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Hard Wired Smoke Detectors

2012 IRC
Always required for new construction and additions

R314.4 Power source.
Smoke alarms shall receive their primary power from the building wiring when such wiring is served from a commercial source, and when primary power is interrupted, shall receive power from a battery. Wiring shall be permanent and without a disconnecting switch other than those required for overcurrent protection.

Exceptions:

1. Smoke alarms shall be permitted to be battery operated when installed in buildings without commercial power.

2. Hard wiring of smoke alarms in existing areas shall not be required where the alterations or repairs do not result in the removal of interior wall or ceiling finishes exposing the structure, unless there is an attic, crawl space or basement available which could provide access for hard wiring without the removal of interior finishes.
 
Alternate means and methods - Bluetooth or wireless smokes are available. The master can be hardwired and the slaves monitored by the master hardwired smokes.
The IRC requires the smoke detectors installed to be maintained in accordance with the codes they were installed. Therefore, if a smoke detector was not replaced every ten years and a permit is pulled, the lone smoke detector in the hallway was not maintained and the smoke detectors must be upgraded....... If you must install smokes, placement must be in accordance with current codes. Therefore, hardwired master with Bluetooth slaves is acceptable and enhances life safety as the codes require,
 
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I wish our State had the will to push this a little harder....but generally where you are not opening the drywall in a room where a detector is required, we are only getting battery, non-interconnect...
 
mtlogcabin said:
They make battery wireless interconnected smoke detectors
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Wireless interconnection is great but the code requires 110 power source to each unit. Individually.

And that is how we do it where we are at. Hard wired units in each room, one on each floor including the basement. Unless there is no access in an attic such as cathedral ceilings over the bedrooms. Then we can place a battery operated unit in there.
 
Builder Bob said:
Alternate means and methods - Bluetooth or wireless smokes are available. The master can be hardwired and the slaves monitored by the master hardwired smokes.
The IRC requires the smoke detectors installed to be maintained in accordance with the codes they were installed. Therefore, if a smoke detector was not replaced every ten years and a permit is pulled, the lone smoke detector in the hallway was not maintained and the smoke detectors must be upgraded....... If you must install smokes, placement must be in accordance with current codes. Therefore, hardwired master with Bluetooth slaves is acceptable and enhances life safety as the codes require,
Click to expand...
We must not be looking at the same code book. Where is this Bluetooth slave verbiage at?
 
rktect 1 said:
Wireless interconnection is great but the code requires 110 power source to each unit. Individually.
Click to expand...

New construction yes hardwired 110 volt power source with battery backup
Existing residential not required if the power is no accessible



mtlogcabin said:
2. Hard wiring of smoke alarms in existing areas shall not be required where the alterations or repairs do not result in the removal of interior wall or ceiling finishes exposing the structure, unless there is an attic, crawl space or basement available which could provide access for hard wiring without the removal of interior finishes.
Click to expand...
 
mtlogcabin said:
New construction yes hardwired 110 volt power source with battery backup
Existing residential not required if the power is no accessible
Click to expand...

Built a home with high ceilings, within a month of moving in the owner called yelling about batteries going off, sent an electrician over with a 16' step ladder to change backup batteries, a month later they were going off again. Finally the owner bought a 16' step ladder starting to change them himself, the last time I was by there he had all smokes down on a table with wires sticking out of them, I asked him what he was doing he said trying to figure out how to disable the battery backups. The odds of a homeowner falling off the top of a 16' step ladder are a lot higher than any fire ever happening, I thought that once we got hard-wired smokes that batteries going off would be history, best thing to do is just throw them away.

For safety reasons no smoke detector should be located higher than 6' off the floor, in an area where building inspectors are not allowed to climb ladders we are making homeowners climb ladders. In a home with a 150KW Cummins Genset why do codes make us install battery backups anyway?
 
conarb said:
Built a home with high ceilings, within a month of moving in the owner called yelling about batteries going off, sent an electrician over with a 16' step ladder to change backup batteries, a month later they were going off again. Finally the owner bought a 16' step ladder starting to change them himself, the last time I was by there he had all smokes down on a table with wires sticking out of them, I asked him what he was doing he said trying to figure out how to disable the battery backups. The odds of a homeowner falling off the top of a 16' step ladder are a lot higher than any fire ever happening, I thought that once we got hard-wired smokes that batteries going off would be history, best thing to do is just throw them away.

For safety reasons no smoke detector should be located higher than 6' off the floor, in an area where building inspectors are not allowed to climb ladders we are making homeowners climb ladders. In a home with a 150KW Cummins Genset why do codes make us install battery backups anyway?
Click to expand...

