Chirping smoke/fire alarms

[kandb]

Wow, that sounded like some PIA. We moved into our home almost 8 years ago and had 2 plug in CO detectors (one upstairs and one downstairs). One started making a sound and the readout said "END". I looked it up and it meant it stopped working. We threw it away. Our upstairs CO detector died a few days later with the same message. I couldn't believe that they stopped working within a few days of each other.

 

[amcnj]

Wow, that sounded like some PIA. We moved into our home almost 8 years ago and had 2 plug in CO detectors (one upstairs and one downstairs). One started making a sound and the readout said "END". I looked it up and it meant it stopped working. We threw it away. Our upstairs CO detector died a few days later with the same message. I couldn't believe that they stopped working within a few days of each other.

Were they installed at the same time? Could they have had an internal timeclock that gives that message after a certain number of days?

 

[tvguy]

Ok so I looked through all of my Amazon orders and it was 2016 that we bought the chirpers. TVGuy, I considered just skipping the whole idea of hard-wired and go back to the old fashioned battery-only type but that would not pass code if we ever decide to sell our home. Fire inspection must be done before settlement so we either fix it correctly now, or do it later. Who knows when we'll ever move but chances are good that an electrician would cost much more in 20 yrs. At least that was our reasoning..

I will have to do some research on codes, which of course, could vary from state to state. I have never been a fan of hard wired smoke detectors because if you have an electrical fire that pops the breakers, your hardwired smoke and or carbon monoxide detector is useless. Our house was built in 1979 with one hard wired smoke detector in the hall. When we bought the house in 1983 I placed a battery powered smoke detector next to the hard wired detector. We added on in 1993 and that room has a hard wired smoke detector because the addition has a cathedral ceiling and getting to a battery powered smoke detector would be hard due to the height. The code changed here, and now every bedroom has to have a smoke detector. When we redid the bathrooms in 2013, the building inspector had to see that all the bedrooms had smoke detectors. When we redid the kitchen in 2014, same thing. And in 2014 when we put a new roof on, same thing. Although the final time the building inspector literally poked his head in the door, saw one smoke detector in the hall and said given this was our third inspection in 6 months, said he trusted the 4 bedrooms also had them.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I will have to do some research on codes, which of course, could vary from state to state. I have never been a fan of hard wired smoke detectors because if you have an electrical fire that pops the breakers, your hardwired smoke and or carbon monoxide detector is useless.

Yes, that's true. Also if you have a power outage for 3 days, the hard wired feature is worthless. That is why they all have a battery back up.

 

[tvguy]

Yes, that's true. Also if you have a power outage for 3 days, the hard wired feature is worthless. That is why they all have a battery back up.

Ah, yeah, neither of my hard wired smoke detectors have a battery. But like I said, one was installed in 1993, the other in 1979.

I had my garage door springs replaced Tuesday, and the repair guy said all garage door openers starting July 1 now also have to have a battery backup so they work without power. Mine just has a pull handle for power outages, you have to open the door manually in a power outage.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Ah, yeah, neither of my hard wired smoke detectors have a battery. But like I said, one was installed in 1993, the other in 1979.

I had my garage door springs replaced Tuesday, and the repair guy said all garage door openers starting July 1 now also have to have a battery backup so they work without power. Mine just has a pull handle for power outages, you have to open the door manually in a power outage.

Have you tested them to see if they even work? That is incredibly old for a smoke detector. God forbid you have a fire, you want it to work properly for you! I'm soon turning 52 and in 1979 I was entering 7th grade. Led Zeppelin still had a drummer and they just released In Through the Out Door. Jimmy Page was young & hot. It was a long time ago.
People die in fires not just from not having smoke alarms but by not having functioning smoke alarms. I like saving $ too but this is not something to scrimp on. Their lifespan is approximately 10 years.

I love electric garage doors too but their purpose is not to save your life.

 

[tvguy]

Have you tested them to see if they even work? That is incredibly old for a smoke detector. God forbid you have a fire, you want it to work properly for you! I'm soon turning 52 and in 1979 I was entering 7th grade. Led Zeppelin still had a drummer and they just released In Through the Out Door. Jimmy Page was young & hot. It was a long time ago.
People die in fires not just from not having smoke alarms but by not having functioning smoke alarms. I like saving $ too but this is not something to scrimp on. Their lifespan is approximately 10 years.

I love electric garage doors too but their purpose is not to save your life.

