Smoke Alarm

[scooby]

just settled down last night and was starting to dose around 1030pm, when all of a sudden the smoke alarms in the house go off!

I jumps out of bed, sniff the air with no burning smell, run round all the rooms - no signs of fire etc. I come to the conclusion that it was the dehumidifier that had been running on high and I'd forgotten to turn off when going to bed. I open the bathroom window for fresh air, and starting pressing the buttons on the alarms. Does it stop? Does it tulip! I run downstairs, turn the mains fuse for power off then return upstairs to remove the battery. This was now more than 5mins later with the bloody noise blurring. I couldnt get the alarm off the bracket, so in a fit of anger, I rip the thing off the ceiling and remove the battery. All quiet now!

What bothered me more was the wife, 2 girls (under 5) all slept through this and me running round ranting. The wife only muttered something about turning the light off when i got back in bed. Glad it wasnt a real fire...

[OwlHoot]

Some smoke detectors work by detecting slight and steady reductions in light levels (on the assumption that smoke has that effect). Maybe the voltage of the local electricity supply dipped for a while, causing the lights to dim slightly in your house. I think that sometimes happens late at night.

[scooby]

Some smoke detectors work by detecting slight and steady reductions in light levels (on the assumption that smoke has that effect). Maybe the voltage of the local electricity supply dipped for a while, causing the lights to dim slightly in your house. I think that sometimes happens late at night.

It does, as they lower the supply as no demand, but no lights where on! Scared the tulip out of me anyway.

[OwlHoot]

Hmm - OK, theory B: A moth was fluttering round the alarm, and dust from its wings triggered it.

and failing that I'll fall back on theory C: Centuries ago, a witch was burned on the very spot your house stands on now, and ...

[FiveTimes]

Certain smoke alarms are sensitive to temperature drops, we used to suffer in the summer until we changed the model of alarms.

Or as Owly said it could be dust.

[scooby]

I think the fact I ripped it off and damaged the wiring means i need a new one now...

[captainham]

I would like to know why batteries in smoke alarms only ever reach a low level during the wee hours of the morning, leading to intermittent beeps every minute or so which becomes impossible to sleep through once you tune into the noise...

[Sysman]

I would like to know why batteries in smoke alarms only ever reach a low level during the wee hours of the morning, leading to intermittent beeps every minute or so which becomes impossible to sleep through once you tune into the noise...

I know the answer to that one.

It's when the temperature drops.

It happened to me at 3 am and continued until after the heating kicked in and took the edge off the cold.

Tip of the day. If you have a smoke detector positioned high on the wall above the stairs, get a blurry long ladder.

If you have room for it indoors, keep it indoors.

You won't regret the purchase or stashing it indoors when the battery runs low.

[VectraMan]

Apparently the sensors can be triggered by dust in the unit, so you have to attack them with a vacuum cleaner from time to time.

One of mine went off for about 2 seconds in the middle of the night recently. It had the desired effect: woke me up instantly and scared the bejesus out of me. Mostly they seem to only exist to tell me when I'm using the grill, which is odd as I know that I'm using the grill. Often I hear my neighbours' smoke alarms telling me that they're using their grill.

Mine are connected to the mains, which means if there's a power cut in the middle of the night, they start chirping every 2 minutes.

[Robinho]

Would have been funny if an actual fire had occurred that night and you were all burned to death because the alarm was immobilised.