Customer Reviews

First Alert FCD4CN-3 Battery Powered Carbon Monoxide Alarm

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1 star:		(7)

 

 

Do not buy this product!! Extremely inaccurate and false-alarm prone. We purchased this easy-to-use CO detector for our home. We plugged it in and about a month later, it woke us at 4:00 a.m. to tell us that it detected CO in the air. I called the fire department to check the CO levels, and none was detected anywhere in the home. One of the firemen said that he had the same thing happen to him with his First Alert CO detector. ALL of the firemen said that the First Alert detector was prone to giving false alarms, and that the Kidde Knighthawk was the best on the market. After the firemen left, I searched the internet and found that many other people have had similar problems. A few people compared CO levels side-by-side, using the First Alert unit and the more sophisticated fireman's unit. The First Alert unit consistently detected CO in the air when there was none.

My also failed in less than a year - It now constantly beeps and indicates 'err' on the display.

I didn't have my original receipt (I didn't buy it from Amazon), but I decided to call first alert warranty services anyway (1-800-323-9005). The very friendly CSR told me that the 'err' display indicates the sensor has failed and the unit will need to be replaced. She gathered my shipping info and some info about the unit and offered to send a replacement for $6.50 to cover S&H, and I would need to mail a check or money order since their credit-card system was down.

I'm going to send in the check. I'm hoping they've addressed the quality issues, and the new unit will last longer.

This CO detector seemed fine until we got an Air Hog remote controlled helicopter which set the detector off. Next we got a Vizio HD TV and just turning the TV on caused the detector to activate it's alarm. This thing was a waste of money. If you're in the market for a carbon monoxide detector, look elsewhere.

I have the exact same experience as the previous reviewer. The unit quit working after a year or so. It had Err in the LCD. I called warranty service and the Indian tech support guy was quite friendly and agreed to replace it at $6.5 for shipping and processing. They only take check or money order only because their credit card system is down. It seems that the credit card system has been down forever and they never bother to fix it.

The quality of this product is questionable since there are so many failures. Try to avoid it at all costs.

Like everyone else said, don't buy this. It requires a 9v battery to work properly even if hooked up to electric outlet. And then it eats up the brand new battery in 1 week and starts beeping that the battery is dead. I have had it for a few years and it seems once a year, I pull it out and plug it in with new battery just to find out that a week later it will start beeping that battery is dead. Very disapointing.

I had two of these units in my house. They seem to be engineered to fail just beyond the 5 year warranty. In both cases, the units complained about a low battery condition and refused to clear the warning when a new battery was installed.

I purchased this First Alert Carbon Monoxide Alarm as well as a NON-digital First Alert carbon monoxide alarm. I bought them on the same day.

This alarm has gone off SEVERAL times, and it says to EVACUATE as well as states that the CO level is "400 PPM". I was sure my gas-line on my dryer was the culprit, so I stopped using the dryer for a week. I also put the non-digital alarm next to this one. STILL, the digital alarm will go off and yet the other one is silent (does not alarm). I also looked up and discovered others have experienced false alarms. This alarm was purchased in January, 2009, so it is new.

Stay away from this product!

I've been using this product for a year now. I have a total of 3 units in my house. All are working as they suppose to. No complain so far.