PSA Reminder--Daylight Savings Time

[Meriweather]

Ah, only once a year? Not twice a year like they recommend?

replace once a year.....check them more often.
We have 10, so it is a job!!

 

[tvguy]

replace once a year.....check them more often.
We have 10, so it is a job!!

Wow. I guess I won't complain about my 4 battery powered ones. Plus 2 hardwired. Except my 4 battery powered ones are all due to be replaced as they are 10 years old. There goes $100+.

 

[EACarlson]

Good thought. I didn't think of Zulu time. BUT, should all of their systems reference the same time?

That is expecting a lot of out airline IT.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Wow. I guess I won't complain about my 4 battery powered ones. Plus 2 hardwired. Except my 4 battery powered ones are all due to be replaced as they are 10 years old. There goes $100+.

We have 9 of them and no they aren't cheap. When we finish our basement I'm not sure if they'll add more down there (there's one right now) but I would assume so if there's going to be living square footage. We have combo smoke and carbon monoxide though all are connected together with battery back up and auditory when it goes off (normal chirp when battery needs replacing).

Mine are all 10 years old, and I guess now you're supposed to replace the entire detector every 10 years. And the new one's come with a battery that lasts 10 years.

It's been that way for a while. It goes by the manufactured date by the way not that you've had the detector for 10 years. It's a good idea for everyone to keep a list of this. Although the ones we have don't have the 10 year battery.

We had a bad detector that we had to replace in July 2020 but the manufactured date was in December 2019. The rest of our detectors range from May 2014 to July 2014 of manufactured dates. We also have ones that take AA and ones that take 9V.

ETA: Look on the detectors and you'll find the manufactured dates.

 

[tvguy]

We have 9 of them and no they aren't cheap. When we finish our basement I'm not sure if they'll add more down there (there's one right now) but I would assume so if there's going to be living square footage. We have combo smoke and carbon monoxide though all are connected together with battery back up and auditory when it goes off (normal chirp when battery needs replacing).

It's been that way for a while. It goes by the manufactured date by the way not that you've had the detector for 10 years. It's a good idea for everyone to keep a list of this. Although the ones we have don't have the 10 year battery.

We had a bad detector that we had to replace in July 2020 but the manufactured date was in December 2019. The rest of our detectors range from May 2014 to July 2014 of manufactured dates. We also have ones that take AA and ones that take 9V.

ETA: Look on the detectors and you'll find the manufactured dates.

Yeah, not sure if the code is the same everywhere, but I have one Carbon Monoxide detector because I had a woodburning fireplace (since converted to electric) and an attached garage. All electric house, but if you have natural gas that also means you need one.
When I remodeled 2013-2014 the only thing the county inspector wanted to see was the smoke detectors. Not the new bathroom or kitchen wiring or plumbing, not the new roof, not the solar panels, jut the smoke detectors!
I had two hard wired smoke detectors, but at the time of the remodel the only battery powered smoke detector we had I bought for my wife when she was still my girlfriend in 1981 for her first apartment. Back then apartments were not required to have smoke detectors.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Yeah, not sure if the code is the same everywhere, but I have one Carbon Monoxide detector because I had a woodburning fireplace (since converted to electric) and an attached garage. All electric house, but if you have natural gas that also means you need one.
When I remodeled 2013-2014 the only thing the county inspector wanted to see was the smoke detectors. Not the new bathroom or kitchen wiring or plumbing, not the new roof, not the solar panels, jut the smoke detectors!
I had two hard wired smoke detectors, but at the time of the remodel the only battery powered smoke detector we had I bought for my wife when she was still my girlfriend in 1981 for her first apartment. Back then apartments were not required to have smoke detectors.

When our house was built (started in January 2014 ended in September 2014) this was the rule here. Not sure what occurred before then but that's why I said it's been a while.

I don't believe combos are required (haven't checked the code though) but that's the kind the builder put in. Most often in my area in the past people had separate ones, like my mom had a separate one in the main level of the house plugged into an outlet.

As far as electric vs natural gas it doesn't matter. Ideally every house should have a carbon monoxide detector. Specifically for my area people also get radon systems and tests. In particular my county is known to have well above EPA limits for that. We have a passive system built into the house but can make it active if need be.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Whew! That was not on my radar at all!
Thanks for helping me avoid embarrassment tomorrow morning!