Sloped or flat ceilings?
 
conarb said:
Built a home with high ceilings, within a month of moving in the owner called yelling about batteries going off, sent an electrician over with a 16' step ladder to change backup batteries, a month later they were going off again. Finally the owner bought a 16' step ladder starting to change them himself, the last time I was by there he had all smokes down on a table with wires sticking out of them, I asked him what he was doing he said trying to figure out how to disable the battery backups. The odds of a homeowner falling off the top of a 16' step ladder are a lot higher than any fire ever happening, I thought that once we got hard-wired smokes that batteries going off would be history, best thing to do is just throw them away.

For safety reasons no smoke detector should be located higher than 6' off the floor, in an area where building inspectors are not allowed to climb ladders we are making homeowners climb ladders. In a home with a 150KW Cummins Genset why do codes make us install battery backups anyway?
Click to expand...



I thought the great state of ex-brown-moonbeam

Started requireing 10 year batteries ?
 
conarb said:
The odds of a homeowner falling off the top of a 16' step ladder are a lot higher than any fire ever happening,
Click to expand...

You may have a valid point, don't know the stats?

Maybe a code change proposal is in your future?
 
conarb said:
Built a home with high ceilings,
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May be for safety and energy consumption the code should have a maximum 8 ft ceiling height for a residence.
Be careful Conarb a suggestion can have a different outcome. ;)
Don't worry I can usually recognize sarcasm but those running your state may not have that ability.
 
tmurray said:
Sloped or flat ceilings?
Click to expand...

All sloped, I can recall building a home in 1978 with high smokes, I always ask the electrician to leave a 16' step ladder with me for final, I grabbed the ladder and told the inspector to come with me and I'd set him up to check the high smokes, he said, don't bother, I can't climb ladders I'll trust you. BTW, in my personal home they are all battery operated and I have the batteries out of all to them, got tired of changing batteries.
 
Here is what Florida has to say:

553.883 Smoke alarms in one-family and two-family dwellings and townhomes.—One-family and two-family dwellings and townhomes undergoing a repair, or a level 1 alteration as defined in the Florida Building Code, may use smoke alarms powered by 10-year nonremovable, nonreplaceable batteries in lieu of retrofitting such dwelling with smoke alarms powered by the dwelling’s electrical system. Effective January 1, 2015, a battery-powered smoke alarm that is newly installed or replaces an existing battery-powered smoke alarm must be powered by a nonremovable, nonreplaceable battery that powers the alarm for at least 10 years. The battery requirements of this section do not apply to a fire alarm, smoke detector, smoke alarm, or ancillary component that is electronically connected as a part of a centrally monitored or supervised alarm system.
 
This is a dilemma that my AHJ has not been able to deal with. There's probably a dozen "policies". I know that we don't pay any heed to the part about hard-wiring existing dwellings if there is an attic or crawl space....well we get that on complete rewire jobs but not much else. The dwelling pretty much has to be gutted before that's included.

I know what the code requires....there is an obvious path to requiring hard wired alarms on almost every permitted job.....we just ignore that....The backlash is greater than our resolve. I get it....hard wiring alarms is an expensive proposition that people are not prepared for.
 
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rktect - did not mean to infer for new construction - however, for existing residential units doing remodels, this is the only way to go especially with the push for the master suite to be remote from the other bedrooms. As far as the comment about the master smoke and the slave smoke, code language does not require that as it is a part of the UL listing for the smoke detector system.

Here is one option -
https://www.firstalertstore.com/sto...st-onelink-wireless-hardwired-smoke-alarm.htm
https://www.firstalertstore.com/sto...st-onelink-wireless-hardwired-smoke-alarm.htm
 
ICE said:
This is a dilemma that my AHJ has not been able to deal with. There's probably a dozen "policies". I know that we don't pay any heed to the part about hard-wiring existing dwellings if there is an attic or crawl space....well we get that on complete rewire jobs but not much else. The dwelling pretty much has to be gutted before that's included.

I know what the code requires....there is an obvious path to requiring hard wired alarms on almost every permitted job.....we just ignore that....The backlash is greater than our resolve. I get it....hard wiring alarms is an expensive proposition that people are not prepared for.
Click to expand...

Because nobody wants them.
 
conarb said:
Because nobody wants them.
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Ya and some people really don’t want them.....it’s a huge PTA. Contractors never mention this to the owners so when I show up for a final inspection, seldom do I find compliant smoke and CO alarms. They learn that there’s another $100 to spend.

The requirement adds, at a minimum, one and sometimes four more inspections. We staple a sheet of instructions to the permit.....I provide the same sheet at the first inspection.....I end up talking to a door bell that says, "What do you mean I have to be there? Can't you take my word for it? It’s ridiculous. Why didn't the contractor tell me? Is the contractor responsible for this?"

LA City has a form that can be provided in lieu of an inspection. Here's a link http://ladbs.org/docs/default-sourc...knowledgment-form-(to-notarize).pdf?sfvrsn=24

It is even notarized. I have seen it stapled to a job card thrice. It was left where I could find it at a final inspection for a re-roof. We do not accept that so I had to perform the inspection. On two occasions there were missing/misplaced smoke / CO alarms....A third had none.
 
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