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[Sooner]

Do not ever ever ever live somewhere without a carbon monoxide detector.  Ever.  Never go without one.  They only last a few years before you need to replace them.

But it is something you will NOT know is a problem.  If a storm knocks loose a vent, new system is installed improperly, if you have a roof replaced, you can die.  Without ANY warning. 

[BirkiLady]

@stevieb  Open a window or fan the smoke detector with a magazine for a minute! Living in a condo is too dangerous to be disconnecting the battery EVER. You are putting too many lives at danger.

There is a reason those alarms are loud. They have to be heard over TV's, laundry machines, cooking appliances, family noises, street noises, etc., to save lives and time. If you lived in one of my buildings, it wouldn't be for long. I don't tolerate residents who put others' lives in danger or  disconnect permanent fixtures. 

Better yet, stop burning the toast! 

If you don't like the current smoke detectors, they are inexpensive. Buy one you like and have it replaced. Such a simple solution which ensures  all other residents complete safety. I do hope you have Renter's Insurance, as well, for your own protection. You could be held responsible for the entire cost of a fire and/or injuries or lawsuits. 

[Snoopp]

I replaced all of mine with Kidde brand.  They are by code, hard wired.  These have not had a single false alarm yet (like from cooking).  I do try to open a door and window if something is burning before it goes off.  

Oh, I did have one false alarm.  It was a piece of dust after I had a room painted that must have gotten into the alarm.  Nothing else after that.

[aubnwa01]

I had the 6 hard wired traditional w/battery back-up smoke alarms in my home replaced 5 years ago, so I don't need to worry about it for another 5 years.  My local fire dept did the replacement, I just bought a contractor's pack of 6 new smoke alarms of the same brand & size off of Amazon & called them, & they came & did it for me.  I also have them come once a year to change the batteries (I buy a pkg of 9V batteries at Costco) for me, since 3 of my smoke alarms are too high for me to reach, even if I stood on the very tippy top of my 6 ft. ladder, since I have vaulted ceilings.

I just learned something yesterday morning that I wasn't aware of.  I was taking a shower & all of a sudden, I could hear something in the house that did 5 loud beeps & stopped & a minute later, it did it again & just kept it up.  Once I got out of the shower & dried a bit, I could tell it was something in my great room, but there's 2 smoke alarms in there & a carbon monoxide detector.   It's a large room with tile floors & vaulted ceilings & it's tough to tell where sounds are coming from, since with all the hard surfaces, sounds tend to bounce around.  I stood in front of both smoke alarms until the 5 beeps happened again & that left the co2 detector, but it wasn't flashing & the battery had just been replaced last month,  Sure enough, though it was co2 detector that was making the sound, so I looked at the little display on it & it said END in it.  I unplugged it from the wall & turned it over & on the back it said:  

END: End Of Life-Replace Alarm

On the back, it said it was manufactured in 2013 (it was a First Alert brand), so I don't know if they have them programmed to only last a certain amount of time or if something in it had malfunctioned.  It had never gone off before.  I replaced it with a Kidde brand yesterday.

[Seannie]

Thanks to you all.  Learned a great deal and I appreciate each response.

Seannie

[wagirl]

Got all new models that flash, with sirens and even talk---they are built in and are the latest per code. also have carbon monoxide detectors in them too