Victory: Replacing smoke detector battery - 20 feet up

Don Plumley · Don Plumley's Garage

Had to share this little victory - Lots of dual power smoke detectors in our house. The entry way has very, very high ceiling. Like 20'+. Naturally, there is a smoke detector waaaaay up there.

The battery started to go out tonight. Makes that loud chirping noise - enough to keep us awake. I don't have a ladder nearly that high. What to do??

Step one: Remove basket from light bulb changing pole. Tape screwdriver to pole. Use screwdriver to slide open battery door.

Step two: Take duct tape, make a ball on end of pole. Attach to battery, slide out.

Step three: Using fresh duct tape, attach battery to pole, slide into smoke detector. (Hint: practice on a lower one so you can see the polarity)

Step four: Use pole to slide battery door closed.

Tah Dah!

nostatic · nostatic's Garage

this thread is useless without PICTURES

Don Plumley · Don Plumley's Garage

Okay, here are some pictures with poles...

HardDrive · 03-14-2006, 11:15 PM

Don, you are dah man. Thats the kind of stuff that makes home ownership fun.....kind of....

gchappel · 03-15-2006, 02:54 AM

You did much better than I did. Same problem about 20yrs ago. 3am- beep, beep,beep. Did you know that in an emergency you can knock a smoke detector off a 15ft ceiling with 2 throws of a basketball?
Gary

masraum · 03-15-2006, 05:04 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by gchappel
You did much better than I did. Same problem about 20yrs ago. 3am- beep, beep,beep. Did you know that in an emergency you can knock a smoke detector off a 15ft ceiling with 2 throws of a basketball?
Gary

That's what I'm talking about.

Don Plumley · Don Plumley's Garage

Trust me - I thought about that. But the detector is hard-wired in. So it would just be hanging there. And still beeping...

legion · 03-15-2006, 06:02 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by gchappel
You did much better than I did. Same problem about 20yrs ago. 3am- beep, beep,beep. Did you know that in an emergency you can knock a smoke detector off a 15ft ceiling with 2 throws of a basketball?
Gary

I am a big fan of percussive maintenance.

I came home from work early two weeks ago (wife had driven me to work), only to realize I forgot my house keys. I kicked in the back door to the garage to get into the house. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be considering it was a largely decomposed wooden door. I put up a new, steel door in its place.

JavaBrewer · JavaBrewer's Garage

Aren't the backup batteries 9V? Sounds like you didn't have to fool with the 2 socket terminal connector. That would have been really impressive with the duct tape...

legion · 03-15-2006, 06:34 AM

Most newer smoke detectors have fixed contacts for the 9V batteries.

JavaBrewer · JavaBrewer's Garage

Good to know legion - my house is just past 2 years old and I'm expecting to hear the chirps any day.

the old hippie · 01-04-2018, 01:44 PM

Used a Painters tool (bottle opener on one end and curved paint can opener on the other). taped it to a telescoping pole and slid open the battery case, used cell phone to take photo of battery to insure polarity then used the hooked end of the painters tool to pull the battery.
wrapped the pole with tape, sticky side out. put battery on the end and popped the 9 volt battery back in the box, closed the cover and was done in less than 10 minutes.
Thank you much!
the old hippie