Why did my smoke alarm keep me up half the night?
Discussion
At 3 o'clock this morning I was rudely awoken with the smoke alarm going off. My wife gave me a kick and I went running around the house like a madman checking we weren't on fire, which we luckily weren't.
About every 30 seconds after that the alarm at the top of the stairs would beep, then the one downstairs. About every 5 minutes the alarm would go off again until I pressed silence.
They are mains powered so could not switch off at all. I guessed they must have a battery as backup so I yanked them off the ceiling still bleeping, but they are a total sealed unit and no way to get in.
It says on the alarms must be replaced by 2014 so if there is a battery inside it should not be dead yet?
After about an hour of me fiddling and blowing out the dust the beeping stopped. Has anyone got any ideas of the problem?
About every 30 seconds after that the alarm at the top of the stairs would beep, then the one downstairs. About every 5 minutes the alarm would go off again until I pressed silence.
They are mains powered so could not switch off at all. I guessed they must have a battery as backup so I yanked them off the ceiling still bleeping, but they are a total sealed unit and no way to get in.
It says on the alarms must be replaced by 2014 so if there is a battery inside it should not be dead yet?
After about an hour of me fiddling and blowing out the dust the beeping stopped. Has anyone got any ideas of the problem?
some mains powered alarms are inerlinked so that when one goes off it signals to the others to sound as well. they DO need maintenance or the filters block so best to run hoover at them once a year.
use the pipe attachement to do it not the bit with the rollers on or you will fall off the steps.
use the pipe attachement to do it not the bit with the rollers on or you will fall off the steps.
Probably not related, but our carbon monoxide alarm goes crazy on paint fumes.
First time it happened I called the emergency number (usual near-hysterical instructions on the phone: turn off the gas, open all the windows and doors, stand outside... yeah, right, nothing gasius was turned on, the heating boiler is in the garage, it is 3 celsius outside and there's an old lady and a young child in the house)
So, the emergency technical guy turns up, look at the boiler in the garage, literally, LOOKED at it, told me it was okay and he doesn't know why the carbon monoxide alarm had gone off. Then he leaves.
Few weeks later wifey is painting again, oil based paint, alarm goes off several times.
First time it happened I called the emergency number (usual near-hysterical instructions on the phone: turn off the gas, open all the windows and doors, stand outside... yeah, right, nothing gasius was turned on, the heating boiler is in the garage, it is 3 celsius outside and there's an old lady and a young child in the house)
So, the emergency technical guy turns up, look at the boiler in the garage, literally, LOOKED at it, told me it was okay and he doesn't know why the carbon monoxide alarm had gone off. Then he leaves.
Few weeks later wifey is painting again, oil based paint, alarm goes off several times.
leothetiler said:
At 3 o'clock this morning I was rudely awoken with the smoke alarm going off. My wife gave me a kick and I went running around the house like a madman checking we weren't on fire, which we luckily weren't.
About every 30 seconds after that the alarm at the top of the stairs would beep, then the one downstairs. About every 5 minutes the alarm would go off again until I pressed silence.
They are mains powered so could not switch off at all. I guessed they must have a battery as backup so I yanked them off the ceiling still bleeping, but they are a total sealed unit and no way to get in.
It says on the alarms must be replaced by 2014 so if there is a battery inside it should not be dead yet?
After about an hour of me fiddling and blowing out the dust the beeping stopped. Has anyone got any ideas of the problem?
We had this (twice at 2 different houses) - we just replaced the battery and it fixed it (both occasions).About every 30 seconds after that the alarm at the top of the stairs would beep, then the one downstairs. About every 5 minutes the alarm would go off again until I pressed silence.
They are mains powered so could not switch off at all. I guessed they must have a battery as backup so I yanked them off the ceiling still bleeping, but they are a total sealed unit and no way to get in.
It says on the alarms must be replaced by 2014 so if there is a battery inside it should not be dead yet?
After about an hour of me fiddling and blowing out the dust the beeping stopped. Has anyone got any ideas of the problem?
They check there is sufficient capacity in the battery, should the mains be disconnected, and this must diminish over time and eventually they need replacing.
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