I can't be the only one.

I have been down this road at work probably a thousand times (at work on shift). Kidde detectors are unreliable. We recommend  the BRK/First Alert brand as we don't see as many issues with these. Dust will piss ANY unit off for sure, low batteries cause fits, but at the end of the day we say replace them if all else has been addressed. The previous post about the breaker/GFCI is a great place to check, as the batteries fail somewhat quickly living on the 9 volt back battery instead of the 110v input. The service life is technically 10 years per fire service  standards (just a random number in my opinion, and 5 years for a CO detector in my experience).Good luck, they always like to to go off in the middle of the night. Also, don't disconnect the system, as I have seen fatalities for THIS reason. And yes, I maintain regular maintenance on my residential units (blow them out with low psi air and change your batteries once  year if they are not 110v maintained). 

 
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AZ_Limo said:
I have been down this road at work probably a thousand times (at work on shift). Kidde detectors are unreliable. We recommend  the BRK/First Alert brand as we don't see as many issues with these. Dust will piss ANY unit off for sure, low batteries cause fits, but at the end of the day we say replace them if all else has been addressed. The previous post about the breaker/GFCI is a great place to check, as the batteries fail somewhat quickly living on the 9 volt back battery instead of the 110v input. The service life is technically 10 years per fire service  standards (just a random number in my opinion, and 5 years for a CO detector in my experience).Good luck, they always like to to go off in the middle of the night. Also, don't disconnect the system, as I have seen fatalities for THIS reason. And yes, I maintain regular maintenance on my residential units (blow them out with low psi air and change your batteries once  year if they are not 110v maintained). 
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Mine are hard wired 110 volt with the 10 year lithium battery. Do you know if the BRK brand you mentioned, will be plug and play to existing wiring. 

 
It's all about the plug  adapters. BRK/FIRST Alert offers 3 different types in a unit with the adapter set included that covers 90% of homes,  but there are some older homes that have a pin-out set that those units won't include. No biggie, kill the breaker and wire nut In  The proper pigtail and done. The lower cost unit will only include the basic hard wired/wire nut style. (Good thing is people on here actually can mitigate this wiring project as many not so mechanically inclined folks that I deal with are lost/cant). 

 
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