Smoke Detectors

 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues....

There is a landlord in my family who keeps their property up. This includes matching fire codes, whenever the city raises the bar and requires something else for inspection and passing their units.

First, a smoke detector was required in each unit.  Then, since college kids were disconnecting the batteries when they wanted to smoke, a permanent 10-year lithium battery then was required. This meant replacing all those original units with the new 10-year units.

Next, the requirement was for such a detector in each one of the bedrooms in each unit.  That created three times the demand, or four or five times, for new smoke detectors in our college town for each rental unit.

Then, they required a smoke detector on each level of the structure, in each unit.

And, they added a CO monitor outside the bedrooms, but not in the bathroom nor kitchen.

Next, I am told they will require permanently wired units with battery back-up for ten years.

No matter... there is no appeal to this rising bar.... there is no such thing as too much safety.

It's a lesson that we rocketeers know well.

The problem is that the rising bar has created a back log of un-code-worthy detectors sitting on a workbench, or placed in places where there should be a better level detector.  And occasionally, such a unit reaches the end of its life, and the low battery alarm begins to chirp.

This happened to me this week, as a tenant called to complain that something was chirping, but she didn't know what or where it was.  She apparently cannot localize sound well enough.

No matter, we fairly quickly narrowed it down, and found it was an old detector setting on a closet shelf.  It was removed, and now sits chirping on my work bench.

The question becomes, "What can you use these good, functioning units for...or can you disassemble/deconstruct them safely and scavenge the parts?"

I'm asking this question on a number of forums, and have received an interesting variety of responses depending on the experience and interests of the forum.

1. One response said not to touch the insides, as they are all radioactive.
2. Another warns not to try to recycle a detector due to liability issues.
3. A third says, have at it and strip the electronic components away... but not to touch the detector.
4. Another says the guts are all foreign components and so cheap that they are not worth the effort.
5. Another says the housing or shell can be used to hide a surveillance camera inside. (Wouldn't you like to know what he's got in mind, and why he is building his own?)
6. My interest is only to scavenge random electronic parts, and I have no interest in the detector.

I was also treated to the report of a boy-scout bomb-maker who was attempting to stockpile radioactive materials to build a homemade bomb.  Some say the guy poisoned himself by accident.  And another says if he glows, he won't have to take the vaccine.

Anyway, the point is I am asking you now.  What parts would you scavenge out of an old smoke detector?

Drop this Thrifty Rocketeer a line and let me know.