It snuck up on me too. Only really truly thought about it the other day when I went to SWA's website to check if our flights had reduced and saw a banner about DST lol

 

[disneychrista]

When I first saw a DLS meme on the meme thread I thought the poster was a few weeks early with the post. Then yesterday at work the boss said something about janitorial changing batteries in the clocks, which they only do when we change the clocks.

Not looking forward to it being dark when I get up in the morning for awhile again.

 

[tvguy]

When our house was built (started in January 2014 ended in September 2014) this was the rule here. Not sure what occurred before then but that's why I said it's been a while.

I don't believe combos are required (haven't checked the code though) but that's the kind the builder put in. Most often in my area in the past people had separate ones, like my mom had a separate one in the main level of the house plugged into an outlet.

As far as electric vs natural gas it doesn't matter. Ideally every house should have a carbon monoxide detector. Specifically for my area people also get radon systems and tests. In particular my county is known to have well above EPA limits for that. We have a passive system built into the house but can make it active if need be.

The radon detectors made me laugh. I switched jobs in 1989 and the previous boss, who was NOT from our area, purchased a series of already produced stories from an outside company on radon gas safety from a company that also included radon gas detectors for the station to give away to viewers. The day I started, the new boss ordered a pallet of radon gas detectors put in the dumpster. Not a single viewer requested a free one since radon gas isn't an issue here.

 

[amylevan]

When our house was built (started in January 2014 ended in September 2014) this was the rule here. Not sure what occurred before then but that's why I said it's been a while.

I don't believe combos are required (haven't checked the code though) but that's the kind the builder put in. Most often in my area in the past people had separate ones, like my mom had a separate one in the main level of the house plugged into an outlet.

As far as electric vs natural gas it doesn't matter. Ideally every house should have a carbon monoxide detector. Specifically for my area people also get radon systems and tests. In particular my county is known to have well above EPA limits for that. We have a passive system built into the house but can make it active if need be.

Carbon monoxide forms from burning fuels. An all-electric house without a fireplace or an attached garage has no way of creating carbon monoxide. It doesn’t just form on its own.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Carbon monoxide forms from burning fuels. An all-electric house without a fireplace or an attached garage has no way of creating carbon monoxide. It doesn’t just form on its own.

That's not the reason why though. Carbon monoxide can still get into your house. Not to mention people who use generators during times of power outages (and we know of stories about that) as well as your vehicle if it burns on gasoline. There have def. been people killed because they accidentally left their vehicles on in their garages.

Not to mention for the PP they are in CA and CALFIRE requires this as part of their code as well: "As of July 1, 2011, the Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Prevention Act (Senate BillSB 183) requires all single-family homes with an attached garage or a fossil fuel source to install carbon monoxide alarms within the home. Owners of multi-family leased or rental dwellings, such as apartment buildings, are required to comply with the law by January 1, 2013."

Being an all electric house is not pertinent to whether you should or shouldn't. Other factors are.

 

[tvguy]

Carbon monoxide forms from burning fuels. An all-electric house without a fireplace or an attached garage has no way of creating carbon monoxide. It doesn’t just form on its own.

Correct, which is why houses with an attached garage like mine need a carbon monoxide detector.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

The radon detectors made me laugh. I switched jobs in 1989 and the previous boss, who was NOT from our area, purchased a series of already produced stories from an outside company on radon gas safety from a company that also included radon gas detectors for the station to give away to viewers. The day I started, the new boss ordered a pallet of radon gas detectors put in the dumpster. Not a single viewer requested a free one since radon gas isn't an issue here.

Radon is required by state law to be disclosed. It's one of the only things required during the sale of a property (mold is another and I believe sex offenders is another). So when our house was built we had a disclosure noting high limits can be expected in our area. Winter is the best time to test technically although January is considered the designated Radon Month (to bring awareness to it).

For radon it's a test that is done and levels have to be disclosed to the state once you test (this is how they track it). It's better if you can to have a system installed during the building process. Ours goes from the basement snakes up through the walls and exits the top of the house through the roof. If done afterwards it usually goes from the basement but runs along pipes outside of the house to be vented on the top of the house.

