HERE'S A TIP...
The other night, around two AM, an annoying, loud intermittent CHIRP occurred. It was my smoke alarm "low battery" noise. I didn't have any 9V batteries handy, so I took the old one out and left the contraption hanging until morning. I didn't know until the next day when opening up the battery pack, that you don't have to twist the smoke alarm off it's foundation with wires exposed!!!! There's a LITTLE DOOR that just slides open!!! Who knew????? In my 15 or so years experience with smoke alarms, this is the FIRST time I've made this discovery.
That's not the tip I had originally thought of talking about. HERE'S THE TIP: Buy some of those spongy ear plugs and don them when you change the smoke alarm batteries. I did this later that day when I went around to ALL my smoke alarms to change the batteries and test them. IT MADE A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE!!!!!! In the past when I've changed the batteries (and when the alarm actually goes OFF when I've burned something in the kitchen) I was resigned to the fact that I've have to endure that piercingly painful screech while grabbing a broom to whack the button. At least when I do the batteries I can rest with a deceivingly quiet alarm (testing it.)
3 comments:
Wow, what timing. Our smoke detectors go off constantly for no apparent reason (except for that one time when the house was actually on fire, at which time they sat as quiet as could be), and they just went off again about an hour ago. We spent a half hour swarming the place like demented ants, sniffing for smoke and listening for that tell-tale crackling sound that is not quite like anything else. Nothing. We yanked every one of them to shut them up, then put them all back. My poor spouse has to get up at some ungodly hour, and does NOT need this in the middle of the night. Grrrrr.
Your tip about ear plugs is a very good one, and I hope everyone does it. I keep mouse ears on hand for mowing, and when the alarms went off just now, I went running for the utility bench.
The stupid things went off AGAIN about an hour ago, and this time, we summoned professionals.
The professionals decided that the one in the garage had been subjected to too much moisture and dust (we've had some work done in there recently, work which isn't over yet), and that plus the change in the weather was what was making it freak out. Usually, it can handle a change in the weather, but since there's been drywall being sawn into, and the floor actually got swept a couple of weeks ago, it was just too much.
The professionals also said that smoke detectors don't really live all that long, and that they should all be replaced every five years or so. Also, the new ones are required by the law hereabouts to have battery back-up, even if they're wired into the house's electrical system.
So this evening has been educational, anyway.
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