# [2010] Smoke alarm driving me crazy



## Karen G (Sep 10, 2010)

As is usually the case, nothing breaks until my husband is out of town. The smoke alarm started to occasionally chirp which usually means the battery needs changing.

I put in a new one and it still continues to occasionally chirp. I've taken the 9V battery out and turned it over and put it back in. I've gone to the store and bought another new battery. Same thing happens.

What is even more maddening:  I took out the battery completely and it still chirped.  It seems to be hard-wired into the ceiling. I tried taking the whole thing off the ceiling and discovered that it's wired in and it looks like electrical wiring.

Any suggestions?


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## DeniseM (Sep 10, 2010)

It may be the battery in another unit.  I had this happen once and every unit in my house went off at the same time.


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## JackieD (Sep 10, 2010)

A couple weeks ago we had the same thing but all of them went off at once--maddening.  DH ran to the store and grabbed a bunch of batteries and replaced them all.  They were all fine and then last week they went off again.  We found the master one in our bedroom (ours are hardwired too) that had the issue and he took it down and cleaned off the scensor and vaccumed the back side too.  Since then it's been okay.


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## siesta (Sep 10, 2010)

at the vacation house in arizona we have extremely high ceilings, and one night while staying there the same exact thing as the OP described happened, but at about 3 in the morning.  

Well the problem was it was too high to reach, and no ladder at the house, and the echo was just unbareable. I ended up taking a broom, and while jumping, took the handle hitting the thing to either knock it down or break it.  Well it eventually came down, took the batteries out and put it in the drawer in the kitchen and went back in bed. 

To my surprise the darn thing kept giving off beeps, I figured it held a charge or something, so needless to say it spent the night in the garage which was a closer walk to the pool or thats where it would have went I was so irritated. That was a year ago, and it hasn't been replaced since. The others still work I figure.


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## JanT (Sep 10, 2010)

Karen,

I'm pretty certain you have a Pulte home.  We have a Pulte home in your area as well.  I asked my hubby for you.  He said what you have to do is cycle the alarm through after you replace the battery.  In the center of the alarm there is a button that says "Test."  Hold that down and the alarm will begin to reset.  He said it will go off and then cycle it's way through until it is reset.  That should fix it.  He said also when you're all done there should be a solid light on the smoke alarm not a blinking one.  And he said you may have to reset all the smoke alarms in the house.  Hopefully this will work for you.

Jan


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## stevedmatt (Sep 10, 2010)

Once a year, you should take them down, blow them off with compressed air and change the batteries. You should do that every 6 months if they are not directly wired. In this case, they rely on the battery for normal operation. 

Smoke detectors should not be annoying. If they become annoying, you'll be less likely to move quickly in the event of a real fire. They should be maintained properly and you should act quickly when they give off any alarm, even a chirp. A chirp could be an indicator that a small fire or some smoldering has started.


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## Karen G (Sep 11, 2010)

Thanks so much for the good advice.  I've been away from the house at a meeting for a few hours and now that I've been home for about 30 minutes everything seems to be okay. I did press the center button after putting in the new battery. I haven't heard any more chirping and the light is steady and not blinking.:whoopie:


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## siesta (Sep 11, 2010)

my dog is my fire alarm. What I make sure are always working is the carbon monoxide one.


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## laurac260 (Sep 11, 2010)

siesta said:


> my dog is my fire alarm. What I make sure are always working is the carbon monoxide one.



Yes, don't forget the carbon monoxide one.   We  have one for every floor.  We have one near our furnace which is in the basement, one on the first floor, and one on the 2nd floor near the kids's bedrooms.  You can tell me this is redundant.  I don't care.  When I was a little girl we had a carbon monoxide leak in our home.  I passed out first.  I remember laying on the floor, a little kindergartner, and I could hear my mom speaking to me, but could not reply.  She called the dentist where I had been that afternoon, and their reply, "probably a reaction to the novocaine."  A little while later my younger brother woke from a nap and went to the potty.  He passed out and fell off the toilet, hitting his head.  Later my mom started having trouble breathing.  I remember it was dark when my daddy carried me across the street to our neighbors.  The neighbor was assisting my mom, and the ambulances came.  And then the fire dept.  We all went to that hospital that night, then to various relatives houses after that.  

Later there was a write-up in the local paper.  The fireman that was interviewed was quoted as saying, "We knew instantly upon entering the house it was carbon monoxide."  They said if we had gone to bed that night our family of five would not have woken up.   If you have gas in your home you need CO detectors.  Don't think it can't happen to you.  I know I never will.


