Smoke Alarm sounded for 15 sec for no reason

[Guest Michael]

Our smoke alarm went off last evening about 4am. Big fright, but appeared to be a false alarm. The alarm went for about 15 sec but than stopped itself. No sign or smell of smoke and no one could have pressed the test button (which only goes for a few seconds).

Does this indicate another issue? How can we fix it? How can we check it is working properly?

Thank you in advance for your help.

[green-foam]

Generally smoke alarms will activate so long as they can sense particles of the right size. (Does not have to be smoke) Since it stopped shortly after starting I would say that what ever it detected is no longer present.

Is it a stand alone detector or are there several interconnected? If they are interconnected did any of the others activate? (I am guessing its a stand alone)

To test a smoke detector most instructions will tell you to "Press the test button, to make sure it activates."

[Guest Michael]

Thanks for the response. We have two optical alarms, connected to the main and I believe they are connected to each other. We actually are not sure which one went off as they are in the hallways of the 2nd and 3rd levels of the house. I have tested both and they appear to work with three short sharp beeps after pushing the test button.

I assuming from your response this is not some kind of error indication and would appear to have been set off by something (small insects perhaps). Definetly no smoke or gas smell around either smoke alarm.

Would you suggest a technician perform a check?

[Safelincs]

Hi Michael

Other issues to check are:

1) Age of smoke alarms, as they are designed to last for just over ten years. Older alarms become increasingly erratic. There should be a 'replace by' sticker on the alarms.

2) Going off in the night could mean that the sinking temperature affects the battery power, although that usually manifests itself in intermittent low battery warning beeps rather than a full alarm. If the batteries are replaceable it might be worth putting fresh batteries in.

3) Just in case there is dust or insects in the alarm try to vacuum around the central detection chamber.

Harry

[Guest David Croxson]

This morning the alarms went off, beeping six times, twice about 30" apart. Since then nothing but it woke the household up! Nothing as far as I can tell triggered them. I have switched the mains off and no chirruping to suggest a low battery in either unit. I have vacuumed each unit and removed a cobweb from one and restored the mains.

Both are in date, (replacement 2016). Any suggestions as to what I can do to check they're not malfunctioning?

I have a EI141 upstairs and EI146 downstairs.

Many thanks

David

[Safelincs]

Hi David

I contacted the manufacturer and received a very helpful reply:

'This definitely sounds like contamination inside the sensor of the alarms – most likely the Ei146.

As they have tried cleaning them, we do offer a free of charge inspection/service to the end users, so if they want they can send the heads of the alarms (without batteries) in a jiffy bag along with a covering letter and we will service and return to them usually within 2-3 working days.

The alarms are borderline for this service as we do not service alarms over 8 years old, so if they could return them as soon as then we will get them sorted for them.'

 

Harry

[Guest David Croxson]

Thank you, that's a very helpful reply indeed! As far as I know we have not had a repeat of this false alarm, but it's a very worthwhile thing to have done I think. I shall certainly be buying like for like replacement suits if this is the level of service the company offers,

Many thanks

David

[Guest K.Gonzalez]

Hi , I just bought  two new BRK ionisation alarms  model 670 MBX to replace the 10 year old ones , I boght the same ones so the base plate and wiring won’t have to be change but now I just replaced them on their place following the battery instructions etc , even reset them for 15 second without the battery etc and when I switch the main power to them .... all hell breaks lose and both won’t stop beeping , if I disconect ether one from the mains the other one is fine and it’s all working , please could you guys help ? Cheers

[Guest James from wv]

Ok so commenting on this thread as maybe a help to some. Our smoke alarms are hard wired into our electrical system and was going off constantly. After changing all of the batteries in all 4 alarms, the problem still existed. So I removed the alarms one at a time to check the electrical connections and found 2 alarms to have a loose wires that was causing a fault to set the alarms off with no smoke or fire present. Hope this helps. 

