Interrelated smoke alarms - are they necessary?

Question

I'm doing a knob & tube re-wire because after years of handymen messing with it, I want to make the house safe for my tenants. I'm getting quotes now, and the electricians have been suggesting interrelated smoke alarms. This makes sense to me because the last few sets of tenants have taken the smoke alarms down - which infuriates me, but they don't care and they do it anyway. (I rent a 4BR single family home to college age and early 20-somethings. They're usually unrelated. The building is 3 floors.).

Has anyone had issues with hard-wired smoke alarms? While it sounds safe, it also sounds harder to troubleshoot. When a smoke alarm keeps beeping for no reason, you can just take the batteries out. One of the electricians is telling me that it's not necessary to have hard-wired smoke detectors in SFH in Philadelphia, while the others are strongly recommending it.

Greg Scott · Answer

Is it safer, probably.  Will it be more headaches, almost certainly.

Residents in our apartments often remove the batteries because they get tired of setting off the smoke alarms when they decide to smoke in their unit (even though it is non-smoking building).  If they are all interconnected, everyone gets to enjoy the squealing beeps from one inconsiderate resident.

I recently replaced all the smoke detectors in our house, which our wired and interconnected.  Then we had the joy of random smoke alarms sounding about 2 or 3 times per week (frequently at 2AM).  After troubleshooting with the smoke detector company we learned that one of our 12 detectors had a loose wire which was causing the random alarms.  It took about 3 weeks to figure all that out and then find and fix the problem.

Mike McCarthy · Answer

@Sara Abernethy in Phila, if you’re doing a rewire with permits, you’ll need to install interconnected smoke alarms, one on each floor and one in each bedroom. It’s code these days, and not a bad idea.

If you’re doing a smaller electrical upgrade, you can get away with battery smoke detectors on each floor and a CO (combination or both CO and smoke) within 15’ of the bedrooms. Phila requires sealed 10yr detectors, which I’d recommend regardless as there are no batteries to remove or get low.

Greg M. · Answer

You can either do them now or later. If it isn't yet code in your area, it will be soon enough. I'd do it now.

Mike McCarthy · Answer

Originally posted by @Sara Abernethy:

The electricians are telling me that permits aren't necessary...

FYI, permits are required for any installation, repair, or replacement. But if I had to guess, probably only 25% of these types of projects actually get permits in Philadelphia. The process is a bit onerous, so most contractors shy away from it for smaller projects. I’m not saying you should, but you will have to disclose it when you do sell. Again, it’s rather common, so I dint think it will hurt your sale (as long as it’s done well by a reputable contractor), but wanted you to have the info. Details here: https://www.phila.gov/services...

Sara Abernethy · Answer

Thank you Mike! The electricians are telling me that permits aren't necessary, but may make it more attractive when I sell (not sure why, I've never asked for that kind of paperwork when I buy properties). I'm looking to sell this place once the work is done. I've had this since 2007 and I've since decided to put my efforts in STR in the Finger Lakes, NY.

Interrelated smoke alarms - are they necessary?

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