Smoke Alarm Battery Dies: Throw it out?

The landfill, where else?

 

or sent to a large dump in liberia, where some poor bastard will try to extract metals from it and perish in the process.

 

Where I live (Sacramento County, CA) you can take items like batteries, old paint, old smoke alarms, etc. to the Refuse Transfer station. They have a Hazardous Waste service where you can drop the items off for appropriate disposal. There is no charge for most items, although you may have to pay if you have multiple TV sets (for example).

 

That people are mostly like sheep and will buy it for the convenience of being able to ignore it for 10 years. Baaaaaa.

 

I don't know how it is with the new smoke detectors, but many of the older ones had a radioisotope source that was only good for a limited number of years. If the ten year battery is good for the life of the source, it may make sense to replace the device as a unit.

Tom

 

Most likely the instructions included would have proper disposal instructions like most cell phone lithium batteries with the 800 number/website for recycling.

 

You should at least test them. Smoke detectors have a limited life span. Yours may be nothing but a placebo.

Tom

 

Earlier this week I visited a landfill for the first time in decades. Quite depressing.

Remember, you can never throw anything away. You are simply re-locating it.

PA P

 

Mine have expiration dates on them.

 

More likely China

Much toxic computer waste lands in Third World

Actually quite smart on our part. Not only have we exported all our "dirty" manufacturing to the Third World, we've also exported our dangerous used electronics

This way we can pretend to be "green" and even pout when we hear of a natural disaster in some foreign locale

 

I agree. Our dectectors wen't off (on the coldest night of the year in Minnesota) and the fire department also said these need to be replaced every 10 years. So we replaced the with units that don't need to be disconnected from the house power wires (the battery is in a side compartment that slides out). But having a battery that actually would last 10 years saves me from the annual ritual of replacing them.

 

is it better to have smoke detectors that might not work anymore or live in a house with smoke detectors sitting in the pantry uninstalled?

parents of 4 year old twin girls living in Yelm, WA probably have a pretty good answer to that question right now.

 

Oh FFS! Who can have children in a house and NOT have working smoke detectors? I have them more to protect my cats!

 

I have them to keep my cat from smoking in the bathroom.

Tom

 

I have one so I can tell when the food is done in the oven.

 

I'm going to have to have a word with you about how you've raised your cat

I see we share the same virtually nonexistent cooking skills

 

Its not just that I don't have the skills, I don't have any interest either. :madgrin: