Do you have 120 VAC Daisy Chain Smokes Alarms in your Home or Apartment Unit ? is your Home or Building Built Before 2004 ? THEY MAY NOT WORK - Better ? why is UL and NFPA still approving there use

It was all the rage back in the 80's when 120 Volt  AC  Powered Daisy Chain  Smoke Alarms came out then then with a 9 volt DC battery back up  in case you lost power  in your new home.
Considered the finest in new home fire safety technology every new home had them installed on every level .

http://www.handymanhowto.com/how-to-install-a-hardwired-smoke-alarm-part-2/

NFPA codes even allowed them to be used in small apartment buildings  and town homes under 6 units  a very big  and deadly mistake .

Because  there is one major problem If you have a home with 120 VAC smokes built before 2004
will the smokes even go into alarm?

This is because it has been found that smoke alarms which utilize Ionization technology can fail to operate after 10 years 

http://www.safelincs.co.uk/why-should-smoke-alarms-be-replaced-after-ten-years/

Personally I have never liked Ionization detector and alarms of any type I have always tried to install Photoelectric smokes which when properly maintained can last for decades.

But because Ionization units are cheaper thats what builders installed  by the millions  and many home and apartment owners have no idea the 120 VAC Daisy Chain units they installed over 10 years ago may no longer work ,because they mistakenly believe it only applies to stand alone 9 Volt Dc smokes not daisy chains.

The bigger problem to is it often takes the additional cost of an electrician to replace them because they utilize 120VAC 

There are hundreds of thousands of home owners who think they are being protected when they are not.  It still amazes me how many homes and  places I walk in and no smoke alarms period.

But to add to this deadly problem is all the small apartment houses and town homes where these 120 VAC units where used  that never get checked or inspected  . Because these small buildings do not have a fire alarm system .

It was seen as a burden to make small apartment buildings put in a fire system yet these typically have more fires than large buildings and are often built of much more flammable construction than a regular brick apartment building.

But as usual NFPA and UL has been short sighted in there thinking and have exposed millions of people to fire hazards because they allowed a less stringent code for small apartment buildings.

and have made it worse by not emphasizing that 120 VAC smoke alarms need changed after 10 years also.

Thank God No more Hootersville . There is a new ( Fire ) Marshal in the town of Penn Hills. But the damage done in his absense will be a challange.

Yes after an almost 3+ year absence of not having a Fire Marshal in Penn Hills the town has Hired Mr. Charles Miller a well educated Individual in codes and fire science and a certified fire investigator and  former Career Firefighter with the city of Jeanette. Pa.

Penn Hills has also settled with former code officers and has hired several knew Code Officers as well all highly qualified.

But during the time of transition for these new code enforcers  being hired things went to shit in the township. Including several buildings being approved and built  with out alarms etc. when they where required . Because they where not properly classified as to how they where being occupied,and plenty of property's abandoned or not being properly taken care of and becoming a hazard because no one kept after them to make sure grass was cut etc.

Of course I warned this was going to happen when Jack Mason retired including code problems with the new high school as well.

But now that they are built and approved there is little that can be done to the delight of those who got away with out properly doing things.
Almost makes you think things where deliberate in delaying hiring new code people..

One of the First things Mr. Miller has done is put in place  " The Compliance Engine" a 3rd party software service which will allow him to keep track of the 300+ business etc  in the town as far as fire alarm  and  fire protective systems  Of course you are hearing all kinds of moans and groans from alarm dealers and building owners . He did this as well as several other large community's. But in the long run it helps keep track of things and insures community safety.

Its already paid off where a plaza I took care of  which had several code deficiencies was now forced to correct them instead of  just passing the buck.

So  hopefully Mr.Miller and the new code officers will be able to  get thru the back log of work and Penn Hills will be all the better for it.  One way to stop a community's decay and discourage crime is by having a solid code  dept so you do not get all the slum lord's and abandoned property's some one needs to be held accountable and so far they have taken action against several slum lords and forced them to fix up there property's or properly demolish them.  It has left some renters out in the cold and the community has helped to get them new places but this is what must be done if you want to have a clean safe community which Penn Hills always was . Although we have gone from mostly white collar to blue collar there is no reason the community has to go down hill .

So Thank You  Penn Hills council for stepping up and doing the right thing. I look forward to being able to retire some day and spend them in Penn Hills and not have to move out because it has become a ghetto. Which has happened in too many community's in Pittsburgh area.

The BAOFENG Solution Proving once again how American consumers have been getting screwed when it comes to the costs of 2 way radios for Amateur Radio Operators and emergency and business radio users. use.

