Those Bleeping fire/smoke alarms

[Deschodt]

Not talking about low battery here - which always happens at 2-4 AM ; -)

Noo, full on "Fire fire" - triggers all the connected ones in the house and wakes up the kids, the dog, then stops. 2 min later again, "Fire fire" - I located the offender (no green light). Batteries are fine...

So my Question is WTH ? Are those triggered by dust or age ? Is there an alternative to this intermeshed network of hell ? I must have had 100 alarms life time (for battery or fire) 0 accurate.

Can you replace all these crap interconnected things with say, one central one upstairs and one downstairs - not every room - modern-like and less error prone ? What's even legal ? (for the record it got so annoying I have a spare uncorrected CO meter on my night stand to double check the bull**** of the house system)

[Evans, Marv]

I experienced exactly the same thing from the time the system was new. I never found any solution. I think I found one that may have been defective years ago, which I changed out to no avail. My system has been turned off for years now, I'm sad to say.

[Sooner or later]

Can you disconnect one at a time to see if the false alarms stop?

[flatbutt]

I had that issue with the one in my kitchen It went off every time I toasted bread or farted. I finally took it out of it's spot and relocated it.

[Bill Douglas]

I also have problems with mine and ones in rentals. Yep, 2:00am

I suspect it's dust/oils in the air. A few of the 'ten year batteries" type ones have had a flat battery in two years. I replace the battery then six months later it's being a problem again so i suspect some sort of contamination.

[GH85Carrera]

From what I figure, we should all swap our fire alarms wit the Europeans. Theirs go off only in the middle of the night, like ours. If we swapped, it would be daytime when they start beeping.

Smoke detectors do indeed had a finite life. And the difference from the cheapest Chinese to higher quality units is real. Don;t buy the super cheap ones unless you are willing to bet your life of crappy quality chineseium grade products.

https://www.techgearlab.com/topics/electronics/best-smoke-detector#best-overall-smoke-detector

[VINMAN]

How old are the detectors?
Should be replaced after 5 yrs.

.

[Deschodt]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

From what I figure, we should all swap our fire alarms wit the Europeans. Theirs go off only in the middle of the night, like ours. If we swapped, it would be daytime when they start beeping.

Brilliant ! Really - well played !

One time the entire house lit up while we were in Europe actually. Annoyed the neighbors for a couple days apparently. That loud... I don't do my best thinking at 4AM with my ears on fire chasing which one did it, but I read and learned...

Where I live you need one per BR, and one on a hallway before a BR, and at least one per floor (there is overlap there). However what you do not need is the interconnected ones with power supply (BTW if they have power, why the F are they chirping?). If you have the wiring, you need units with removable batteries etc...

But you CAN buy 10y battery ones - not interconnected. I may switch to that because at least only ONE of the $%$#%$ will be beeping or shouting fire, making it easier to spot. And if it's 10y warranty, I have hopes it'll last at least one !

Spent 10 min with a can of compressed air just in case, nada... Except finding out compressed air is now $10 a can apparently. I'm turning into a curmudgeon but the world is going to hell. $14 burrito and $10 can of air ?

[Deschodt]

Originally Posted by VINMAN

How old are the detectors?
Should be replaced after 5 yrs.
.

The ones at my house are a variety of the same model or updated replacement form same brand, partially new since some have been flung in the backyard or destroyed with angry feet when they would not stop chirping with batteries out ;-) (making me sound like I have anger issues)

The guilty one was... the newest model. I did spot some sulfation on a prong in the light of day - good voltage but poor contact maybe due to one battery leaking. So there's that. I still think we can do better.

[john70t]

When I sprayed lysol in the basement kitty box room, the CO alarm would go off.
Any chance vapors are getting trapped there?
Furnace output? (could be bad)
Something causes it at night. And yeah change it.

[look 171]

I really think some engineer is playing a sick joke on all the consumers. He designed it so the battery goes out between 3-4am when we are all asleep. Neither that the alarm knows. Any of you know any one with it going off on during the day? Nope, not me.

[Noah930]

I replace all my smoke detector batteries every Jan 1st. Last week one went off in the middle of the night (of course). I replaced the batteries. Stupid thing started up again (alarming) within days, err nights. Now the fukker is just disconnected.

I would also recommend NOT daisy chaining them all together. Given the frequency of false alarms, it's more a headache (stringing them all on one hardwired system), than running individual ones throughout the house.

[look 171]

building code requirement now to have them all daisy chained together. Everytime I go into my tenant's place, all the smoke alarm are ripped off the ceiling until city inspection. I have to buy new to reinstall them. I hate those stupid things.

[Bugsinrugs]

Ah… the beauty of being deaf! Once my hearing aids come out I could sleep near the train tracks and not wake up. My wife on the other hand.

[VINMAN]

I can confirm that when the batteries go bad or they malfunction, 99.9% of the time it happens between midnight and 5am....

.

[masraum]

Many smoke alarms can be triggered by dust or even small bugs.

https://www.bifd.org/pdfs/Top%20Reasons%20for%20Smoke%20Detector%20False%20A larms.pdf

[A930Rocket]

By code, they are all interconnected with battery back up. If one goes off, they all go off.

When I do new home orientations with people, I tell them to pick a date they were remember, and replace the batteries then.

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by A930Rocket

When I do new home orientations with people, I tell them to pick a date they were remember, and replace the batteries then.

Yeah, that still doesn't work. BTDT.

[A930Rocket]

Originally Posted by Noah930

Yeah, that still doesn't work. BTDT.

Ha. I don’t even do it myself… 😂

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by VINMAN

I can confirm that when the batteries go bad or they malfunction, 99.9% of the time it happens between midnight and 5am....

.

Y'all need too start sleeping during the day .... easy fix imo!