First Alert Smoke Detectors By cukal6 on Apr 10, 2008 - Updated Oct 15, 2011

When we first bought this 100 year old house, we bought 8 smoke detectors to fill it. We bought the cheapest ones we could find thinking that we would never have to use them. Boy were we wrong. Last FEbruary we were woken up in the middle of the night by the high pitched beeping that everyone fears. Since our upper level is closed off from the downstairs, we didn't see any smoke. So, my husband and I both go running down to turn it off thinking that it was a false alarm. As soon as we opened the door, thick black smoke started rolling up the stairs. Before we knew it, every alarm in the house was going off. The smoke was so black that you could not see your hand in front of your face. Because the smoke detectors warned us before the smoke could reach upstairs, we were able to get our two young children out fairly quickly. If the smoke detectors had not worked, we would have had a harder time getting out. Thankfully, the fire was contained to the furnace in the basement and didn't reach the rest of the house. However, there was enough smoke damage to keep us in a hotel for a few weeks. MOral of the story, the most expensive detectors aren't always the best. Just make sure to change your batteries every 6 months!