One of my hard-wired (all to code) smoke detectors is emitting a periodic chirp. What could be the cause? It’s little indicator light is lit as are all the others, which are not chirping.
All-electric house, in mostly an all-electric village, the deep cold now in its umpteenth day, 34 below pre-dawn. No breakers tripped. The electric boiler heating the water for the hydronic heating system humming along as usual.
Listeners write in about removing masonry chimneys and ask about blocked ridge vents, deal-breakers with fixer-uppers, and flashing ledgers that are spaced from the wall.
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Replies
The hard-wired smokes usually have battery backup. Did you check the battery?
Bob
That may be it. Thanks.
As noted, probably the battery.
FWIW: Safety experts recommend replacing them evet 10 years - after 15 years 1/2 will have stopped working.
Also FWIW, I have noticed an interesting phenomenon. I test multiple smoke detectors every day, of course.
It is common that they will start that chirping after I test them - I'd say it happens 5-6 times a month (and I'd guess I test 80 a month on average.)
I suspect that batteries slowly discharge, but stabilize at a low state just above the "low battery level" that starts the chirping, and my test drains just enough to drop them below that threshold.
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As noted, probably the battery.
FWIW: Safety experts recommend replacing them evet 10 years - after 15 years 1/2 will have stopped working.
The battery, or detector? : )
I never met a tool I didn't like!
oooops!
The detector, of course
Some say you should change the battery every 6 months (but I think I heard a drum thumping in the background when I heard that one) I change my battery yearly.
_______________________
Tool Donations Sought
I'm matching tool donors to a church mission to Haiti - we're shipping a bus converted to a medical facility in (now it looks like) April and can fill it with clothes, tools and all sorts of stuff needed in that poorest of all countries. A few hand tools or power tools can provide a livelihood for an otherwise destitute family. Please email me if you have tools to donate.
Thanks to Jeff and David and Jim and Rich and Steven and Mark and Jason and Shep and Jen and Mike and Joe and Bill and Ken for their offers!
Several donations have arrived! Thanks and God bless!
Unfortunately, I wait to change the battery when the chirping begins. Detectors only get attention only when they become annoying, which probably causes a lot of injuries during the year.
I never met a tool I didn't like!
Problem for me is that it drove me nuts trying to figure out which one was chirping.
I change out the batteries every winter, near Christmas. Makes it easy, as that's about when I'm buying batteries, and I usually have the ladder out for some reason of another. I'll probably change out all the detectors...smoke and CO (2 in basement, 4 on 1st floor, 5 on second floor, 2 in attic)...in another three years or so.
They're all hardwired, as well as interlinked, to simultaneously blow if any one of them fires off.
Why do they always start chirping at 5 AM?
And why is it always one of the ones that requires a ladder to reach, and the ladder is always outside, and it's always sleeting then?
>>And why is it always one of the ones that requires a ladder to reach, and the ladder is always outside, and it's always sleeting then?
Has this changed since your old neighbor left? {G}
_______________________
Tool Donations Sought
I'm matching tool donors to a church mission to Haiti - we're shipping a bus converted to a medical facility in (now it looks like) April and can fill it with clothes, tools and all sorts of stuff needed in that poorest of all countries. A few hand tools or power tools can provide a livelihood for an otherwise destitute family. Please email me if you have tools to donate.
Thanks to Jeff and David and Jim and Rich and Steven and Mark and Jason and Shep and Jen and Mike and Joe and Bill and Ken for their offers!
Several donations have arrived! Thanks and God bless!
Hmmmmmmm, may have a point. Good I live in a nearly-fireproof structure, huh?
Best thing about the new guys is they'll be "snowbirds" so we'll only see them some of the time. Even asked if the contractors coming and going were a bother. I said, "Not so much that more oranges and grapefruit wouldn't cure!"
(kidding)
Edited 1/26/2004 4:04:47 PM ET by Cloud Hidden
The fire departments in our area have a campaign saying "change the batteries when you change your clocks for Daylight Saving Time and back." Does'nt work in Saskatchewan most of Sask stays on standard time.
An ex-boat builder treading water!
i had one that did that, loose wire nut and was running off battery till it went weak.
another problem could be a smoke in a humid area ...
a heat detector should always be used instead of a skome on a moist/humid area ...
the moisture make's the contacts go bad in smokes ...
Now that you're wondering ... there's 2 kinds of heats ... max temp and rate of rise ...
Heats always in the laundry ....
Jeff
Buck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Artistry in Carpentry
I had one like that and could not figure it out. the one unit would chirp every couple of hours or so. new batteries, new unit never could get it to stop. the manufacturer was even at a loss for an explanation
Steve
S.J.MERRETTE Carpentry & Construction • Robesonia, PA
Nothing is impossible...It just hasn't been done yet.
As noted by others: battery.
For any installing smoke detectors:
Some don't come with batteries while others come with a battery that is not hooked up. Sometimes here is a thin piece of plastic between the contacts in the detector and the battery. This sort of thing has to be corrected.
OK, pretty obvious but it is not an uncommon event to go to homes and hear the chirps of detectors freshly installed with the battery inside but not connected. Not a few HOs assumed the chirp was a friendly reminder that the device was working. An annoying one but one they learned to live with.
Had to laugh once when the HO, actually I think it was a local handyman, had installed three detectors. All of them patiently chirping away. Each at its own pace. Had been for months. You could scarcely hold a conversation because of the noise.