Kidde 1275 a Bad Smoke Detector
Consider this a review of the Kidde 1275 smoke detecor. READ the comments below. Summary: This is a unit you do not want to purchase!
If you have a Kidde 1275 smoke alarm. Be prepared for a false alarm. Well, it might never happen, but based on the reviews of the Kidde 1275 at Amazon.com you won’t be the only one if your alarm does go off on its own.
Of course I am not writing this out of the blue. Many builders will install these units in new builds. They are inexpensive hard-wired smoke detectors. However, it isn’t uncommon for these units to be defective, or to go bad and go off in the middle of the night. Ours went off on Friday night at 3 AM, and then at 4 AM. I was able to find the offending unit by simply blowing up at it and setting the alarm off again. I can honestly say that you will probably not sleep as well with the feeling that your alarm will go off in the middle of the night.
Since this is a hard wired system, every detector will sound when the alarm is triggered. If you have young children, I can assure you that this is something that they will not forget. When this happened last year, we brushed it off as a one time event. My son, who was 3 at the time, kept his fan on for a couple of months because he thought that would stop the alarm from sounding.
One nice thing is that you can locate the offending alarm. It will be the unit that is blinking after the alarm goes off. In my case, I simply pulled the unit from the system. I was pretty certain that it was bad when I was able to set it off by simply blowing on the alarm from 5 feet away.
I write this review in hopes that this does not happen to you. If you are building, or outfitting your house with new smoke detectors, I would recommend that you avoid the Kidde 1275. It received 1 star out of 5 for a reason.
The following is an alternative unit that can utilize the same connection as your 1275 / 1285. It is still from Kidde, but the reviews on the unit are good. Might be worth a look:
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Steve,
That unit is going to be the “easy” route. The i2040 reviews much better than the 1275 and replacement is a snap. You could go another route and snip out your quick connect adapters and change the brand from Kidde. However, there will be a bit of labor involved. There are also adapters that will allow you to use a “click” connector and change to the new brand. However, there is going to be a fairly significant addition to the cost. The i2040 is probably the most straightforward replacement unit, at the lowest price, with the simplest connection.
Since they are Kidde brand, you probably won’t get the best customer service (according to many), but if you don’t require service then it shouldn’t matter to you.
Good luck.
http://www.wnyhandyman.com