Kidde KN-COSM-B Battery-Operated Combination Carbon Monoxide and Smoke Alarm with Talking Alarm
by Kidde
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Kidde KN-COSM-B Battery-Operated Combination Carbon Monoxide and Smoke Alarm with Talking Alarm
Customer Review: ineffective at detecting smoldering fires
Summary: 1 Stars
I just started renting a new home where the landlord has 3 of these detectors installed, one on each level. Today, my roommate and I decided to have a fire in the fireplace, then had to leave to grab something from the store. We extinguished the fire (we thought) and left, only to come back an hour later with the house completely filled with smoke. None of the detectors went off. It turns out the fire was still smoldering when we left, but we had closed the flue because we thought it was completely out. Thankfully there was no damage, just a thick smoke smell throughout the house, and it really was fortunate that we found out this way that the smoke detectors are useless.
For some reason, the house being entirely filled with smoke was not enough for the smoke detector to see any cause for alarm. I'm taking down all three detectors and replacing them with photoelectric detectors immediately; according to my research, photoelectric detectors are much less likely to cause false alarms from cooking smoke and are more reliable in detecting all kinds of fires, not just the hot flamey ones.
Also, carbon monoxide detectors should have a digital indicator of current CO levels, not just an alarm when the detector decides the levels are dangerous. A malfunctioning alarm could end up not signaling when even the lowest levels of CO are present and end up getting you sick or killed, whereas one with a digital readout will always tell you if there is ANY CO present in the home.
Customer Review: Shortt warranty AND product expires and disables itself
Summary: 1 Stars
I built a big, beautiful house in 2003. We put these combination detectors in multiple places.
And now, in January, 2010, exactly 7 years later, they all fail at once - within 24 hours of each other. The warranty is 5 years, so I was in despair, but also angry because it smelled very funny. ALL of them failing within a day of each other???
I called Kidde, and yes, there's a built-in expiration timer on the CO detector. No way to 'repair' or 'clean', and the beeping will never stop. Throw it away - and won't you like to buy all-new replacements, sir?
Well, I won't. Apparently they did not even label the products truthfully back in 2003, but they told me the 'good news': that they are now including labels on their detectors that the units disable themselves after 7 years.......what wondrous good news!
I am not easily moved to express an opinion in a 'review' such as this, but today I am finding it remarkably easy to vent.
I have no fire detection capability in my home as I write this.
But, there really IS "good news": first alert has a 10-year warranty, and I have not heard of any of their products disabling themselves! And the villagers rejoiced.........
Customer Review: It was time to replace my old detector or die
Summary: 4 Stars
Two times in the last year I had potentially life-threatening fires. My house was full of smoke and my old detector didn't go off. Fortunately I was awake both times and dealt with the problems promptly with no loss of life or fire damage.
After the second time my old detector didn't alert me; I had to take action. The Kidde seemed like a good choice because it has several features I like:
* Hard-wired with battery backup.
* It sets of the other smoke detectors in the event of a fire or CO problem.
* Ionizing smoke detector is state-of-the-art.
* It talks and beeps.
* It uses inexpensive AA Batteries
For the life of me, I can't understand why the local building code only requires one smoke detector on the first floor so I bought this as added protection. I also bought a KN-COB-IC, Kidde 120V Hardwired Nighthawk Interconnectable Carbon Monoxide Alarm with Battery Backup to replace the defective smoke detector. My review for that product is pretty-much the same except it uses an expensive 9V battery instead of the AA batteries this one uses.
Customer Review: Not sure about this product
Summary: 1 Stars
After looking at the excellent ratings for this product, I purchased two units and installed them - one each in the bedroom and the utility room. One day, I was getting the toddler to sleep when I smelt smoke and something burning. Upon exiting the bedroom (which has one detector), I noticed that the house was full of thick black smoke from a "microwave cooking accident". There was no fire. The fact that the smoke detector did not go off bothered me and I did a bit of reading on the detection systems. Turns out that there are two detection mechanisms - ionization and photoelectric...and to cut a long story short, one needs to have both types of mechanisms in operation. The manual of this product pretty much says the same thing on page 6. However, it does not tell me which smoke detection technology the unit uses - information that I can use to purchase a different smoke detector with the other mechanism to compliment this one. I can only know how good this product is when it responds to something that triggers it. It did not pick up smoke that I picked up by smelling, and the documentation is inadequate. That is why I give it a one.
Customer Review: Smoke Detector
Summary: 4 Stars
This smoke detector, the Kidde KN-COSM-B Battery-Operated Combination Carbon Monoxide and Smoke Alarm with Talking Alarm, is replacing the very similar Kidde smoke detector that finally died after many years of faithful service.
I thought that I might replace it with a "First Alert" alarm, but after reading the reviews it became obvious that I should stick with a sure thing and buy another Kidde alarm. The one I had worked fine over the years and I expect this replacement to do the same.
I don't need any false alarms at 2:00AM in the morning or any other time, or setting it off every time I hit a button on any remote control device in the house, or have it malfunction only after a month or two of service and the hassle of sending it back. I am sticking with Kidde and it's proven record.
Another nice thing is that the new Kidde fits on the same ceiling mount that the outgoing one did. So I didn't have to redo the mount. I just snapped on the new Kidde and it was done! Life is good!
Pete