Smoke Detector Question for Elmo T...

[Andrew Longman]

...or anyone else.

Why is it that the battery back up only goes dead in the dead of night?

And why is it that the kids have always consumed the supply of 9V batteries for their RC cars?

Mine are all hardwired together and one of them was "chirping" at 1 am. Besides not being able to ignore it, the dog was completely flipping out.

Not willing to kill them all at the breaker until morning (well, the wife wasn't -- "What about the kids?") I was off to the sister in law to get a 9V battery.

:irked:

[G.]

In our subdivision, the alarms start to chirp (only the dead one) when the battery dies. When it's not attended to soon enough, all the alarms in the house start to chirp. When that's not attended to soon enough, all the alarms go into full beep mode, one second blast, every 5 seconds.

This useless trivia becomes important when your neighbor has a low battery and goes on vacation for a week.


Related question, who goes on vacation for a week and leaves their windows open?:saywhat:

Too bad they didn't make a tetradotoxin detector...

Note, Andrew, if you kill the breaker, they will all run off of the old, near dead batteries. Your story would be a lot more fun had your wife let you hit the breaker.:D

[eiregosod]

what about a 9V battery recharger?

[Elmo T]

I can't answer why the battery for the smoke detector always seems to die at night. I change mine twice a year and I've never had a problem. :gomer:

Killing the power won't work either. And replace them all now and save sleep later. :D

The long term fix is to replace the units with the 10 year lithium battery type. The smoke detectors really only have a service life of about 10 years and then they need to be replaced.

Also, clean the detectors at least once a year. Vacuum them out. Dirty smokes are more sensitive to false activations: steam, cooking vapor, etc.

The smoke detectors should not be thrown in the trash either. They contain a small amount of Americium 241 - you can check it with your geiger counter or any other radiation meters you have handy. (Don't you start collecting them all G or they will be knocking on your door next.) ;)

The smoke detectors should be returned to the manufacturer or disposed at your local household hazardous waste collection day.

[eiregosod]

Related question, who goes on vacation for a week and leaves their windows open?:saywhat:


the kind of person who wouldn't leave a spare key with a neighbor in case of an emergency. :\

[G.]

The smoke detectors should not be thrown in the trash either. They contain a small amount of Americium 241 - you can check it with your geiger counter or any other radiation meters you have handy. (Don't you start collecting them all G or they will be knocking on your door next.) ;)

"Special Agents from the Department of Homeland Security. May we come in?"
Pretty chilling words, them.

But probably preferred over them NOT asking permission.;)

[Methanolandbrats]

...or anyone else.

Why is it that the battery back up only goes dead in the dead of night?

And why is it that the kids have always consumed the supply of 9V batteries for their RC cars?

Mine are all hardwired together and one of them was "chirping" at 1 am. Besides not being able to ignore it, the dog was completely flipping out.

Not willing to kill them all at the breaker until morning (well, the wife wasn't -- "What about the kids?") I was off to the sister in law to get a 9V battery.

:irked: You could have gomered it up with six AA batteries in series, a little bit of wire and some duct tape :gomer:

[Kiwifan]

A couple of points Andrew. The Fire Service down here has just done a feature on Smoke Decectors and suggest using the cheap, Red, Black or Gold 9v batteries and change them all once a year. (and as Elmo said, replace the units every 10.) They reason, the top line batteries are too powerful and although they will last longer than a year will die at the most annoying time. :) They suggest changing them at your Daylight Saving Time changeover.

The second point was; your wife lets you go visit her sister at 1am?? :o Maybe I just know too many jokes. :D

Good luck,

Rusty.

[Andrew Longman]

The second point was; your wife lets you go visit her sister at 1am?? :o Maybe I just know too many jokes. :D

Good luck,

Rusty.

Trust me, she knows I married the right sister. Just as I know she married the right brother. (Oh Brother!) :D

We used to change the batteries twice a year with the changing of the clocks. Somehow, about 15-20 years into my adult life, kids and work and general chaos took us off that schedule so that come time change the batteries were only a few month old, so it didn't seem to make sence. Hence, we entered the recurring 1 am battery change cycle.

I've followed Elmo's advice and changed every battery. And it is time to get back on a six month cycle come the Fall.

[Andrew Longman]

You could have gomered it up with six AA batteries in series, a little bit of wire and some duct tape :gomer:

I thought about it. Kid's used up my duct tape for some school project.

:D

[Insomniac]

This may be a stupid question, but if your smoke detector warns you when the battery is low, why change all the batteries on a fixed interval? Are you talking about battery only models? We have smoke detectors in every room, all hard wired with a battery as well and only replace them when they beep.

[Elmo T]

...why change all the batteries on a fixed interval?

It helps remember when to change the battery - "change your clock, change your battery."

