First Alert ZCombo - False Alerts

I have a total of 8 First Alert ZCombo (Gen 1) combo Smoke and CO detectors in my house. These detectors are all less than a year old, and were purchased at the same time as my main Ring System.

Since I installed the system I have had no-less than (3) of these detectors randomly trigger and generate false alarms. Naturally these go off in the middle of the night.

Several occasions, these units will generate a number of quick successive false alarms - faster than I’m able to clear (trying to keep the family from freaking out), answer the call from Ring Monitoring, and remove the batteries to prevent future false alarms. A few times this resulted in the FireDepartment being dispatched.

While I understand the intent of these units is to scare and wake up the family, and I appreciate the extremely fast response of both the Ring system and the monitoring team - my concern is the number of false alerts this is providing and the quality of the detectors.

My question is - is anyone else having these repeated issues with the FirstAlert ZCombo units? I will be calling up First Alert later this morning to request a replacement for the 3rd failed unit - and inquiring if they could just replace the remaining 5 original units.

At this point, I have absolutely NO confidence in these units - and my children are scared to death that that they will just randomly go off. I originally had a 20 year old hardwired DSC System with smokes that never have given me this much trouble.

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I am having the same exact problem. It’s very frustrating and the anxiety it has caused my family and dogs is ridiculous. I own 8 smoke detectors whereas 5 are upstairs (one in each bedroom and one in upstairs hallway). This week, I had 4 false alarms whereas the majority occurred after midnight (no surprise there). All of these smoke detectors are less than a year old and the Ring app says that the battery are fine in each. I’ve disconnected all 5 but it still concerns me that I’m not protected. There has been no smoke, no steam from any showers, no lighting of candles. All false alarms. The only possible thing I can think of is that I used the Duracell batteries that came with the First Alert zwave detector and I read that if batteries are weak then it could trigger a false positive. I never wanted the batter ones…wanted the wired ones but I read from First Alert that their zwave wires unit won’t arrive until Summer 2022 due to COVID. Contacting support now and if I can’t get an answer then I’m going to purchase 8 wired Nest smoke detectors because I can’t go through these false positives on these smoke detectors anymore. Anxiety and frustration through the roof. :frowning:

Sorry to hear about this, neighbors! Our support team is definitely the best to reach out to for a quick resolution. Here is also our help center article with tips for avoiding false alarms with First Alert smoke/ co devices, including a link to their support manuals and more. Feel free to let us know of any solutions you find! :slight_smile:

I have the same issues at 2 different locations I own with the zwave First Alert Combo giving false alarms. I do yearly maintenance on them , vacuum + compress air + new batteries. They are mounted in the same location where I had ADT which I had no issues for 10 plus years. It’s frustrating that there seems to be no cure for the problem. Thanks Stuart

Hey neighbors. If your First Alert Z-Wave Smoke & CO Alarm is triggering with false alarms, please ensure it is clean of any dirt or debris and not installed next to any potential sources of a false alarm. For further assistance, please reach out to First Alert’s support team at 800-323-9005, as this is a First Alert device and not a Ring device. You can reach their support team Monday-Friday 7:00am - 7:00pm CST, and Saturday and Sunday 8:00am - 6:00pm CST.

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This problem has not been solved And contacting First Alert offers no solution. There is design issue, both First Alert and Ring are not addressing. Please see my situation below. I had 15 older First Alert Smoke alarms, non Ring. For 25 years I had zero false alarms. After replacing with the Gen 2 Ring detectors I have experienced over 10 alarms in less than 2 years. That is a design issue, not related to location or cleaning or anything else. These alarms are not suitable for safety critical fire monitoring.

I have 15 Gen 2 First Alert alarms installed in my house. Over the past 2 years I have experienced over 10 false alarms in various locations. Each false alarm last from 1-10 seconds, no more. Each time I call Ring and First Alert customer support. Ring takes a total hands off approach, no support at all, because they are a 3rd party device Ring will not offer any support. First Alert gives me the same old story; check location (not near open flame, not near vent…) and must clean monthly (who in the world does this). I had First Alert, non monitored alarms, installed for over 25 years in the same locations prior to installing these faulty new alarms. I never cleaned the old First Alert alarms And I never had a false alarm, over 25 years without a false alarm. First Alert/Ring are not admitting that there is design issue with these devices. I am at the point now of pulling out the 15 alarms and replacing with non-monitored devices. These devices have a design problem and Ring and First Alert are not addressing the problem.

FYI, my profession for 37 years was an instrument reliability engineer for industrial safety systems, including Fire & Gas. The nuisance failure rate for the First Alert Gen 2 Z-Wave alarms is totally unacceptable for safety service.

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Anybody have an update on this?
This happened today to me. 5 times with around 20 minutes between each. Even on the last one the detector was over a desk in front of my wife. Fortunately I was able to pickup the call from Ring Monitoring and the fire department was not dispatched.
I will call First Alert to ask for a replacement. But the ultimate problem is the lost of trust on these devices.
Regards

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Same problem. I have 9 First Alert Z-wave smoke/CO alarms. One went off 4 times last night. Ring was good about calling so the fire dept did not come. Ring told me to call First Alert in the morning. After 30 minutes on hold First Alert did not answer the phone. It just went off again. Ring should own this - I bought the alarms to go with my Ring system. My daughter installed a Ring system the same time as I did , 6 months ago, and had the exact same problem two weeks ago. I agree with others on this board it is an engineering problem. Ring should not tell us to clean it and close the case.