No need to test the hard wired units, I have 4 battery powered ones in the house and I change the batteries twice a year when we change time.

 

[kymom99]

That’s funny it was your co detector! Our co detector years ago was chirping, and young, naive me didn’t know it had a battery backup. I unplugged it and it kept chirping. So I sat it out in the porch and it kept chirping. My husband came home and said the battery must be bad.

 

[SC Minnie]

Ok so I looked through all of my Amazon orders and it was 2016 that we bought the chirpers. TVGuy, I considered just skipping the whole idea of hard-wired and go back to the old fashioned battery-only type but that would not pass code if we ever decide to sell our home. Fire inspection must be done before settlement so we either fix it correctly now, or do it later. Who knows when we'll ever move but chances are good that an electrician would cost much more in 20 yrs. At least that was our reasoning.

We decided to try one last effort before calling an electrician. When dh held down the reset button of the chirping device, he did it that one only, not all 4 of them. So we decided to pull all 4 brand new ones and reset all 4 again, even though really, how could they need to be reset already? Only a few hours out of the box? STILL THE FOYER WAS CHIRPING!!! ARRRGH! omg I had to leave and go for a drive before we kill each other. We were going completely mad!
Well, it was all resolved when I got home and you wouldn't believe what it was. The stupid CO detector plugged into the outlet in the foyer which also has a back up battery . (Yes, I know in reality, they're not stupid and I'm glad humanity has this technology.) It's not a huge foyer but the way it echoed sounded like it was coming from the smoke detector. And I guess what we thought was a different one chirping after the first one was pulled out, must have been the CO detector all along but I could swear the chirp was coming from down the hall where bedrooms are.
Whew! Poor dh, he had all 8 of them in a box, put it in the garage and still could hear chirping in the foyer. Kind of hilarious now, in hindsight.

Thanks everyone! Check ALL of your detectors! and have a great weekend!

BTW, the reason they only last for 10 yrs is that they use a TINY bit of radioactive material as part of the detection, actually less radioactivity than what the earth itself naturally emits so don't get all crazy over it and toss your smoke detectors. We're all exposed to the earth's radiation so nothing we can do about that.


ETA: Ah Deb, I see you beat me to it.

THE SAME THING HAPPENED TO US!!!! The chirping started upstairs. The smoke detector is at the top of the stairs 2 story foyer. The CO detector is plugged in about 3 feet down the hall. We had the CO detectors replaced about 6 months earlier. When the chirping started DH replaced the batteries. Still chirping. He then replaced the one downstairs. Still chirping. He replaced the batteries upstairs again thinking maybe they were bad. Still chirping. After 2 days of insanity setting in we called my Dad who is an electrician. He came over and messed with the smoke alarm. Still chirping. He finally unplugged and replugged in the CO detector. Chirping stopped!!! We had had new flooring put in upstairs the week before and they must have bumped the CO detector and it came out enough for the battery to be needed. With the flooring and the foyer the sound echoed enough it was hard to tell where it was coming from.

 

[amcnj]

Glad the mystery was solved. My daughter had a similar experience. A piercing alarm sound in her apartment that seemed to be coming from one of the kitchen appliances. She called maintenance, but also left a note explaining that she just couldn’t wait in the apartment any longer as the sound was unbearable. When she returned, she found the sound was gone, and on her note was a kitchen timer that had been in one of her kitchen cabinets, with the battery removed.

 

[jo-jo]

I hate chirps. We have 5 smoke detectors, 3 CO detectors, 4 alarms sensors.......one chirp and it take forever to find out where it is coming from. Plus beeps from fridge, freezer, water sensor in basement.......

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Glad you figured out the issue!

All of our detectors are smoke and CO dual battery back up ones. They are also vocal ones. Freaked me out a couple weeks ago when I heard chirp followed by a voice saying "low battery". My cat was scared and hid under the bed for hours!

We ended up replacing the smoke detector completely because new batteries didn't end up fixing the issue (the next day it did the same chirp low battery).

I would also say ours tells us the brands of batteries (there's like 3 or so it mentions) it recommends using though we weren't always good using those.

 

[jerseygal]

These hard wired detectors are a pain. The former owner was an electrician and he went crazy installing too many, overkill! Ugh!

 

[amcnj]

These hard wired detectors are a pain. The former owner was an electrician and he went crazy installing too many, overkill! Ugh!

Oh wow, how many did you have? We were required to have one on each floor, as well as one in each bedroom, and they had to be hard wired with a battery backup.