Customer Reviews

Kidde KN-COEG-3 Nighthawk Plug-In Carbon Monoxide and Explosive Gas Alarm with Battery Backup

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(69)

 

 

We began experiencing false alarms with this gadget at a disturbing rate. At first, we panicked, believing that our lives might be in jeopardy at the time of each alarm. After "airing" the gadget out, we reset and reinstalled the gadget several times but it continued to give GAS alarms. Finally, we went online and read the reviews of this gadget and learned of its propensity to give "false alarms". Particularly helpful was the family that reported that they had lovingly renamed the gadget their "FBT" - short for the "Fart Beepy Thing". That gave us the idea for how to realize the true value of our very own FBT.

If you walk by the gadget and let one rip (i.e. backfire or blow mud), the gadget will go off in anywhere from 10-60 seconds and begin flashing the GAS alert. The length of time it takes to set the alarm off depends upon the severity of the individual air biscuit that was released. From our experience, Sloppy Joe mud ducks are far worse than cheap beer stink bombs. The best part is that, after setting off the alarm, you can then press one of the buttons and the gadget will quantify your stink burger, giving you a numerical rating of the severity of the blast. From our experience, a 200 level rip reflects a modest beer blast, while a 218 level reflects a much more serious effort. So far, the best exterminator we have been able to register was a 221 beauty that surely resulted in a clothing change. Just think of all the party and gaming opportunities this gadget presents. It is well worth the price of purchase as a party activity.

By the way, this gadget probably sucks as a life saving device because you have no way of distinguishing a routine doggy blaster from a more serious Natural Gas leak. We think a caged parakeet may be more reliable in this regard. When it stops chirping, you know to get the hell out of your house.

Fortunately, Kidde customer service has responded well to our false alarm problem with the GAS side of these devices.

Now on our third, the other two each lasted about a year before giving us false GAS alarms, this one is up only about 2 months and here we go again!

This time, I asked Kidde if they would replace the unit with the Carbon Monoxide ONLY product... They were kind enough to do so.

Thank goodness Kidde stands behind their products with representatives trained to listen and respond to consumer issues.

The explosive gas part of this detector has given us several false alarms (very disturbing in the middle of the night). We just had the gas company come and make sure we don't have a gas leak and the gas man said he sees false positives on these combo units all the time. He recommends a CO only detector. Gas has an odor so unless you have no sense of smell, you can tell if you have a leak. We threw out our $60 Nighthawk and will buy a CO only detector now.

I started having false alarms with this unit about 6 months after I bought it. The first time the explosive gas alarm went off in the middle of the night it freaked us all out. There were many false alarms until it finally got to the point where the alarm sounded constantly. I foolishly bought an identical unit to replace it, and that one had problems also.

I strongly believe in having a carbon monoxide detector, but I will never buy one with the explosive gas feature again.

It might seem like a good idea to get this detector since it's only a few bucks more than the standard CO detector. But unless you really enjoy the sound of the 85 decibel alarm you might want to reconsider because this thing will be going off constantly.

We had the gas company come to check for a leak when the alarm sounded and the service man told us that they hate these things cause they are nearly always false alarm for explosive gas. In addition he said the display always seems to show a peak level of 220 for CO. So I checked ours and sure enough, 220 was the peak level recorded.

The problem with the unit is that it doesn't just detect natural gas or LP. Many chemicals like paints, thinners, solvents, aerosol products, etc. are likely to set it off. Two of our false alarms were caused by somebody using hairspray in a room adjacent to the hallway where the alarm was located.

Bottom line, CO is odorless, colorless and lethal so you definitely need a detector. But the CO/Gas combo unit is junk, stick with the straight CO detector. The gas company adds the smell to natural gas for a reason. You already have a detector for it; your nose. If you smell gas get out.

I purchased this product instead of a CO only detector for the peace of mind of having an explosive gas detector. The problem is too many false alarms. The unit goes off for no reason which can be very disturbing. Stick with a CO only alarm, and use your nose to detect gas leaks.

Like the other reviewers, the explosive gas part of the detector has given us false alarms - and always in the middle of the night! With the first false alarm, we had the gas co. come out and she said she'd seen this many times before. She said the likely culprits are air fresheners, dryer sheets, pretty much anything. Hmm, maybe it's my dog's gas that's setting if off? While natural gas is odorless, utilities add a "smell" to it so that unlike carbon monixide, you can smell it if you have a leak. Last night was the last straw, I am trashing this and getting a CO detector only!

Product has potential, but has a serious design flaw that makes it a battery eater. When you lose commercial power, the battery backup takes over as it should. The problem is that when power returns, the unit will continue to run off of the battery until you manually "reset" it. Even worse, there's NO INDICATOR to show you its running off of battery power, so you never know that it needs to be reset. Only when you start getting the "LO BATT" indicator do you realize its been sitting there on battery power for who knows how long. By then, its too late and all you can do is feed it another battery. Finally got tired of wasting batteries so I no longer use the device. Stay away.

DO NOT BUY this piece of junk. False alarms regularly. Gives readings of 3 times the "lethal" levels of gas, when there is NO gas present. If, for the sake of argument, the gas detector was accurate, wouldn't you want it to go off before reaching that high a level? It's NOT just sensitive, it is a piece of crap. Do a little research before you buy a detector, you'll find many issues with this one. I wish I had done that research before buying.

It was like something from a comedy, the dog sleeping next to the detector sets off the explosive gas alarm every few nights when she lets one rip towards the unit plugged into the hallway outlet. Although, at 4am, it isn't so funny. We will have to replace this unit with a Carbon Monoxide ONLY detector or replace the bulldog with a less gassy breed.