My smoke detectors beep constantly day & night. I’ve changed the batteries to no avail. Finally, out of frustration I even removed one of the batteries but the beeping still persists :smack: . What’s up with that?
You removed the battery and it still beeps? Sounds like it’s your neighbor’s smoke detector that’s beeping. If you’re sure it’s yours, throw it out, it’s demonized. And just be sure that you properly bless the new one before you install it.
You’ve said smoke detectors are beeping. By beeping do you mean a chirp every few minutes, or a constant din, as in they’re sensing a fire? Are they all sounding? If so, and you’re removing batteries, they are the back-up batteries to 120 VAC detectors. When one detects fire (or becomes defective) they all sound. The batteries only serve to power them when AC house power is lost. Beyond that, if the detectors are 10 years old or older, they should be replaced owing to sensitivity drift, per the NFPA.
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Is it possible they’ve got spiderwebs or something inside and just need to be cleaned out? Ours went off at 2 in the morning one time, resulting in us evacuating the house and calling 911, and that’s ultimately what we decided the problem was. Great fun.
[hijack]Anyone know of any easy way to test smoke detectors which don’t have test buttons? Ours are hard-wired to the security system. We don’t have a contract for monitoring. The folks who sold us the house assured us that the detectors work locally even w/o a security company monitoring them. So if the house caught fire, theoretically we’d be awakened. But I’d rather find this out for sure. [/hijack]
You might try lighting a match and holding it next to the detector. If it goes off you’ll know it works. Unfortunately, if it doesn’t go off, you still won’t be sure.
Cooking sausages does the trick in our house.
My smoke detector bleeps just to let us know it’s happy and its batteries are charged.
There was a fatal fire at your house, and you are now dead. For past transgressions, you will spend eternity hearing chirping smoke detectors.
A good guess the OP may not have thought of. However, there are also smoke detectors that just have two batteries. (Some of the ones I had had a second battery just for backup, and some had a second battery for an emergency light.)
But I do second your advice to buy new detectors. Worked for me when I had a beeping problem. The new ones are much better designed than detectors even 8 years old. You can take them off the ceiling easily, even when drowsy and pissed off in the middle of the night, and put them back up again without tools in the morning.
There is an aerosol spray made specifically for this purpose. I’ve seen it but don’t remember what it’s called. Prob’ly something tricky like smoke detector tester or some such.
Whadayano?
I was right.
friend mama zappa
look in the yellow pages for a fire alarm company in your area. they will sell you a can of the aerosol smoke detector testor.
for the chirping detector problem: if your detector is chirping even after the battery has been removed, they are 120 vac detectors. pick up new ones. they are pretty cheap. you can replace them pretty easily. the black wire is hot, the white neutral, and the orange wire need not be hooked up at all, unless your detectors are wired together.
longhair, the fire alarm tech
a) I’ve had smoke detectors still beep without the battery. The capacitors (electronic devices which store energy) still held a charge, so…
b) Smoke detectors do not last forever. I forget the rec’d life span. And, always replace if the detector was in a fire. I mean, a real blaze…not just burning something in the oven…
- Jinx
If you have a hard time finding aerosol smoke, try a punk stick (unscented incense). Should you find aerosol smoke, test the detector with puffs-not a stream like you’re trying to kill wasps. The latter can damage the detector. Many alarm system detectors have what is called AVF or alarm verification feature, which causes the system to power down the detector loops for 30 seconds or more after an initial fault and then power them back up. If the detector fault is still present, then an alarm is sounded. Learning to read the status LEDs on a detector lets you know what is happening.
Funny, although my SDs have been silent all along, one of them set up a slow, regular chirp on Sunday. Of all days in the year, it wasn’t only Daylight Savings Time Day, it was of course also National Change Your Smoke Detector Battery Day. So of course I went and bought new batteries, put them in, and it has been silent ever since.
I asked myself, is this some newfangled SD with a chip that has a digital calendar in it? So that it was programmed to beep on that day to remind me? If not, it certainly was a most curious coincidence!