My smoke alarms continually going off

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - My smoke alarms continually going off

Posted: 6/25/2015 7:20:40 AM EDT

After my smoke alarms went off 4 times yesterday i pulled them all off the wall, disconnected them and took the batteries out.
7 of them in the house and all batteries are reading at 9.15V or higher on my multimeter.
All electrically interconnected.
FireX brand which the wife said didn't have good reviews online.
What in the heck is causing them to go off?
I'm going to blow the out with compressed air tonight and plug them back in.
Any thoughts? I'm at the point where I am about to replace them all.

Posted: 6/25/2015 7:48:56 AM EDT

[#1]

are they fire and carbon monoxide or just fire? you could have a carbon monoxide leak and not know it.

v

Posted: 6/25/2015 9:11:20 AM EDT

[#2]

Just smoke

Posted: 6/25/2015 10:02:23 AM EDT

[#3]

Could be a number of things, including high humidity, and/or your TV's remote control. (I've got a really expensive, 'First Alert', smoke/CM alarm installed in the hallway. If I were to aim the TV control at it, right now, I could easily make it go off.) My suggestion? Read all of the incredibly fine print that comes with these devices. Somewhere in the technical gobbledygook you should be able to find instructions on how to correct false alarms.

Posted: 6/25/2015 11:09:16 AM EDT

[#4]

I had that problem once I unplugged them all and then started plugging them in one at a time when I got to the third one they started going off again. I replaced the third one and haven't had anymore problems

Posted: 6/25/2015 11:18:05 AM EDT

[#5]

I had the same problem with one of my smoke detectors. I pulled it down, and blew it out with compressed air; problem solved.

Posted: 6/25/2015 12:01:06 PM EDT

[#6]

Haven't had the TV on in days, humidity is extremely high right now but not sure about in the house.
I'm going to blow them out later and start plugging them in and see what happens.

Posted: 6/25/2015 1:11:57 PM EDT

[#7]

Humidity could be the culprit on them going off. We see it alot this time of year. Another area could be that one detector is bad, which when all of them are interconnected, causes the whole system to go off. Whens the last time you replaced the batteries? That could be an issue as well. Also how old are the detectors, they should have a date code on the back. If older that say 8-10 years, you should replace them as the failure rate on them goes up to as high as 85% once they reach that age.

Posted: 6/25/2015 1:18:21 PM EDT

[#8]

They don't last forever....

Posted: 6/25/2015 2:01:02 PM EDT

[#9]

Detectors are 6 years old.
Batteries were replaced about a 1 1/2 year ago but some are new and all tested 9.15V or more.

Posted: 6/26/2015 12:09:14 AM EDT

[#10]

Quote History

Quoted:
Detectors are 6 years old.
Batteries were replaced about a 1 1/2 year ago but some are new and all tested 9.15V or more.

View Quote

You are suppose to change the batteries twice a year. 10 year life expectancy on the detector themselves.

Posted: 6/26/2015 11:38:19 AM EDT

[#11]

5 of the 7 detectors now have new batteries. Used shop air to blow them out.
I installed 2 detectors and then a few minutes later installed another up to 6.
No alarms since last evening.
I'll install the last tonight.

Posted: 6/27/2015 12:14:57 AM EDT

[#12]

They (NFPA) recommend that they get replaced every 10 years.

Posted: 6/27/2015 10:48:22 PM EDT

[#13]

Quote History

Quoted:
They (NFPA) recommend that they get replaced every 10 years.

View Quote

And they most certainly start crapping out sooner! Happens quite frequently.

Posted: 6/28/2015 12:25:59 AM EDT

[#14]

The insurance industry did a study and found they crap out or lose efficiency around five years. Thus they recommend you should be replacing the alarms (smoke, fire CO) every 60 months. Popular Mechanics or Popular Science did s brief article a few months back and recommended due to technology improvements, if your detector was over three years old, to replace them.

Posted: 6/29/2015 5:10:37 PM EDT

[#15]

Quote History

Quoted:
Haven't had the TV on in days, humidity is extremely high right now but not sure about in the house.
I'm going to blow them out later and start plugging them in and see what happens.

View Quote

Had to blow mine out at my old place. Worked great after that. My dog went slightly crazy in the middle of all that lol

Posted: 6/29/2015 5:18:18 PM EDT

[#16]

Quote History

Quoted:

And they most certainly start crapping out sooner! Happens quite frequently.

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
They (NFPA) recommend that they get replaced every 10 years.

And they most certainly start crapping out sooner! Happens quite frequently.

They are cheap when a life may be at stake.

I had the opposite happen. I was napping on the couch and fireplace lost its draft. It had never done that before. Wife woke up and the house was full of smoke and the alarms did not go off at all. 35 degrees and I had to evacuate the air in my house with several large fans. All the detectors really did over the years is detect bacon cooking if I forgot to turn on the vent.

I replaced both with battery backed interlinked units immediately.

Posted: 7/3/2015 11:20:27 PM EDT

[#17]

Quote History

Quoted:
The insurance industry did a study and found they crap out or lose efficiency around five years. Thus they recommend you should be replacing the alarms (smoke, fire CO) every 60 months. Popular Mechanics or Popular Science did s brief article a few months back and recommended due to technology improvements, if your detector was over three years old, to replace them.

View Quote

Sure as shit had one of mine go bad just shy of six years...

...this morning at about 1:30

Posted: 7/3/2015 11:47:39 PM EDT

[#18]

All detectors have cleaning instructions. Some want you to blow, some want you to suck, there is even one brand that wants you to wash it in a bucket of soapy water.

Some study discovered that old people and children didn't always wake up when the detectors were sounding. They now want low frequency tone sounder equipped detectors be installed in sleeping areas.

They also have detectors that talk and tell you what is going on.

Posted: 7/5/2015 9:52:36 AM EDT

[#19]

Quote History

Quoted:
Sure as shit had one of mine go bad just shy of six years...

...this morning at about 1:30

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:

The insurance industry did a study and found they crap out or lose efficiency around five years. Thus they recommend you should be replacing the alarms (smoke, fire CO) every 60 months. Popular Mechanics or Popular Science did s brief article a few months back and recommended due to technology improvements, if your detector was over three years old, to replace them.

Sure as shit had one of mine go bad just shy of six years...

...this morning at about 1:30

They NEVER go bad during the day time!

Posted: 7/6/2015 11:10:05 AM EDT

[#20]

Are they Duracell Batteries. I had the same problem when I picked up some Sunbeam 9v batteries at the Dollar Tree due to the price.

Read the manual and it said to only use certain brand batteries or there may be problems.

I put in the Duracell and haven't had problems since.

Posted: 7/6/2015 11:22:59 AM EDT

[#21]

I had all 3 of my hardwired ones go bad about 3 years ago. Happened in the middle of the night after I had been up for 36 hours. Due to being in a condo and having neighbors above me my first thought of a 12 Gauge went out the window but was immediately replaced with a 5 LB sledge. Needless to say the next day I was off to home depot for new ones.

Posted: 7/6/2015 10:12:09 PM EDT

[#22]

I'm sure I'd love the interconnected ones in a fire, but they suck when you accidentally set one off and the whole house is making noise

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - My smoke alarms continually going off

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