My county like I mentioned in particular is considered high. From tests collected "radon levels test on average at 5.3(pCi/L) which is above the EPA’s radon action level of 4.0 picocuries of radon per liter of indoor air (pCi/L)." But I know homes have tested in the 20s and 30s which is well above it. Looks like from September of last year 47% of the homes tested had results above the 4.0 limit.

 

[Meriweather]

Wow. I guess I won't complain about my 4 battery powered ones. Plus 2 hardwired. Except my 4 battery powered ones are all due to be replaced as they are 10 years old. There goes $100+.

Ours are over 10 years old too!! We keep putting replacement off.

 

[mrodgers]

Seem to recall a recent thread on this topic. The reality is there are more daylight hours during the Summer (Northern Hemisphere) and less in the Winter. Moving the clocks ahead or back doesn't impact the number of daylight hours which is really a function of what season it is.

But with a defined timeline and schedule of everything, it is a massive variable in whether you get to see that daylight or not.

I just had a week where there was a hint of color in the sky. Monday that will be gone. It will be no different than the middle of the night again.

In July I'll have I think 2 weeks where I'll see the actual sun for a few hundred yards of my commute that the sun will show between a break in the hills as I crest the hill I am climbing over on the road.

But in winter, I get home and can I work on the car? No, it's dark half an hour after I get home at 4. Could I go out and play with the dog in the back yard? No, it's dark half an hour after I get home. Could I go out and play in the yard with the kids when they got home from school? No, they got home 10 minutes after I did, it was dark 20 minutes after they got home.

For me, no matter what the time change is, it is dark when I or when my kids left for work/school. How nice would it have been if all these decades of winters we could do things we want or need to do that we couldn't after the return to standard time.

 

[Moliphino]

So, do you still use the time change as a reminder to change your smoke detector batteries even though you don't change your clocks?
Mine are all 10 years old, and I guess now you're supposed to replace the entire detector every 10 years. And the new one's come with a battery that lasts 10 years.

Some of mine don't have replaceable batteries. They're lithium batteries and should last 10 years. I found that out the hard way when I deactivated one trying to figure out how to change the batteries.

 

[BLTtinkerbell]

 

[ronandannette]

Seem to recall a recent thread on this topic. The reality is there are more daylight hours during the Summer (Northern Hemisphere) and less in the Winter. Moving the clocks ahead or back doesn't impact the number of daylight hours which is really a function of what season it is.

Of course it doesn't...who would think it does? We live far enough north that the impact of DST can be quite dramatic; at this time of year we're still dealing with only about 10 hours of daylight (in June it will be closer to 18). Jogging a hour forward means there is a longer period of "usable" light in the evenings and I don't mind it at all. Body-clock wise, I'm fine getting up an hour earlier. It's the autumn one that kills me as I find it difficult to go to bed early and end up sleep deprived for a good week or so.

Not all of Canada changes; most provinces do but a few don't. We had a plebiscite during our last election to go to permanent MST which lost, quite narrowly, perhaps due to the way the question was worded. I voted to maintain DST, but it wouldn't have bothered me much either way.

Carbon monoxide forms from burning fuels. An all-electric house without a fireplace or an attached garage has no way of creating carbon monoxide. It doesn’t just form on its own.

Another thing worth noting is that carbon monoxide is a HEAVY gas; it collects at the lowest points and accumulates from there. It's a very good idea to have a separate CO monitor in your basement (or wherever is lowest in your house) on the floor, rather than rely on an integrated CO alarm in your smoke detectors which are screwed to the ceilings of your upper levels.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

It's a very good idea to have a separate CO monitor in your basement (or wherever is lowest in your house) on the floor, rather than rely on an integrated CO alarm in your smoke detectors which are screwed to the ceilings of your upper levels.

Certainly people can get separate ones though you're def correct about the normal placement of carbon monoxide detectors. With my mom's house it was one detector she had and that was it. We have effectively 9 detectors space all throughout the house. If it's coming from the basement it'll alert there, if it's coming from the garage it'll alert there and if it makes its way up to the bedrooms there's the bulk of them there. All connected to give auditory alarms when one goes off.

 

[disneychrista]

Of course it doesn't...who would think it does?

All the people who say they like DST because we get an extra hour of daylight. I think some believe it being lighter later in the day equals more daylight, not just shifting that daylight from morning to evening.