Last night our smoke alarms went off in the middle of the night. Our house has them all wired together and so the whole house was blaring. Couldn’t figure out what was going on so we called fire dept and they came out. They checked everything out and They said it was one faulty alarm and removed it.
Tonight the exact same thing happened again. This time my wife located one of the alarms herself (saw it was red) and removed it herself
Any idea what the heck is going on???
We had this happen one time when I was living a my townhouse. It turned out to just be a bad battery in one of them. It does suck when they all go off in the whole dang house though.. something to check?
How old are they? Not the batteries, but the detectors. Pending the brand, they have a life cycle.
How old are they? Not the batteries, but the detectors. Pending the brand, they have a life cycle.
…and did you buy them all at once? I thought 10yrs was the life cycle for most but that could be a CO detector.
If the detectors are older than 10 years they should be replaced.
Try blowing the dust out of them.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Randy Wieland wrote:</div>
How old are they? Not the batteries, but the detectors. Pending the brand, they have a life cycle.…and did you buy them all at once? I thought 10yrs was the life cycle for most but that could be a CO detector.
Clown, in most cases 10 yrs is true. But most in a home are purchased at the same time and could be in the same lot number. Common to see multiple failures in a very similar time frame. Seen them fail at soon as 5-6 years
We had this issue a couple of years ago. I think I had 8 total that were all connected and one always seemed to act up setting the whole house off. I replaced all my detectors but most of them with 10yr Lithium Ion internal battery powered detectors – (no plug), except for one on each level in a common area which are still standard and connected to each other. Our house isn’t so big where if a fire breaks out on one level that we wont be VERY close to one of the hardwired detectors, and now we only have three that can go haywire and set the other two off. Haven’t had an issue since.
They started placing manufacture dates on them over 10 years ago. In fact, mine had instructions next to the manf date that said then should be replaced at 10 years old… that was a 2008 model.
Time to replace them, Home Depot sells them in a 6 pack. I have 8 detectors in my house. I opted to get ones with Co2/fire also. Per new housing code you need the duel ones anyway.
From the First Alert website:
“According to the National Fire Protection Association, fire alarms should be installed on every level of your home, including the basement, and inside each bedroom. Remember to test your home smoke detectors at least once a month and change the batteries every six months. Upgrade to a 10-year sealed battery-operated smoke detector to eliminate the need for battery replacements for the life of the fire alarm. All smoke detectors should be replaced at least every 10 years.”
Same thing happened to us last year. Tried replacing one at a time. Ended up Just replacing all of them. i would just bite the bullet and just replace all of them. I would make sure at least one of them also has a co detector.
Last night our smoke alarms went off in the middle of the night.
OK what is it with smoke alarms that they only seem to chirp at zero dark thirty?
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>lindyrig79 wrote:</div>
Last night our smoke alarms went off in the middle of the night.OK what is it with smoke alarms that they only seem to chirp at zero dark thirty?
For us old farts, the TV’s are on so loud we’d never hear the chirp,,,,
HRG
as a PSA, check the “new” 9V batteries you have before replacing the old ones. I chased this problem for a couple of hours 1 night, only to find that what I thought were new batteries were as dead as the ones I was replacing.
For us old farts, the TV’s are on so loud we’d never hear the chirp,,,,
Oh so very true 
How old are they? Not the batteries, but the detectors. Pending the brand, they have a life cycle.
Kidde and they are 5 yrs old. Both the ones that failed were in our basement and installed at the same time
Try blowing the dust out of them.
We did this today too
So the hard wired smoke alarms need to be replaced every 10 years? I knew battery ones needed to be replaced, I didn’t know hard wired had to be replaced.
So the hard wired smoke alarms need to be replaced every 10 years? I knew battery ones needed to be replaced, I didn’t know hard wired had to be replaced.
Kinda news to me too. We ended up replacing all the ones on our lower level. I did pick up some extra CO detectors while I was at it.
Thanks guys
I didn’t know hard wired had to be replaced.
I think it’s mostly just to be sure none of the components have failed. Photoelectric has a light and sensor that’s constantly on, ionization has two plates that it detects the voltage between.
Ok, so my previous post we replaced all the lower level smoke detectors 5 days ago. And now tonight it happened AGAIN.
We are all on edge and my kids are getting PTSD. My son won’t sleep in his room anymore.
What can or should I do? Call an electrician?
Why did you decide to pick and choose only the basement ones to replace? Smoke detectors are dirt cheap compared to electricians. I’d replace every single unit. Ideally you want the entire house on the same replacement schedule.
Can I also ask— you say the alarms are blaring— do you mean they’re going off at full volume as if there was an actual fire? Or do you mean they are just all chirping at you? Ours chirp when battery is low. Never heard of them going full alarm for that reason but who knows? An electrical issue seems very unlikely in my opinion.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>mxskeeter wrote:</div>
I didn’t know hard wired had to be replaced.I think it’s mostly just to be sure none of the components have failed. Photoelectric has a light and sensor that’s constantly on, ionization has two plates that it detects the voltage between.
Do they even make hardwired detectors with no battery backup? All our units are hardwired but also have 9v for emergency. Fire doesn’t care if your power is out.
Why did you decide to pick and choose only the basement ones to replace? Smoke detectors are dirt cheap compared to electricians. I’d replace every single unit. Ideally you want the entire house on the same replacement schedule.
Can I also ask— you say the alarms are blaring— do you mean they’re going off at full volume as if there was an actual fire? Or do you mean they are just all chirping at you? Ours chirp when battery is low. Never heard of them going full alarm for that reason but who knows? An electrical issue seems very unlikely in my opinion.
Full volume. All of them.
We replaced the lower level because that seems to be the area the problems are coming from and all those units were installed at the same time.
That sounds awful. (Literally)
Sounds like a faulty sensor giving off a false positive. Weird that it’s happening late at night every night though.
Suggestion remains the same. Replace them all before paying an electrician.
Install any pictures or other wall/ceiling items that may have caught a wire?
Might need to end up calling these guys…
You don’t happen to live in an art museum do you?
…and just to confirm, these are just smoke alarms, NOT combined CO detectors?
Also, do these units talk to each other? If one goes, they all go?
I don’t know what the code is and more importantly what you want for your own safety, but you can just replace all of them with sealed 10yr battery models and leave the back wire unconnected. The downside is that they wont work in-concert – IE a fire starts in your basement and maybe you don’t hear the basement detector and by the time the smoke gets to the upper level it’s too late.
This would not be a problem in my house. I’m a light sleeper.
…and just to confirm, these are just smoke alarms, NOT combined CO detectors?
Also, do these units talk to each other? If one goes, they all go?
I was wondering the same thing, are they a combo CO detector? Could be a CO problem.
One of them is a combo CO / smoke detector. CO is not a problem as the fire dept already checked for that and we also have 3 separate CO detectors (stand alone) that have not gone off.
And yes, they talk. They are connected, so one goes they all go
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