I'd been looking for a video to explain me why the smoke detectors have a red/orange wire and how it works, and thanks to your video now I know the answer. Thanks a lot.
Where we are - yes. But as for Florida - you can call the building department of your township or county and they’ll tell you quick. Or your public library should carry all state and national code books.
I took the backup battery out of my hard-wired smoke alarm because it started to chirp (once) every minute or so and wouldn't stop, and I don't at this time (now 5AM!) have a fresh battery to replace it with. Yet it's STILL doing it, without a battery even in it! Would it warn the same for a missing battery as for a weak or dead one?
Hey Tom, I think you are correct. The chirping says there is an issue with the battery - missing, weak, or dead - probably are all the same to the detector. Thx for viewing.
Great video vary clear explanation. But I have one question can I ad fire alarm in between the other detectors For example in my new house they installed one in basement and the rest in the house Now I'm adding leaving room and kitchen in the basement and I need to connect tow more detectors in the basement but will be between the one in the basement and the house.
Hey Ref D, Wired smoke detectors are installed in sequence so you want to be sure you don’t permanently break that sequence. (Im not an electrician so you’ll want to be sure and consult an electrician as well as your city / town building codes.) Running to a new detector will require two runs of wire - one from where you break the sequences of detectors to the new detector and a second run of wire from the new detector back to where the detector sequence is broken so that the detectors can remain connected in sequence. Hope this helps.
Don't know if this is an odd question...I am adding hard wired detectors to an existing "chain" for a basement that I am finishing. I have wired the additional detectors in the new places I need them (bedrooms) using 12x3 wire (that's how the existing system is wired). I want to simply connect to the 1 exiting smoke/carbon detector that was already in the basement and go from there. Can I just do that? A friend was telling me that they need to be a 'circle' wiring pattern that I cannot have sort of the last one be the end of the chain. That doesn't make sense to me. Your thoughts?
Hey David,Thanks for asking. No odd questions here!And yours is a really good question.(To clarify - we did not use CO / smoke detector combined, just smoke detectors.) I'm not an electrician - so for what it's worth I can tell you what we did. We did chat with an electrician before doing this project. We started with 14/2 wire (14 gauge, 2 wire - black, white + the copper ground wire) to detector # 1 and then leaving detector #1 , all other detectors will be connected with 14/3 wire (14 gauge, 3 wire - black, white, red + copper for ground). We connect them "in series ". Ours are in line ( #1 to #2 to #3 to #4 etc. ) I've read that some people will also do branches off the main trunk. But to answer your question, we are not connecting the last detector to the first one (if that is what your friend meant?? ) The last detector is at the end of the line. The red wire allows all the detectors to 'talk' together. When one goes off, they all go off. By the way, you mentioned you are 12/3 wire. That will work, but it is thicker than the wire we used. I hope that helps. Good luck with your project!
Hey Cyber, Where we are - I believe a complete remodel requires one at the bottom of the stairs. If you are going to do it legit, ask your town / county building department. And especially if your mechanicals are down there, it’s smart regardless. Maybe your building department will let you get by with one that is a stand alone. Good question - thx!
The house we bought has a hardwired smoke detector -- just one -- in the hallway. I would like to remove the smoke detector and take that wire and use it for a light in the hallway. Is that possible, and how much investigation needs to be done to figure out what the wiring is there. With the great battery technology today, I don't want this hard wired smoke detector, and the house is a rental, so I don't want my tenants thinking it's battery powered, and messing with it.
Hey Becky, Hardwired smoke detectors are required in our area. You may want to check the building department in your county to be sure. You don’t want that to open you to a liability. Smoke detectors here are on their own circuits. An electrician could tell you if it is dedicated or not. Thx for viewing!
Interesting how local requirements vary. In my area, they want them on the same circuit as the kitchen refrigerator so people aren't likely to disable them.
Hey Seth, That is very interesting - and to some extent that even makes sense. Ultimately, you have to follow the local code since that is what they will be looking for at inspection. Thx for sharing that!
Hey Kevin, We added wiring to this house in rooms that were taken down to the studs. There was an existing spaghetti factory of wiring added over the years in this house. We had an electrician deal with wiring where the maze of wires was redundant or non-sensical. Enough of the walls were opened so that we could add the wiring for the smoke detectors which didn’t exist in the house as it was 40 yrs old. It was all inspected before closing up the walls. Thx for the question.
Dude ever hear of a thing called romex staples! Wow Also you literally broke code when you cut the equipment ground wires on camera. They should extend no less than 6 inches from box opening. Just so you know next time.
@@jayrobinson124 considering I use staples and follow code, my work looks 100 times better than this. He doesn't even straighten his 12/2 before pulling it. This is just being an ass to the folks doing insulation. On top of making your work look sloppy.
I'd been looking for a video to explain me why the smoke detectors have a red/orange wire and how it works, and thanks to your video now I know the answer. Thanks a lot.
Hi E E, glad you found your answer about the smoke detectors, thanks for your comment!
Great video - mystery solved, makes perfect sense.
LOL @ 3:00 "they can sometimes go off if someone's not cooking quite rightly"
Hi Penguins, glad this video helped with your wired smoke detector mystery, thanks for the comment!
Well-explained!
Hey Reno,
Thx for watching!
Thank you
Very helpful
Just what I needed explain.
Hey Barbara,
Your welcome. Glad to help.
And thx for watching!
HI got a question for you need to update grade a smoke detector do you think I can use hollow screw anchors ?
Sure - I typically don’t like those , but this is a case where it should work. These aren’t that heavy and don’t get much regular handling.
