Comments on: Kidde 1275 a Bad Smoke Detector

By: Tim Brady

Tim Brady — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 15:08:56 +0000

The same thing happened in my new house. I spoke with the company and they refuse to stand by their warranty.

By: AC Green

AC Green — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 15:12:58 +0000

I had the exact same thing happen in our house after 6 years of normal operation (and replacing the 9-volt batteries regularly). There was no explanation for the alarm - customer service said a spider might have set it off, but I’m a little skeptical. I’ll give the system one more chance then replace it. Not the best way to wake up in the morning!

By: Eddie

Eddie — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 09:24:31 +0000

Same thing happened to us. It is 4:21am right now and I was on the internet looking up what could’ve possibly set off my alarm. This article is going to allow my wife to sleep better now. Any recommendations for a replacement??

By: Administrator

Administrator — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 14:02:59 +0000

Eddie,
I wish that I had advice about a good replacement. My wife went out and purchased some battery operated units. If I hear one more person tell me they called Kidde and a Kidde rep told them that it “must have been a spider” I am going to scream. I have to admit that when mine first happened, I found comfort in the fact that MANY others had the same issue. I found my information in the reviews at Amazon.com.
Good luck. You might want to call the company and ask for replacements. I have heard some people say that they will provide them.

By: Stanley Perper

Stanley Perper — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 20:16:13 +0000

I am having the same problem. I have 5 units with problems in 3.and I was able to make the problem “move” by swapping units. Mine have gone off in rooms where the AC/heat was not running, there was no fan, and the room (and entire wing of the house) was not occupied. Curiously, mine also have only gone off in the middle of the night.

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 02:45:36 +0000

I don’t want to come off as an alarmist here or anything, but we lost our house to a fire back in December. The odd thing was, that our smoke detectors never went off. We were awake at the time and able to get the attic fire out initially, but lost the house to a rekindle later that night while staying at a relatives.

Just for everyones information, please keep an eye on your home after a fire if it ever happens. Rekindles are very common so we were told, had we known to keep an eye on it we might not have lost so much.

The fire inspector traced the origin back to, of all things our smoke detector in the master bedroom. Probably due to bad wiring of the system, not the detector itself.

Insurance has been great to us through all of this, they put us up in a very nice rental home while our house is rebuilt. Needless to say a few weeks after the fire we we’re jittery, so when the smoke alarms went of on New Years Day for no reason we we’re ready to get a different place! But, the landlord traced the faulty alarm and replaced it no problems since.

Its my hope that by sharing this information that people become educated about their smoke detection systems and keep them maintained.

By: Administrator

Administrator — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 02:54:00 +0000

Matt,

Thanks for sharing your story. It would be great if everything worked perfectly. I suppose it is better for them to work when there is not an issue than to not work when there is.

By: john

john — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 15:24:31 +0000

Same thing happend to me at 12:30 this morning in our master bedroom. New build with the 1275 installed. It lasted about 10 seconds or so. It shut itself off. Do I have to reset it and how can i help to prevent it from happening again?

Thanks

By: Administrator

Administrator — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:34:49 +0000

John,
Not sure that you can “prevent” this from happening again without swapping out the units. I had another set go off at a house I am renovating right now. It was in the middle of the day (high dust and humidity though). They started going off and I couldn’t do anything but laugh when I noticed the brand and model! In my own home, we replaced them with different units.
Bob L.

By: B

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 09:43:56 +0000

This just happened to me. It’s now 5:37am after 2 false alarms within about 10 minutes of each other. BUT… I’m renting this house and there is only one alarm that is not connected to any others. So only one is going off. It’s a Kidde but the landlord installed it, so I have no idea what model it is. I just know it’s made to ignore things like burning toast and it’s hard-wired. Seems likely it would be this one if it’s the cheapest cause our landlord is extremely cheap.

I did actually notice webs attached to it when I looked closely and we have had a problem with a lot of spiders before, so now I really wonder. I cleaned up the webs on the ceiling and tomorrow will vacuum the area, and see if this happens again.

By: Administrator

Administrator — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 00:59:38 +0000

The stories continue to come in. I suppose it isn’t a safety issue, as Matt pointed out, so it isn’t a big concern to them. Maybe the less expensive parts fail more often. Lighter gauge sensors, etc.