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## pedro47 (Sep 11, 2010)

JanT said:


> Karen,
> 
> I'm pretty certain you have a Pulte home.  We have a Pulte home in your area as well.  I asked my hubby for you.  He said what you have to do is cycle the alarm through after you replace the battery.  In the center of the alarm there is a button that says "Test."  Hold that down and the alarm will begin to reset.  He said it will go off and then cycle it's way through until it is reset.  That should fix it.  He said also when you're all done there should be a solid light on the smoke alarm not a blinking one.  And he said you may have to reset all the smoke alarms in the house.  Hopefully this will work for you.
> 
> Jan



Ditto !!! This is the answer.


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## PigsDad (Sep 14, 2010)

Yep, we have several CO detectors, and one in each bedroom.  Another point to remember:  the CO detectors have a* limited life *(usually around 5 years), so make sure to replace them when they have expired!

Kurt


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## rickandcindy23 (Sep 14, 2010)

Kurt, you are so right about the limited life.  Rick is a Denver firefighter, which you all know, and they get called all of the time for false alarms because of Carbon Monoxide detectors.  They will just go off as they get old, so get them replaced rather than call the fire department. 

Rick is the worst at changing batteries in our smoke detectors.  He was on duty one night and I had to change our chirping detector myself, so I could sleep.  But he does a lot of them for other people, like chimney cleaning customers, our kids, neighbors, and people in his fire district.


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## Karen G (Sep 14, 2010)

Follow-up:  The beeping has stopped. I've replaced the batteries in all three smoke detectors, some more than once. I've hit the reset buttons on all of them.

Today I was able to speak to a man in the local Pulte office. He said that the hard-wired detectors can be unplugged from the wires (there does appear to be a kind of plug that attaches the wires to the unit) or the circuit breaker turned off. Then push the reset button & then reconnect the wires or turn on the breaker. That should reset the whole thing and get rid of the beeps. I'll try that if the beeps start up again.

The brand name is Firex, and upon finding the company on the internet I see that my model has been discontinued.  On the website it said that smoke detector units should be replaced every ten years. Our house will be ten yrs. old next year, so I guess that will be a project to take care of next year as well as adding a CO² detector.


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## sstamm (Sep 14, 2010)

PigsDad said:


> Yep, we have several CO detectors, and one in each bedroom.  Another point to remember:  the CO detectors have a* limited life *(usually around 5 years), so make sure to replace them when they have expired!
> 
> Kurt



I never really knew about the limited life of CO detectors.  Last weekend ours started chirping, like the battery needed replacing.  We replaced the battery, went through the test cycle, but it still chirped.  When we moved it and plugged it in downstairs in a different location, it did not chirp. We moved it back upstairs to the hallway and it started to chirp again.  I bought a replacement yesterday and it talks about the life of the detector being about 5 years.  I'm sure our old one was around that old.  CO is not something I want to leave to chance!!


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## Karen G (Sep 14, 2010)

Cindy, where does Rick recommend that the CO detectors be placed:  up high like a smoke detector or down low, like plugged into a regular electrical outlet?


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## sstamm (Sep 14, 2010)

Karen G said:


> Cindy, where does Rick recommend that the CO₂ detectors be placed:  up high like a smoke detector or down low, like plugged into a regular electrical outlet?



Great question!  The CO (carbon monoxide, not dioxide) detectors we have plug into an outlet, so unless that was in a kitchen or bathroom, it would be nearer the floor.

I am curious to hear the recommendation.


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## Karen G (Sep 14, 2010)

sstamm, thanks for correcting my mistake of how to write the symbol for carbon monoxide.  I see now that it is CO instead of CO₂.  I was so excited that I could make the little ₂ now that I've found it on my computer that I used it by mistake!


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## rickandcindy23 (Sep 14, 2010)

Karen G said:


> Cindy, where does Rick recommend that the CO detectors be placed:  up high like a smoke detector or down low, like plugged into a regular electrical outlet?



I will ask him when he gets back today.  Our detectors are in the basement near the furnace, plugged into the outlet near the floor.  The one in our family room, where we have a gas fireplace, is behind our sofa, plugged into the outlet there.  I don't think it really matters, to be honest.  If he has a different answer, I will let you know.


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## Don (Sep 15, 2010)

Karen G said:


> As is usually the case, nothing breaks until my husband is out of town. The smoke alarm started to occasionally chirp which usually means the battery needs changing.
> 
> I put in a new one and it still continues to occasionally chirp. I've taken the 9V battery out and turned it over and put it back in. I've gone to the store and bought another new battery. Same thing happens.
> 
> ...