Yes if you have ever had to buy a 2 way radio you know the extreme high costs . But all along we the American consumer have been getting F--ked and Screwed over by American Manufacturers who do not even manufacture there radios in America.
 
Yes brands like Motorola , Kennwood  , Bendix have been way overpriced for decades because they kept smaller manufactures out of the market.
Using FCC ,UL rules and regulations  and others to keep low cost manufacturers out.
while a couple where allowed they cost of the radios was extremely high .
'But no more.
Finally a Chinese manufacturer BAOFENG has broken thru with affordable radios you can buy new not used like I have always had to do when pursuing my amateur radio hobby.  A hobby I and many others  have been frozen out of because of costs because there are no cheap radios to buy not even kits you can build with out getting into several hundred dollars to get all set up.

But for well under $100.00 you can get into the hobby with a well built radio brand new in your hand which you can expand on.

http://baofengradio.us/

It has been well known for at least 2 decades  electronics manufacturing costs have been coming way down overseas where the vast majority of electronics is manufactured but manufacturers chose to  deliberately keep prices high and screw the American consumer.  if Baofeng can charge $35.00 for this dual band 2 meter / 70 CM Amateur radio  why does it cost well over $100.00 for a simple receive only scanner  radio and  $350.00 dollars and much more from vast majority of manufacturers 2 way radios
Especially since they are all manufactured overseas .  Yes prices have been locked in and artificially kept high to fatten corporate fat cats wallets nothing else.
If BAOFENG can delver the above radio for $35.00  So called USA company's should be able to do it for around $75.00  and still make a profit.

Yes any one buying any kind of electronics has been getting screwed all these years and it needs to stop.

ATTENTION Electronic Manufactures I do not want Cheaper Products I want the Dam thing to work Period

I am so dam tired of electronics makers be it burglar and fire alarms, cameras ,radios you name it.
It seems like every time I walk in the supply house the manufactures reps  say  look at this new product update and its so much cheaper.

No this is not what I want I want the dam thing to work . Cheaper means you have cut corners some where  it means you are using me to be the Ginny Pig  to work out the bugs .

Just like all the new automation products they work faster and in mean time the software is glitchy and does not work. Connectors which do not hold properly, IP which will not set etc etc etc.  cheaper means exactly that its cheaply made . I want quality products and all I find is total shit  and problems
  because its made fast its made cheap and software is written poorly.  

I want to put a product in for a customer they are happy it works and I do not have to constantly  have to keep upgrading software and chips etc.etc.and respond to constant glitchs. .

its what i want its what the customer wants and its what many electronic installers want but what do manufacturers do. Keep turning out untested shit products.

When you go out of business and can not understand why. Know its because you did not listen to your customers.

Ernie Just Does not get it. Not one of the lives he mentions on this front page would have been saved by the New Sprinkler Law Not One

Yes sad but true not one of the fire deaths listed on the front of Pa Fireman magazine would have been prevented  had the Sprinkler legislation been passed they where all in homes built well before the legislation would have been passed.

Yes fire deaths are on the increase in Pa. it is because of our old housing stock  and even if back then sprinklers where the law  how many lives would be saved?  A very good question.
Because how many of those systems would have been maintained properly? I can tell you less then 50% because most would not bother to afford the cost . How many of those fire deaths was there a working smoke detector? less than 10% . Its because people take battery's out or never install them or otherwise maintain them despite it been on books in many community's that smoke detectors are mandatory and you want these same people to maintain a sprinkler system?

Yes sprinklers save lives but the law only covers new homes not old homes, not personnel care homes not mobile homes, not  children's camp buildings , day cares  etc etc etc.

New homes which will be safe and secure for many years till those sprinklers are called on and when called on if not maintained properly will not work and lives will be lost it is just human nature.

If you want to promote sprinklers then lets talk about how unsafe new homes are built and how fast they burn  etc etc etc.  Lets talk about the ever declining fire service and how sprinklers will insure a timely response to a fire. Lets stop beating a dead horse.
 Better yet why are there not more efforts to allow affordable retrofit systems for homes like mine . Why? its all NFPA and UL and there Archaic   and Draconian rules . Yes the same people making the rules are just as responsible for many of the deaths as the fire itself when it dissuades inventions to save life because it costs hundreds of thousands to get an approval something small manufacturers and investors can not afford so the invention dies.

Yes lets put the blame right where it belongs on the NFPA and UL for not allowing known good practical solutions being used overseas  to be used in the US because the costs they have imposed to meet approval.

Lets talk sprinklers and fire safety for all not just new homes. Lets get rid of the draconian rules and expensive approvals and lets get to work saving lives not what feels good.Time to get rid of UL and NFPA and start using common sense .