Smoke alarm help
Discussion
Smoke alarms all went off in my mums house yesterday for no apparent reason and stopped by the time I had got around everywhere to check for a fire.
It's a new build (1 year old) and a rather large house at that and the alarms are all interconnected with a heat detector in the kitchen and there is also a connected smoke alarm in the garage.
Mum has just called to say it happened again for around three mins.
So how do I find out what's going on and which alarm maybe faulty. Could it be dust or an insect (spider????).
Can I take them apart and vacuum them?
Elderly parents who live at home by themselves and I don't want this going off in the middle of the night nor there actually being a fire and them thinking there isn't a problem.
AlexanderV8 said:
Mine used to bleep when the batteries were low and needed changing.
I had an interconnected system which sometimes went off unexpectedly. The sensors all had a red LED which would illuminate on the active one.
Ok that's good info. So what your saying is, the one that activated the rest of them has a constant red LED?I had an interconnected system which sometimes went off unexpectedly. The sensors all had a red LED which would illuminate on the active one.
checking the batteries is fairly easy, just get a cheap multimeter- select correct scale and see what voltage they have. There are also small battery testers available.
if you think its the batteries and can't work out which alarm- without removing each one and taking the batteries out, you might aswell just change all the batteries to save the hassle and having to buy a tester.
If the batteries have been in a while they may all be getting past their best, testing them would tell you, but for the price of a meter most of them will have been changed
if you think its the batteries and can't work out which alarm- without removing each one and taking the batteries out, you might aswell just change all the batteries to save the hassle and having to buy a tester.
If the batteries have been in a while they may all be getting past their best, testing them would tell you, but for the price of a meter most of them will have been changed
If it's a new house with an interconnected alarm, surely they have to be mains powered (poss with battery back up)? Easy to check by looking at the consumer unit as they should be on a seperate MCB.
Dust/wildlife would be my guess. They come round our work every 6 months with a vacuum on a big pole to clean them.
N.
Dust/wildlife would be my guess. They come round our work every 6 months with a vacuum on a big pole to clean them.
N.
Is the garage used to park a car? Should be a heat detector in the garage, not smoke.
Other common false alarms can be air currents carrying cooking steam from the kitchen to the smoke alarm in the hall, or if there's one near the bathroom it might pick up steam when someone opens the door after a shower. Or the heat alarm in the kitchen may be fitted right over the oven and get a blast of hot air every time the doors opened. If false alarms persist experiment by unplugging one alarm at the time and see how you go, they usually have plug-in bases and can be detached relatively simply. Take care not to mix and match as heat/ionisation/optical alarms are selected and sited for reasons but may look similar.
If your alarms are aico 140/160 series and marked "RC" you can buy a remote hush/locate/test panel controller thats very usefull on larger systems and really ought be mandatory. If not marked "RC" you can buy a "locate" button that links into the system.
A flat backup battery should not trigger the alarms, you'll get the occasional chirp noise. (I personally think mains/alkaline backup are the biggest joke around, and fit only mains/rechargeable lithium, but the builder saved a couple of quid per alarm)
Other common false alarms can be air currents carrying cooking steam from the kitchen to the smoke alarm in the hall, or if there's one near the bathroom it might pick up steam when someone opens the door after a shower. Or the heat alarm in the kitchen may be fitted right over the oven and get a blast of hot air every time the doors opened. If false alarms persist experiment by unplugging one alarm at the time and see how you go, they usually have plug-in bases and can be detached relatively simply. Take care not to mix and match as heat/ionisation/optical alarms are selected and sited for reasons but may look similar.
If your alarms are aico 140/160 series and marked "RC" you can buy a remote hush/locate/test panel controller thats very usefull on larger systems and really ought be mandatory. If not marked "RC" you can buy a "locate" button that links into the system.
A flat backup battery should not trigger the alarms, you'll get the occasional chirp noise. (I personally think mains/alkaline backup are the biggest joke around, and fit only mains/rechargeable lithium, but the builder saved a couple of quid per alarm)
^^^^^^ It's defo a smoke alarm in the garage. I'm going round to the house tomorrow to have a good inspection at things.
There is certainly no cooking problem from the kitchen as they went off when kitchen was not in use.
Thanks for the input so far. I know nothing about these things really, so cheers.
I'll report back tomorrow.
There is certainly no cooking problem from the kitchen as they went off when kitchen was not in use.
Thanks for the input so far. I know nothing about these things really, so cheers.
I'll report back tomorrow.
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