Originally Posted By: Denis
As a side note, some manufacturers are now selling 10 year smoke detector models with lithium batteries installed; they say the life of the unit is the life of the battery so you just replace the whole unit at the end of 10 years.

Sorry to continue this tangent, but that's an important point--smoke detectors lose sensitivity for a number reasons over time, so most should be replaced at the 10 year mark (at least the ionization type). However, how many of us reading this post have smoke detectors that are more than 10 years old? Quite a few, I'm sure.

I just checked--I do have two units that are way past their prime. Something to remedy this holiday season, especially before any Christmas tree goes up.

I've read that smoke detectors should also be vacuumed to remove dust that can reduce sensitivity, but that's something I've never done.