Also, it keeps from getting up during the night - potentially seven times (once for each battery). ;)

[Andrew Longman]

Also, it keeps from getting up during the night - potentially seven times (once for each battery). ;)

And I have an extensive study I can show you that proves batteries never go dead during daylight hours.

[G.]

And I have an extensive study I can show you that proves batteries never go dead during daylight hours.True!

Unless you are on vacation, then it starts around 10 AM, but will go on for 4 days (and nights) afterward.:)

[stroker]

I want to know why my smoke detector goes off every time we leave the shower room door open and take a shower.

[Insomniac]

It helps remember when to change the battery - "change your clock, change your battery."

Also, it keeps from getting up during the night - potentially seven times (once for each battery). ;)

I think since we moved in, all of the batteries have died at different times once now. I can only assume since all of them are hard wired, they run on batteries when the power goes out and when the battery is "checked".

I'd let it beep all night. :) Some of them are way up, need a 10 foot ladder. Forget that at 2 AM!

I used to listen to Love Line when I couldn't sleep a couple years back and it would seem almost every show, someone would call in and the hosts (Dr. Drew and Adam Carolla) would hear the caller's smoke detector beep and the caller would have no idea. They'd listen, and sure enough, smoke detector beeping, and Adam would go on his usual 5 minute rant. :) So I guess it's pretty easy to get used to (unless you have a dog going nuts).

[G.]

I want to know why my smoke detector goes off every time we leave the shower room door open and take a shower.
Clean them, and replace them. See Elmo's first post in this thread. He knows all.


sleeeeeeep.

[Elmo T]

I want to know why my smoke detector goes off every time we leave the shower room door open and take a shower.

1. Vacuum it out.
2. Blow it out with compressed air.
3. Replace it with new unit.
4. If none of the above works, you may need to move the smoke alarm (or keep the door closed when you shower - If it is "we" in the shower, do you want an audience? ;) )

[G.]

Zombie thread.

Last year I replaced 8 wired detectors and 2 battery-only.

I used a combination of Ionizing, photo-electric, CO, and lighted. You can't get everything all in one unit, of course.

Photo-electric-only are supposed to give LESS falsing for kitchen smoke (which seems counter-intuitive, since Photo works best with smoldering fires). Source: Elmo sent me here. (http://www.nfpa.org/safety-information/for-consumers/fire-and-safety-equipment/smoke-alarms/ionization-vs-photoelectric) Here's another source. TL, DR: "we don't know". (http://firesafetycouncil.com/pdf/review_on_best_sensor_type_for_kitchens.pdf)


Anyway, it seems that I have a bad unit on my first floor. The photo-electric detector is going off for RANDOM reasons. It sets all wired units off. It went off twice when we were cooking (there wasn't any smoke). Fanning the detector didn't shut it off. Had to hit the hush button. Didn't make sense, so I parked that in the back of my noggin.

A couple of weekends ago, they went off around midnight. I wasn't home, but my trusty Ooma phone sent me a text that "someone at my house called 911" (blatant plug for Ooma - no, I don't work for them).

FD said that it was the photo unit, asked if we've been doing construction, etc. They also said that it might be a bad unit.

Blew it out with compressed air when I got a chance.

This morning, they went off again. I pulled the offensive detector, again used compressed air, put it back up. That was good for a couple of hours. :laugh:

Basically, it seems to be going off whenever it feels like it, and it's doing it more and more often. Off to the store tonight to get a replacement.



Anybody every have a smoke detector that was faulty like this?




Note: children CAN and WILL sleep through an alarm that is going off 10 feet from their head! Get one that uses a voice warning as well as the tone for kid rooms.

Sorry for the blog, but it's October (fire safety month in the US, or something like that).

For those that are interested:
Basement (unfinished) - 1 combo Ion and CO, with voice that tells me which alert condition it is. :thumbup:
Main floor - 1 Photo-only
2nd floor - BR1 combo I&P
BR2 Ion with light
BR3 combo I&P
BR4 Ion with light
BR5 combo I&P (office with computers)
Hallway - Ion with light
Separate CO still good.

Garage - 2 battery-only Ion. Still have older CO in there.

[Elmo T]

It has to be a faulty unit or some very odd environmental condition causing the activation.

I would try calling tech services for the manufacturer. I've found most to be extremely helpful when odd equipment issues show up.

[G.]

Replacement unit seems ok, but so did the first one. Needs some more time for sure.



Semi-related, wife took dog out in the post-midnight hour, and thought it strange that someone was having a campfire at this time of night...

Neighbor's yard/bush was on fire. Good thing she caught this, and really lucky that I am lazy and only put ONE of my hoses away for the winter. Burned a hole through his siding. With the wind we had, there was a good chance that it would become a big issue. Took a lot of water to get everything cooled down.

Careful with the butts, folks.