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Similar experience here. Purchased 2 3-packs from Costco April 2022. Since they have the qr code for pairing, I’m guessing they’re Gen 2 models. Deployed 4, and now, about a year into deployment, 3 of the 4 have false alarmed. Recently (last 8 weeks or so) on the 1st one to malfunction, ring helped me perform factory reset and it false alarmed again within hours. First Alert has said they would replace the units. 1st one was cancelled for some reason. 2nd one I received but haven’t deployed. Just got off the phone requested 3rd replacement and they said they’d get the first one shipped out, too.

Rep I spoke with suggested it was a bad batch and my call was the first call she’d ever processed for the First Alert Z Combo units. My mfg batch is 2022 Feb 11.

Note: ring monitoring has said it’s the smoke detection that’s triggering the alarm. They haven’t mentioned CO as the alarm reason.

I agree with everyone else’s sentiment - there’s something not right and confidence in these products is now quite low.

(edited to provide gen 2 as model information)

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I just experienced this issue for the first time. I was reading about the possibility for the alarm to go off while holding it and it began to false alarm again. One of my wife and I’s thoughts was it could be the Canadian wildfires but we are now out of the severe index. Has anyone found a solution to this yet?

I have had the same issue I believe mine r gen 1 I had the system about 5 years I replace the battery each year I got woken up this morning to the alarm going off no reason not the first time this issue has happen but what I dont understand my parents has system 3 years in too it no issues at all idk if these line of smokes or what and fire protection is must have I’m thinking about looking the listen thing and buying different detectors

I’ve had two of my six units do this, with a really bad experience while away from home. Bedroom detector alarmed twice, and was replaced. Now another unit in the hall is alarming for no good reason. I’m thinking I’ll need to just get rid of them altogether; from what I’ve read here Ring will do nothing despite having sold them to me. It’s been less than a year, so they should be under warranty, but absent a clear explanation from someone as to why so many units are failing, I’m not sure I’d be able to trust the replacements anyway. I had Nest units at my last home, and had very few issues unless I burned something cooking. Might just go back to those, even if they are stupidly overpriced.

I have 11 of the first alert zwave fire and co alarms. I have had the false alarms in the middle of the night starting last week. 3 alarms on one unit last week around 4a. 1 Alarm so far tonight on a different unit. I’ve had them installed for about a year now. I haven’t tried the customer service numbers yet but this forum makes it look like that is a useless path. This is a major issue for a house with little children. My only hope is to change the batteries. It’s troubling that it’s a second unit today. Any solutions would be appreciated.

I have 14 of the First Alert ZCombo fire/CO alarms and have experienced 7 false alarms resulting in fire department dispatch. I have replaced two units finally going to a different brand and a Ring listener. I have had 3 false alarms in the past 36 hours. All units are maintained and 2 of the units are in unoccupied space with no activity/dust etc.

There is obviously a problem with these devices and I intend to return them to Firstalert and replace with a different system. This is giving Ring a black eye and Ring should engage and drop these devices from their system.

I just got off the phone with the First Alert/BRK customer support line (800-323-9005) and they are sending free replacements for all devices that have generated false alarms. That is a good initial response however I remain concerned for future false alarms especially when we are away. We have had 4 fire department responses to false alarms, I have managed to intercept 3m prior to dispatch. In one case the fire department was about to make forced entry when my son contacted the firefighter via the ring doorbell and was able to prevent the door being breeched. He had access ti all internal ring cameras and was able to verify no active smoke. A neighbor gained entry to verify false alarm. Whew. We will see if the First Alert devices continue to fail.

I’ve had the exact same issue over the past 2 years. I’ve already returned 6 to Costco and have another 4 that have malfunctioned in the past few months. The only similarity with mine is they are all on our top floor of the house and they all went off in the middle of the night. I agree with everyone that it’s really a trust issue at this point. I don’t want to have to buy 9 new alarms, but ultimately may need to. Is there another option for Smoke/CO monitors that work with Ring?

I’ve had 3 First Alert model ZCOMBO units in service for 2 yrs 9 mos with no problems, then today 3 brief false alarms 1214, 1216, and 1222 clearing a few seconds later each time per the device log. I drove home upon the 1st notification on phone and call from Ring monitoring. I directed Ring agent to NOT call FD based on no smoke visible on 2 of 3 floors. The alarming detector is on the 3rd floor where no cameras are installed. Battery status is green / full, no dust or cobwebs, no hint as to why it repeatedly alarmed in quick succession. I removed it from it’s ceiling mount and removed the batteries. These are manufacturing batch dated 2020 Oct 12. I think I will return to Costco for a refund. Now what? I intend to look for a Ring compatible smoke and CO detector that I can trust. Any recommendations?

Solution: installed Ring Smoke / CO listener next to the wired Smoke and CO alarm closest to my Ring Alarm Base Station. Tested and confirmed reliably detected and distinguished between Smoke and CO alarms 3 times in a row. Costco fully refunded the cost of the ZCOMBO detectors. All good.

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