PessOptimist
Market Veteran
- Reaction score
- 58
I just got done changing the batteries in my smoke/CO detectors. Yeah I know I was supposed to do it last month while the rest of the US was wasting time and energy setting clocks. I have my reasons for my schedule.
I am posting this as a public service to remind everyone that may have forgotten to change the smoke detector batteries.
If you have an interconnected system that runs off AC power grid voltage this can be fun. I have a 15 amp breaker dedicated to these things. After you change the batteries, which may or may not cause the detector to beep once, several times or forever, you have to watch the LEDs to make sure all is well. Some flash once every 60 seconds or maybe 40 seconds or maybe 3 times a minute or every 7.325 seconds or 10 seconds depending on what hemisphere you are in and if you actually changed the batteries on DST day or not. Since you are doing this home maintenance task, others in the house will think of more important things they want done and accuse you of ignoring them while staring at the detectors to see how often the LEDs blink. Especially if you are drinking a beer to give you the courage you need to get to up to that one 15 feet off the floor in the middle of the room. A few years ago I spent several hundred dollars on a ladder (OSHA approved of course) capable of safely reaching that one. In earlier times I used to stand on the top step of a wobbly wooden 6ft step ladder. The foolishness of youth. (relative, I was in my mid 40s then)
Back to that watching LEDs thing, better to make sure they all went back to "armed and ready" mode than "set all detectors off at 2AM mode".
Among the other more important things mentioned that need doing were painting the outside of the house, replacing outside light fixtures because "they're dirty and I never liked them because they're ugly" and fixing the cracks in the foundation. The foundation is actually a 4" slab that was poured over a layer of sand and rocks dumped over the water/waste pipes and allowed to settle for, say 25 minutes, before the extremely wet soupy crete was poured and left to cure in the hot desert sun uncovered.
In the words of the craftsmen building the structures, "lo suficientemente bueno, ¿Dónde están las chelas?
I love being a home owner. I am beginning to think I would love it better if I were the owner of a one bedroom condo or a 12x60 trailer on blocks with "natural desert landscaping".
Back on topic, if you haven't replaced your smoke/CO detector batteries this year, do it.
I am posting this as a public service to remind everyone that may have forgotten to change the smoke detector batteries.
If you have an interconnected system that runs off AC power grid voltage this can be fun. I have a 15 amp breaker dedicated to these things. After you change the batteries, which may or may not cause the detector to beep once, several times or forever, you have to watch the LEDs to make sure all is well. Some flash once every 60 seconds or maybe 40 seconds or maybe 3 times a minute or every 7.325 seconds or 10 seconds depending on what hemisphere you are in and if you actually changed the batteries on DST day or not. Since you are doing this home maintenance task, others in the house will think of more important things they want done and accuse you of ignoring them while staring at the detectors to see how often the LEDs blink. Especially if you are drinking a beer to give you the courage you need to get to up to that one 15 feet off the floor in the middle of the room. A few years ago I spent several hundred dollars on a ladder (OSHA approved of course) capable of safely reaching that one. In earlier times I used to stand on the top step of a wobbly wooden 6ft step ladder. The foolishness of youth. (relative, I was in my mid 40s then)
Back to that watching LEDs thing, better to make sure they all went back to "armed and ready" mode than "set all detectors off at 2AM mode".
Among the other more important things mentioned that need doing were painting the outside of the house, replacing outside light fixtures because "they're dirty and I never liked them because they're ugly" and fixing the cracks in the foundation. The foundation is actually a 4" slab that was poured over a layer of sand and rocks dumped over the water/waste pipes and allowed to settle for, say 25 minutes, before the extremely wet soupy crete was poured and left to cure in the hot desert sun uncovered.
In the words of the craftsmen building the structures, "lo suficientemente bueno, ¿Dónde están las chelas?
I love being a home owner. I am beginning to think I would love it better if I were the owner of a one bedroom condo or a 12x60 trailer on blocks with "natural desert landscaping".
Back on topic, if you haven't replaced your smoke/CO detector batteries this year, do it.
