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It's because in less fortunate communities code enforcement isn't as strict so smoke detectors do not have to be hardwired.

edit: removed abrasive language

edit: Love the immediate downvoting. Please present your evidence that hardwired smoke detectors has nothing to do with this.

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I live in the whitest part of the whitest city in America (Portland). I am not white if that matters. Anyway, no one has once checked for hardwired alarms and we even had our whole home rewired (chose not to get hardwired alarms because they're a menace).

I'll submit and admit my experience is probably different than other regions in my country. However, from my professional experience in my region, the richest communities inspect for hardwired smoke detectors and the poorer communities don't care so much.

> chose not to get hardwired alarms because they're a menace

Checks out

I mean fair enough but they do randomly go off and when hardwired the whole house goes off. Not to mention it now requires an electrician to maintain

The randomly going off thing can be made better by more expensive detectors. Sure, you need an electrician.

This looks like lamenting the inconveniences of smoke detectors. My point is that hardwired smoke detectors function more consistently than battery powered ones.

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