Failed Fire Angel WST-630 smoke alarms

[ProDave]

A friend asked me to look at these. she has 3 of these smoke alarms and one heat alarm. They are all fitted with a "sealed for life" 10 year battery and these particular alarms have a replace by date of October 2027 which suggests they should have another 5 years life or put it another way they are only half way through their designed life.

All 4 are chirping every 45 seconds indicating failed battery.

A bit of googling found this https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money...rer-admits-90-000-popular-devices-faulty.html

So it's a well known fault and the manufacturer says they are replacing them. So my first question is will Fire Angel try and wriggle out of a claim if the owner has lost the original purchase receipt (highly probable) or will they just accept they have failed before their "replace by" date?

Second question, if you press the test button, one of the LED's flashes but the alarms do not sound. The article above suggests the alarms will still work when chirping but the test button does not so what confidence do you have that they might actually work?

And now the fun bit. Saying a battery is "sealed for life" is like a red rag to a bull for me. So I investigated:

There are in fact 2 batteries. One in a plug in wireless module. Of the 4 I had, 2 of the wireless modules had what appear to be good batteries measuring the correct 3 volts, and the other 2 were well below 3V. Then opening up the main unit there is another 3V lithium battery under a plastic cover. Both these batteries COULD be replaced by anyone competent with a soldering iron if you so wished.

Now this is where it gets interesting. The one alarm I had opened, it's internal battery measured 3V i.e. okay. I put one of the wireless modules with a good 3V battery into it, and still it chirps and still it does not sound when you press the test button.

I suspect the battery failure story might be a smoke screen to avoid admitting a more serious fault with these units as this particular one that I opened up does not appear to have a failed battery yet it is showing the chirping every 45 seconds that says flat battery.

Thoughts please?

P.S I would not recommend these to anyone, it seems they cannot be trusted.

 

[Richard-the-Ninth]

General comments:

Apart from you should never tamper / change a "sealed for life" smoke alarm battery as it will invalidate the warrantee, smoke detectors only have a "natural life" of 10 years, even most fire alarm detectors should be changed every 10 years. It is said that over time the components breakdown (Capacitors can and do dry out) yes they may (Probably will) still work, but they are not as responsive as when first made.

All smoke alarms should be tested once a week, or on the 1st of the month as an absolute minimum. Reasoning is, you don't want to find out too late it is not working. It is even possible to press the test button with a broom handle. (Just not too hard)

My Thoughts regarding Fire angel:

They know they have a problem. They claim to have fixed it, yet the press release was made 1 year before the ones you have were made, they should not require proof of purchase, they will require make model and batch number. The models they admit to having a problem is ST-620 and ST-622, and the WST-630

As for will they try and wriggle out of replacing them FOC only Fire Angel can answer that, but do let us know how it goes.

They have a contact us page and phone number, which you can find if you Click here.

And before he says it, Kerching would say "Aico End of"

 

[ProDave]

I have filled in that contact form and await their response.

Honestly, dismantling one was an academic exercise to see just what the issue is, and I am far from convinced it is actually premature failure of the batteries but that does not matter.

On the subject of alarm life, I get that with ionisation smoke alarms, but have yet to have an explanation of why a heat alarm that just uses a thermistor as it's sensor, should still have the same short life. Thermistors are not well known for failing after 10 years old. Oh and why does a heat alarm, with a much simpler and cheaper sensor than a smoke alarm, cost more? (off subject rant really does not need a reply)

Oh and yes if suggesting a replacement, it would be Aico.

 

[Andy™]

batteries probably could be replaced, however its the sensors thats the issue - they may not work correctly after 10 years, so if the battery does last 10 years as intended, then replacing it wont be any benefit anyway, so not really any need to have them replaceable

 

[kerching]

Sooooo Fire Angel
Take off ceiling
Beat to death with shovel
Bury in garden

Oh, and yeah....AICO end of!

If you want utter yellow runny smelly dogs do doos may I suggest Hi Tec

 

[Geoff1946]

Interesting. The ST622 in my caravan died over last winter whilst in storage. It wasn't very old, had a replacement due date of 2031.
Like others here curiosity demanded an investigation. It wasn't exactly hard to open, easier than many things that you are meant to open!
The battery was definitely dead.
I just put it down to bad luck and bought a replacement at the nearest Screwfix. This one uses a PP3.
I subsequently checked the price of a battery for the ST622 and they are of roughly the same as a new alarm, so no point.

 

[ProDave]

Im confused !!!!
these devices are aimed at saving lives & property in the event of a fire - why muck about with them - can you guarantee that if you work on them they will still work when they are needed?. They are about 5 years old so out of warranty (the warranty would also only be with the person who purchased them in my understanding). replace with Aico so you and your friends can return to sleeping safe at night.
Just my opinion

People never read before replying.

I was not seriously suggesting repairing them, I wanted to satisfy myself exactly what has gone wrong with them because I like to know. The published story from Fire Angel is short battery life but the one I opened to have a look appeared to still have a good battery.

These are sold as a device with a 10 year life, fit and forget for 10 years. Don't you think the public should just be a little concerned and annoyed if something sold with a 10 year expected life is failing in quantity at 5 years old?

I am just reporting my journey trying to get this resolved by the manufacturer on behalf of my customer.

 

[truffle pig]

People never read before replying.

I was not seriously suggesting repairing them, I wanted to satisfy myself exactly what has gone wrong with them because I like to know. The published story from Fire Angel is short battery life but the one I opened to have a look appeared to still have a good battery.

These are sold as a device with a 10 year life, fit and forget for 10 years. Don't you think the public should just be a little concerned and annoyed if something sold with a 10 year expected life is failing in quantity at 5 years old?

I am just reporting my journey trying to get this resolved by the manufacturer on behalf of my customer.

Fair play,
got the wrong end of the stick

 

[ProDave]

An update on this.

I eventually got a conclusion from Fire Angel Not what we had hoped for.

Communicating with them is painful, there is at least a 2 week response time to get a reply. they drag it out by first asking for the model and batch numbers. When they acknowledge that, they tell you to do the process of unpairing the alarms so you can test them individually and report what is wrong with each one (in my case all 4 are reporting low battery)

Then they eventually reply and tell you the fault is failed battery (which I don not believe to the the actual fault) And that your alarms are out of warranty and you will have to buy some more.

Final communications was to ask how come they are out of warranty? You sell a product with a "10 year life" and all of these have failed with 5 years left before the "replace by date" so how come they are out of warranty.

The answer appears to be they have a "10 year life" but only a 5 year guarantee, and the guarantee for these units expired last year.

I think my message to any reader is quite clear:

DO NOT BUY FIRE ANGEL SMOKE ALARMS, THEY ARE UNRELIABLE, FAIL EARLY, AND IN SPITE OF THE MANUFACTURER KNOWING THIS AND IT BEING DISCUSSED A LOT ON THE INTERNET, WILL NOT HELP IN MANY CASES IF YOU HAVE EARLY FAILURES.

Go and buy smoke alarms from a different manufacturer, not one that has known problems and does not care about customer satisfaction.

 

[Sparksfly]

Aico for me too....they just work.

 

[roys]

And if you do have issues you can talk to a knowledgeable person at Aico just by phoning them and they are very helpful.

 

[kerching]

This has probably not been m ntioned before, so

AICO end of!
Fire Angel,