Does the smoke alarm have to be on its own circuit breaker? I am under the south Florida building code requirements
Where we are - yes. But as for Florida - you can call the building department of your township or county and they’ll tell you quick.
Or your public library should carry all state and national code books.
Good video
Hey DJ,
Thanks for watching!
I took the backup battery out of my hard-wired smoke alarm because it
started to chirp (once) every minute or so and wouldn't stop, and I don't at this time (now 5AM!) have a fresh battery to replace it with. Yet it's STILL doing it, without a battery even in it! Would it warn the same for a missing battery as for a weak or dead one?
Hey Tom,
I think you are correct. The chirping says there is an issue with the battery - missing, weak, or dead - probably are all the same to the detector.
Thx for viewing.
Great video vary clear explanation.
But I have one question can I ad fire alarm in between the other detectors
For example in my new house they installed one in basement and the rest in the house
Now I'm adding leaving room and kitchen in the basement and I need to connect tow more detectors in the basement but will be between the one in the basement and the house.
Hey Ref D,
Wired smoke detectors are installed in sequence so you want to be sure you don’t permanently break that sequence. (Im not an electrician so you’ll want to be sure and consult an electrician as well as your city / town building codes.) Running to a new detector will require two runs of wire - one from where you break the sequences of detectors to the new detector and a second run of wire from the new detector back to where the detector sequence is broken so that the detectors can remain connected in sequence.
Hope this helps.
Don't know if this is an odd question...I am adding hard wired detectors to an existing "chain" for a basement that I am finishing. I have wired the additional detectors in the new places I need them (bedrooms) using 12x3 wire (that's how the existing system is wired). I want to simply connect to the 1 exiting smoke/carbon detector that was already in the basement and go from there. Can I just do that? A friend was telling me that they need to be a 'circle' wiring pattern that I cannot have sort of the last one be the end of the chain. That doesn't make sense to me. Your thoughts?
Hey David,Thanks for asking. No odd questions here!And yours is a really good question.(To clarify - we did not use CO / smoke detector combined, just smoke detectors.)
I'm not an electrician - so for what it's worth I can tell you what we did. We did chat with an electrician before doing this project. We started with 14/2 wire (14 gauge, 2 wire - black, white + the copper ground wire) to detector # 1 and then leaving detector #1 , all other detectors will be connected with 14/3 wire (14 gauge, 3 wire - black, white, red + copper for ground). We connect them "in series ". Ours are in line ( #1 to #2 to #3 to #4 etc. ) I've read that some people will also do branches off the main trunk. But to answer your question, we are not connecting the last detector to the first one (if that is what your friend meant?? ) The last detector is at the end of the line. The red wire allows all the detectors to 'talk' together. When one goes off, they all go off.
By the way, you mentioned you are 12/3 wire. That will work, but it is thicker than the wire we used.
I hope that helps. Good luck with your project!
I’m doing my theater room from grounds up and there’s no smoke detector in there, can I get away without installing one?
Hey Cyber,
Where we are - I believe a complete remodel requires one at the bottom of the stairs.
If you are going to do it legit, ask your town / county building department.
And especially if your mechanicals are down there, it’s smart regardless.
Maybe your building department will let you get by with one that is a stand alone.
Good question - thx!
The house we bought has a hardwired smoke detector -- just one -- in the hallway. I would like to remove the smoke detector and take that wire and use it for a light in the hallway. Is that possible, and how much investigation needs to be done to figure out what the wiring is there. With the great battery technology today, I don't want this hard wired smoke detector, and the house is a rental, so I don't want my tenants thinking it's battery powered, and messing with it.
Hey Becky,
Hardwired smoke detectors are required in our area. You may want to check the building department in your county to be sure. You don’t want that to open you to a liability.
Smoke detectors here are on their own circuits. An electrician could tell you if it is dedicated or not. Thx for viewing!
Interesting how local requirements vary. In my area, they want them on the same circuit as the kitchen refrigerator so people aren't likely to disable them.
Hey Seth,
That is very interesting - and to some extent that even makes sense. Ultimately, you have to follow the local code since that is what they will be looking for at inspection.
Thx for sharing that!
Did you wire this, house? Yourself?
Hey Kevin,
We added wiring to this house in rooms that were taken down to the studs. There was an existing spaghetti factory of wiring added over the years in this house. We had an electrician deal with wiring where the maze of wires was redundant or non-sensical. Enough of the walls were opened so that we could add the wiring for the smoke detectors which didn’t exist in the house as it was 40 yrs old. It was all inspected before closing up the walls.
Thx for the question.
No building regs
Dude ever hear of a thing called romex staples! Wow
Also you literally broke code when you cut the equipment ground wires on camera. They should extend no less than 6 inches from box opening. Just so you know next time.
All the alarms have to go off at once? I guess I'm not cooking myself after the house gets remodeled
Hey Terrance,
😃 Thx for watching.
make sure to turn off the power first
My son installed his smoke detector in the hallway
Hey Maria,
Bedroom and hallways often get them. Best to check with your building Dept. They can tell you what they require as code.
Thx for watching
That work looks lights shit! Where are your staples or wire stackers?
Did a bird run your wiring? This is the messiest wire job I've ever seen....
thats cute a birdy
Everyone's a critic. Can we see your work?
yeah that looks like trash.. and to not even splice the wires before the wirenut smh
@@jayrobinson124 considering I use staples and follow code, my work looks 100 times better than this. He doesn't even straighten his 12/2 before pulling it. This is just being an ass to the folks doing insulation. On top of making your work look sloppy.