke detectors that I've bought, have never failed this quickly. The other smoke detector, in my house, is from a different manufacturer. It was bought a few months afterwards, and it's still working fine. The detector that the First Alert replaced, was over 15 years old (don't know the brand); and I replaced it even though it was working. So I'd expect the First Alert to last longer than 2 to 3 years! The First Alert smoke detector (I bought) was the hard-wired type, and it completely failed last week (alarms constantly). Didn't bother returning it, because I hadn't kept the receipt. However, I find the amount of time it lasted, as interesting. Since I owned one of their CO detectors, and it failed within the second year of use. When I went to exchange the defective CO detector, at the store, under warrantee. They no longer carried First Alert, which surprised me (at first). So I was given a KDE detector. Which I hope is more dependable. Because of what's happened - is there a problem with First Alert products, or was I just unlucky?

Answer: Bought a First Alert CO2 detector years ago. Came home from work and it was going off. Called (volunteer) fire dept. Waited 15 min in cold outside. They go through the house, everything looks in order. They call gas company, wait 1 hour in cold outside. Gas company goes through house with calibrated CO2 sniffer, no problem found. Asked gas guy if this is a common thing. He asks to see CO2 detector, says he responds to 3 alarms from this brand every day AND HAS NEVER SEEN A REAL CO2 PROBLEM IN ANY OF THEM. Called First Alert (FA), direct. Asked for money back. The indicated they would be willing to give me a replacement for free. No response when I asked them why I would want a replacement for something that is defective by design. Wrote FA and the atty general a note documenting this defective design. Bought a Nighthawk CO2 detector to replace the FA. The digital read out only goes off zero when cleaning oven, the unit has not false alarmed in >5 years. This lesson is all I needed to access the quality of FA products; sorry I will not rely on them when my family is at stake.