Firex Smoke Alarms Reviews

We upgraded our Firex smoke detectors to the newer model after 3 years in our home (the older models were chirping for new batteries (for the first time!). The original detectors were 8 years old (at least). We installed these newer units in 2019 (mfg date 2017) and replaced the batteries every year without fail. For some reason, this year one or two of them would sound off for 10 or 15 seconds (but only in the early morning hours, 3 or 4 am) getting the others to join in before going silent. Firex said it was either a bug, or dust and recommended disconnecting them and cleaning them with compressed air. Okay, we did that. Did not help.

We replaced all 8 alarms less than a year ago and 2 of them have failed already. The company replaced the first but refused to do so on the second. On the second call the agent said, in response to hearing the explanation of the misbehavior by the unit, "oh that happens a lot". But still refused to replace the unit. I'm looking for other more trustworthy brands and better customer support.

13 of these bad boys were installed in our new home 2 years ago and installed by a professional. These are both hardwired in with a 9V battery backup. Alarms starting going off immediately with a very large Beep, and a women's voice saying "fire, fire", beep, beep, beep, "fire fire". We took all alarms down and clean them per instructions from Kidde as "there may be construction dust in the units". We also replaced all batteries with brand spanking new batteries, even through they came with battery backups in addition to the hardwiring, but per Kidde's instructions the batteries may need replaced.

My alarms are all manufactured 2015, three of the 9 I have installed have released a smoke/soot stain to my painted walls and the crown moulding from the 12 o'clock position of the wall-mounted unit. I've used dry chemical sponge without success. Contacted customer service at Kidde and after 18 days am awaiting explanation and cause. The response I received 3 days ago after 2nd attempt to contact resulted in "never heard of the problem" and wanted more information and photos from me. Sent, still waiting. I haven't found any other consumers online complaining about this, but my handyman indicated that he's run into this as some emission from the ionization component. I just want to get these stains removed from my painted walls and crown moulding. Apparently Kidde customer services is not so interested.

We manage 8 Townhomes. All smoke detectors were replaced with this brand of FireX wired detector (i4618A) in 2017. The detectors were purchased at Home Depot and were manufactured in 2015-2016. In 3 Townhomes, I have had to replace all of them once again because they started up without reason blaring and the blaring would not stop until they were disconnected from the ceilings. There was no cause. One home was vacant at the time. The original replacements in 2017 cost us over $900. Then, we turn around less than 2 years later and spend over $300. Never again will we purchase FireX smoke detectors.

I moved into my new home 18 months ago. The builder installed Firex i4618A alarms. Recently the alarm in my bedroom starting tweeting at 3 am. Changed the batteries several times with no change. Garbage!

Like others have mentioned, my interconnected alarms started going off at 3:00 AM. We disconnected them, cleaned them, and replaced the batteries. It's now almost 8:00 AM and I have been up for hours trying to fix this problem. I'm going to disconnect them all and throw them away. My house is only 7 months old. These pieces of junk couldn't even last a year.

My fire alarm caught on fire! Yes, believe it or not. Two of my fire alarms went off this morning. When I rushed around looking for the problem, I found that another one of my alarms was smoking and sputtering with a small electrical fire inside the FX 1218 itself! I was able to blow out the flame inside the alarm, then turn off the electricity at the breaker. The fire was all contained within the alarm itself, but it smoked up the house pretty good. I am replacing all eight alarms in my home with another brand!

I have an issue with my Kidde fire alarm. I called their customer service number yesterday and after almost 1.5 hours waiting on the phone, I hung up. I emailed them and received a response that they will get back to me as soon as they can, but for urgent calls, call their customer service number. What a joke. I called back today and am currently still on hold after 47 minutes. Unacceptable.

My house was built in 2006 and has about 10 fire alarms. I left my home and forgot to turn off the stove. Two hours laters, my house was filled with smoke and none of the alarms chirped. Luckily, this was during the day when I was not home. Terrible smoke detector!