How much should an electrician charge to replace a household hardwired fire alarm?

[LookBehindYou]

You'll get charged the hourly minimum, it'll take him all of 5 minutes. Find something else for him to do while he is there. I hired one to put an outlet behind my tv on the wall. Took him all of 15 minutes, I was like "thats it?" and he says "thats it, but you got me for an hour, anything else you need done?" He ended up helping me mount a microwave, the tv, and a few other small things. He was actually pretty cool about it.

 

[twinrider1]

To play devil's advocate....check your city's requirements for when you need a permit. Mine will barely let you change a light bulb without a permit.
And then you have your insurance to think about. If they can show work was done with out a needed permit and by an unlicensed person, they can try to use it against your claim.

 

[Bignate603]

Sure you could do that, but there are many places with alarms without windows (basement for example). So you have to fumble in near darkness, set up flashlights, reprogram everything in the house (microwave clock), all for a non-issue of measly 110V overhead. Unless he is a complete moron, he won't touch both wires and even then he'll fall and not be killed by the electricity.

Shutting off the house main just seems major overkill.

One wire exposed at a time and you'll do just fine.

If the guy has zero experience with anything electrical turning off the breaker is a VERY good idea. Also, the bolded line is laughable.

 

[DrPizza]

Sure you could do that, but there are many places with alarms without windows (basement for example). So you have to fumble in near darkness, set up flashlights, reprogram everything in the house (microwave clock), all for a non-issue of measly 110V overhead. Unless he is a complete moron, he won't touch both wires and even then he'll fall and not be killed by the electricity.

Shutting off the house main just seems major overkill.

One wire exposed at a time and you'll do just fine.

That measly 110 volts (Last I checked it with a good voltmeter, it was running around 118 volts) kills more people in the US than any other voltage.

 

[Bignate603]

That measly 110 volts (Last I checked it with a good voltmeter, it was running around 118 volts) kills more people in the US than any other voltage.

Q: What's black, charred, and hangs from the ceiling?
A: An amateur electrician

 

[richardycc]

if you buy the exact same unit, it should be a 5mins job, and 3 mins of that is unscrew the bad unit find the breaker and turn it off.