I have Firex smoke detectors in my house.  I had the exact same problem with one of mine the first year when I changed the batteries.  I got a warranty replacement from the company, but still bought one for an immediate replacement.  Then I figured out what the was.  There is a post from the battery door that operates a lever-like piece when the door is slid closed.  If these slightly movable parts are not lubricated they don't move like they are supposed to and it is as if there is no battery in it.  Now, when I take them out to clean them, I spray a small amount of silicone on the little lever and work it back and forth a few times.  My problem solved.


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## sstamm (Sep 15, 2010)

Karen G said:


> sstamm, thanks for correcting my mistake of how to write the symbol for carbon monoxide.  I see now that it is CO instead of CO₂.  I was so excited that I could make the little ₂ now that I've found it on my computer that I used it by mistake!



LOL, I could see how that would throw you off.  So how did you make the little 2???  I'd love to know!!


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## Karen G (Sep 15, 2010)

sstamm said:


> So how did you make the little 2???  I'd love to know!!


I have a Mac computer and on the bar across the top under Edit is an item to click on called Special Characters. Doing so opened a box with all kinds of cool stuff.  I first started looking for a way to make a ♥ that I had seen people use on Facebook.  I found it, as you can see, along with tons of other stuff like foreign currency symbols £, math symbols that I don't even know what they mean ⊆ , lots of arrows ➯, crosses ✟, stars ✮, and miscellaneous ones like these: ✄ ☂ ☎✈.  Very cool!


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## Fern Modena (Sep 15, 2010)

If you use a PC, you might be able to make this ² by holding down the CTRL and ALT at the same time and pressing the 2.  It also works for ³, é, ¡ and ¿ if you are doing Spanish.  If you want the º for degrees, hold down ALT and hit 167 on the number pad.

There are more, but my brain isn't totally in gear right now.

Fern


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## sstamm (Sep 15, 2010)

Karen G said:


> I have a Mac computer and on the bar across the top under Edit is an item to click on called Special Characters. Doing so opened a box with all kinds of cool stuff.  I first started looking for a way to make a ♥ that I had seen people use on Facebook.  I found it, as you can see, along with tons of other stuff like foreign currency symbols £, math symbols that I don't even know what they mean ⊆ , lots of arrows ➯, crosses ✟, stars ✮, and miscellaneous ones like these: ✄ ☂ ☎✈.  Very cool!



Yes, how very exciting!! I use a Mac also- never found that cool little box.  I am so excited!! Now I can type about H₂O, and exponentials 10⁴, and money, and β-agonist drugs, and trademarks ®.  Oh the possibilities are endless!!

➚≈¿℉☏ ♤♧♡♢

Thanks!!!  

My apologies for getting off topic- back to carbon monoxide and smoke detectors.


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## sstamm (Sep 15, 2010)

Fern Modena said:


> If you use a PC, you might be able to make this ² by holding down the CTRL and ALT at the same time and pressing the 2.  It also works for ³, é, ¡ and ¿ if you are doing Spanish.  If you want the º for degrees, hold down ALT and hit 167 on the number pad.
> 
> There are more, but my brain isn't totally in gear right now.
> 
> Fern



That is amazing that you can remember those shortcuts!  I always learn them, but usually forget when I go to use them next- eons later.


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## Karen G (Sep 15, 2010)

sstamm said:


> β-agonist drugs



What does that symbol mean? I don't mind to go off-topic at all.


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## siesta (Sep 15, 2010)

i believe that symbol is 'beta'.


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## Karen G (Sep 15, 2010)

siesta said:


> i believe that symbol is 'beta'.


Thanks. I'm pretty sure I would not even be able to follow the definition of the "beta-agonist drugs" if I read it.  I'm amazed every day at the stuff I don't have a clue about!


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## sstamm (Sep 16, 2010)

siesta said:


> i believe that symbol is 'beta'.



Yes, that is a "beta" and in this context refers to a drug receptor site in the body. Back when I was in college, we took notes with pen and paper and used alpha and beta symbols, among others, in our notes.  Not that I really write about that a lot now, or couldn't spell out "beta,"  I was just so excited to find that I could use the symbol!!  LOL  Oh, the small things that amuse me these days!


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## rickandcindy23 (Sep 16, 2010)

Plugging them into an outlet near the floor is perfectly fine, according to Rick.  He says to put one in every room that has a gas-burning appliance.  I told him we don't have one in the kitchen, and he said we have one twenty feet away in the family room, so that should work.


