[junkcollector]

Fire code requires that fire alarms be networked to alert people in all rooms in the event of a fire. Older un-networked units are grandfathers until you begin replacement. Wifi networking is allowed by the code, but for obvious reasons, the inspector has to verify that it works and is set up correctly which requires running wifi.

Personally I would not purchase a home that was configured with nest or other home automation equipment for several reasons.

1) It's a huge security risk. When you buy a home the first thing you do is change the locks because you don't know who the previous owner may have once loaned keys out to. Now you have a bunch of computers in your house giving remote access that may or may not be giving other people access and you can't tell.

2) Most consumer home automation systems have incredibly bad failure states. Those wirelessly networked alarms? When you cheap Chinese wifi router catches fire from a faulty power supply the failure mode is that you die. That's a pretty big oversight. Remember when NEST pushed an untested software update remotely and caused dozens of houses in the Northern Midwest to lose heat in the middle of winter and then be destroyed by broken pipes?

3) Vendor lock in. I don't want the previous owner to lock me into a line of products. Period. I'm sure everyone here remembers when Phillips decided that their smart light sockets would embrace DRM and only accept Phillips brand LED bulbs. They backed down but it is bound to come up again. Not to mention simple incompatibility between competing products and stacks.

4) It's just a damn pain to use most of the time for gain that can be measured almost entirely in novelty factor.

[gwbas1c]

> I would not purchase a home...

It's not that hard to change a thermostat and smoke alarm. "Dumb" smoke alarms and thermostats are very inexpensive and easy to install. Buy a home for the structure and location. You can always change the few things you don't like.

[0culus]

Fire code where? Requirement to be networked is a new thing to me, at least as far as single family dwellings go.

[junkcollector]

I've dealt with it in the state fire code for Massachusetts and Maryland. I believe it is also in the New York and New Jersey code books. I'm unsure of other states but, it is a relatively recent adoption in all of the aforementioned states and I expect that it will be common in nearly all states soon.

If it seems to be a bit much just be glad you aren't in Massachusetts where they are currently trying to get arc flash rated 110V breakers added as a requirement to the electric code.

[brudgers]

Arc fault protection for outlets in dwelling bedrooms was was new in the 2002 NEC. Back then, the only available solution was an arc-fault interrupt circuit breaker. Arc fault receptacles are currently available in the market place...

...however, the code (at least back in 2002) specified protection of all electrical outlets. Receptacles are plugged into outlets. So are hired wired lights, smoke detectors, etc. An outlet is "A point on the wiring system at which current is taken to supply utilization equipment."

This means that any literal reading of the code requires arc-fault breakers from a practical perspective since even the outlet into which an arc-fault receptacle is plugged requires protection upstream from the receptacle. On the other hand, building departments often make code interpretations that are politically expedient and that's why some jurisdictions may allow arc-fault receptacles as a means of code compliance.

[mindslight]

Erm, receptacles are a type of outlet.

AFAIK the code also requires the wiring itself in those places be AFCI protected, since the (immediate) goal was to avoid smoldering fires in the wall where people sleep. This would imply the simplest route is an AFCI breaker for the whole branch circuit, although it was (is?) permissible to run metal conduit up to the first receptacle and have that do the AFCI.

Would have loved for the NEC to require that the code on AFCIs was technician-upgradeable and some general sense of open, but I'll just go back to banging my head against the wall now.

[mindslight]

> trying to get arc flash rated 110V breakers added as a requirement to the electric code.

Are you just talking about MA adopting newer versions of the NEC that require AFCI [0] more places, or is there really something new related to arc flash?

[0] A proprietary software hellhole, like everything else these days.

[Washuu]

Networked isn't really the right term. Hardwired fire alarms are the new requirement. They just have AC power with battery backup and an additional wire that triggers all the wired alarms to go off when one goes off.

[jrochkind1]

In Maryland at least, there are non-hard-wired alternatives in some cases that aren't new construction but still trigger an upgrade required.

I have some that have "long-term tamper-proof batteries" (I think they last 5 years or something)... and _somehow_ are "interconnected" (so they can all trigger each other) which was a requirement. They don't use _my_ wifi, I don't know how they are interconnected without wires exactly (or if it even really works). I'm not worried about it, but it passed inspection.