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Re:Whatever happened to IoT smoke alarms? by tzs on Sunday April 11, 2021 @09:05AM (#26770078)
I seem to live in some sort of weird temporal anomaly where things last longer than they should.

My smoke detector seems to be working fine, judging from its propensity to go off when I do something in another part of the house that emits smoke, even though it has been here for the 14 years I've owned this house.

The security light over my garage, which is controlled by a light sensor and is on overnight every night, is still on the same bulb it was on when I moved in. Figure an average of 10 hours a day for 14 years and that is 51000 hours.

I'm not sure exactly what kind of bulb it is, other than it is not LED, but all the other possibilities (LPS, HPS, mercury vapor, florescent, metal-halide) should be somewhere in the 12000-24000 hour lifespan range.

My washing machine and dryer are also the ones that came with the house, and are still working fine. They aren't very fancy--if a time warp landed then in a house in the 1960s no one would realize they are from the future--but they get the job done. The washing machine was made in August 2003 and the dryer April 2004 [1].

The heat pump compressor is around 40 years old. I've been told that is about twice as long as they are expected to last.

Other things that came with the house that are still going strong are the well pump, water heater, and all the major kitchen appliances except the fridge. The fridge died a couple years ago or so.

[1] Probably. GE recycles year codes, so all I can say for certain is that the washer was made in one of {2015, 2003, 1991, 1979, or 1949} and the dryer in {2016, 2004, 1992, 1980, or 1950}.

Re:Whatever happened to IoT smoke alarms? by brudgers on Sunday April 11, 2021 @09:23AM (#26770189)
You have a washer and dryer.

Statistically, you are a very very lucky human.

The replacement cycle of a smoke alarm has a built in safety factor because it was designed by engineers.

If your life was hanging by a rope, you're betting on it's absolute strength not it's rated load.

Smoke alarms are ten bucks a pop at Walmart. You can pick up a CO alarm and a box of waffles while you are there.

Re:Whatever happened to IoT smoke alarms? by tzs on Sunday April 11, 2021 @11:44AM (#26771097)
Yeah, I will. I wasn't suggesting that I should continue using mine past 10 years (looking at the datestamp on it, it was actually made 3 years before I bought the house, so it is 17 years old). Just noting that many things around my house seem to be working well past when they should.

Looks like Walmart even has one that is the same brand (First Alert) as my current one and appears to use a compatible mounting plate for $7.67, so should be an easy replacement.

Re:Whatever happened to IoT smoke alarms? by brudgers on Sunday April 11, 2021 @11:59AM (#26771250)
It's an easy replacement even if you need to change the plates.