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10-Year Life Cycle for Smoke Detectors

Home owners have a lot of decisions to make when buying smoke alarms. But an unscientific test conducted by kgw.com revealed there is not a big difference between the kinds sold in Oregon. 

When testing five alarms purchased at Portland hardware stores, all of the alarms went off within seconds of each other. The Portland Fire Bureau gave kgw.com access to a fire training room in northeast Portland. Fire education officers lit a pile of hay in the room, quickly filling it with smoke. In repeat tests, the alarms all went off almost simultaneously. 

Those results did not surprise firefighters. 

“If they’re bought off a shelf in Oregon, they’re going to be Oregon compliant and they’re going to have performance like we’re seeing today,” said Don Porth, Fire Education Officer for the Portland Fire Bureau. 

Oregon state law requires all smoke alarms come with ten-year batteries. Also in Oregon, alarms that use ionization sensors must have a ‘hush’ feature to prevent users from removing batteries following false alarms. Those two restrictions are credited with eliminating cheaper, less-effective alarms from Oregon retailers. 

Kidde and First Alert are the two main smoke alarm suppliers found in Oregon. Each offers alarms with photoelectric or ionization sensors. Photoelectric alarms respond better to fires with flames while ionization ones are better at detecting smoky, smoldering fires. 

“It really doesn’t matter which one you put in. They’re both good choices. It’s more important that you have one than you select a certain type,” said Porth. 

Porth also said a new alarm is always going to work better than an older model. He cited this result from a National Fire Protection Association test: “A smoke alarm, when it reaches the age of ten has lost a great deal of it’s effectiveness and really should be disregarded and replaced.”