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## bogey21 (Sep 16, 2010)

*I know.  I'm stupid.  I'm impatient.  I'm dumb.  I live in a rental duplex (about 800 sq ft).  In the middle of the night the hard wired smoke alarm went off.  I couldn't get it stopped so I cut the wire.  Next day I installed 3 battery operated units.

Georg*e


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## Fern Modena (Sep 16, 2010)

George,
I hate to tell you this, but the only thing wrong with your hard-wired unit was that the battery was low/dead.  Even hard-wired units have battery backups.

People, you should change the batteries every year, _with fresh, new batteries, _whether you think you need to or not, and then you won't have to worry about chirping, much less if the unit(s) works or not.

Fern


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## AwayWeGo (Jul 12, 2015)

*Who Knew ?*




Fern Modena said:


> Even hard-wired units have battery backups.


That's the most unheard of thing I ever heard of -- but I can testify that it is true. 

Last year I bought five _-- 5 --_ new hard-wire smoke alarms as replacements for the originals installed in our house when it was built 25+ years ago.  One of the new units detects carbon monoxide as well as smoke.  It's the 1 I installed right after I brought'm home from Home Depot*.*

The remaining 4 just sat there in the box -- until yesterday, when for some reason I summoned up the motivation to take down the ancient smoke alarms & hook up the rest of the new replacements.  Now we're good to go at 2 locations upstairs, 1 bedroom hallway downstairs, & 2 locations in the basement (near the gas furnace & near the gas water heater).

All 5 new hard-wired smoke detectors (4 for just smoke + 1 for smoke & carbon monoxide) have battery back-up -- 9-volt batteries in the straight smoke detectors, 2 AA batteries in the smoke + carbon monoxide alarm.  Who'd a-thunk ?

Only advantage I can think of for battery back-up in hard-wired alarms is that they'll still work during power outage -- but only if the batteries are still good.  

That means even though I have permanently wired-in alarms, I'm now going to have to go through the annual rigmarole of replacing smoke alarm batteries, which eliminates 1 of the (former) advantages of installing permanently wired smoke detectors.  

So it goes. 

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​


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## SmithOp (Jul 12, 2015)

They sell smoke alarms now with 10 yr sealed lithium batteries, no need to use the old style with 9V.  $20 on Amazon. I just changed all mine.


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## zinger1457 (Jul 12, 2015)

AwayWeGo said:


> Only advantage I can think of for battery back-up in hard-wired alarms is that they'll still work during power outage -- but only if the batteries are still good.



The smoke detectors will let you know when the batteries need to be replaced, unfortunately it usually happens at 3 in the morning.


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## wilma (Jul 12, 2015)

Fern Modena said:


> George,
> I hate to tell you this, but the *only *thing wrong with your hard-wired unit was that the battery was low/dead.  Even hard-wired units have battery backups.
> Fern



Not necessarily, we had hard-wired smoke alarms that had a short in the wiring. we replaced the batteries several times in a 3 month period and it would still randomly go off at weird times. We shut off the circuit breaker to the smoke alarms and finally hired an electrician who told us we could spend thousands trying to find the shorted wiring or just close off the wires and install new sealed lithium battery 10-year alarms with CO and smoke alarms. We sealed off the hard-wiring and no more middle of the night shrieking from the smoke alarms!


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## MuranoJo (Jul 13, 2015)

We've had the same thing happen with the continued chirping even after the batteries have been changed.  Of course it always happens when DH is gone and we have vaulted ceilings.  I had no idea about the re-set procedure so thanks for all the info. in this thread.

We have one carbon monoxide detector in the hallway down from the kitchen and one day it went off for no obvious reason--not using gas cooktop or any gas I'm aware of.  Turns out, I was using a Clorox cleaning agent in a shower not too far way and the fumes set it off.  That's when I decided to get a steam cleaner and quit using Clorox products.


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## Glynda (Jul 13, 2015)

*Well, how about that!*



Karen G said:


> I have a Mac computer and on the bar across the top under Edit is an item to click on called Special Characters. Doing so opened a box with all kinds of cool stuff.  I first started looking for a way to make a ♥ that I had seen people use on Facebook.  I found it, as you can see, along with tons of other stuff like foreign currency symbols £, math symbols that I don't even know what they mean ⊆ , lots of arrows ➯, crosses ✟, stars ✮, and miscellaneous ones like these: ✄ ☂ ☎✈.  Very cool!



The things one learns on TUG!!!  How cool!  I have Macbook Air laptop and mine under Edit in Safari says "Emoji & Symbols" but I'd never looked before!
I have things like: ®✂︎☂✼

But I don't have the little 2!!!  So what's up with that???


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