[green-foam]

On 1/4/2018 at 16:54, Guest K.Gonzalez said:

Hi , I just bought  two new BRK ionisation alarms  model 670 MBX to replace the 10 year old ones , I boght the same ones so the base plate and wiring won’t have to be change but now I just replaced them on their place following the battery instructions etc , even reset them for 15 second without the battery etc and when I switch the main power to them .... all hell breaks lose and both won’t stop beeping , if I disconect ether one from the mains the other one is fine and it’s all working , please could you guys help ? Cheers

Since one will work with out the other it would suggest an incompatibility problem.

You say you changed two smoke alarms, are there any more interconnected? if so remove them and put the other new one back to see what happens.

Also make sure the connections are the same at any detector and that there is no junction where the colours could have been swapped.

[Guest Ears Ringing!]

We are in a vacation rental, a tiny old house with 11-ft ceilings. Yesterday while cooking one of the battery-operated (stand alone) smoke detectors attached to the ceiling went off (there is no kitchen fan). My husband had to stand on the fridge to take it down! Our concern is there are several others in the small place, all on the ceilings. We don't know what we'll do if one goes off in another room (there's one in the living room only 4 ft away from the kitchen one - it didn't go off thank goodness!). There's no way to reach the others.

If it happens again our only option seems to be leaving the unit, hoping it would eventually turn off. (we didn't want to open the doors to the outside for any length of time to let air in in case a neighbour heard the alarm and called the fire department.)

My question: do battery-operated smoke detector alarms eventually turn off on their own?

[green-foam]

Stand alone battery smoke alarms will continue to sound until the air is clear from smoke or the battery runs flat.

If you can not reach one that has activated for a known reason I can only suggest you "waft" something slightly solid (Folded newspaper at worst) under it to dissipate the smoke.

[Guest Guest JC]

Hi everyone, I’m living in a home with four housemates and this morning at exactly 4am our upstairs fire alarm went off; loud alarm, robotic voice shouting fire, the whole works. After about a minute of this it turned off by itself. We checked the entire house, tested all the light switches, and we can’t find anything wrong. The downstairs alarm did not sound, and although it is humid which I’ve heard can cause some fire alarms to go off, it’s been humid all summer and this is the first time it’s happened. All of the bedroom doors were closed at the time it went off and there are no nearby windows though it is adjacent to a ceiling vent and the attic but unfortunatley we can’t get in there. Could anyone tell me what is going on?

[Tom Sutton]

You can start by giving the full details of the fire alarm involved.

[Guest Guest c]

My alarm started to randomly go off last night and shuts itself off after 10 seconds or so. Unfortunately, it triggers all 8 of the alarms when it does so. It started around 8pm and they have been randomly going off throughout the night. I have disconnected each (one at a time) to see if I can locate a defective one but no luck. The alarm has been going off anywhere from five minutes to an hour. It’s a Kiddie fire and carbon monoxide detector. Any thoughts on why this is happening? 

 

 

[Safelincs]

Hi, I am puzzled, as the combined smoke and CO detector from Kidde is free-standing and not connected! Which would make me think that you have a carbon monoxide problem at your house.

Is the link showing teh correct alarm?

Harry

[Guest Madelline]

Ours went off twice in the middle of the night for about 10 seconds each time. We blew on it and a freaking spider jumped out. So yeah, might want to see if there’s dust or spiders around it... 

[Guest Amanda]

My property manager and I are at a lose here trying to figure out my issue and the maintenance team isn't doing much. I live in a apartment complex that was heavily renovated and I'm the first person to live in this unit since everything was complete. I've been living in this apartment for 8 months now. My smoke detectors are hard wired and battery operated and very sensitive. I have a hard time cooking in my kitchen because anything I do sets off the one in the living room.

My issues started a few weeks ago with the one in the living room. It went off randomly in the middle of the night for a couple of loud beeps and then stopped. It did that once a night for a couple of days before it increased to a few times a night. After a week, it went off 15xs one night starting at 2am and continuing until 8am - this time, setting off the one in the hallway and master bedroom as well. I've only heard them go off 1 time during the day before, it is always at night.

Maintenance changed the batteries in them and it didn't work, they still went off. They changed the batteries again and again a third time and they still went off. They then replaced the one in the living room with a batter operated only version and they still went off - all three did. I have taken every one of them down and they still go off, so they are all shoved under a bunch of blankets and pillows in my guest room to muffle the sound.

The weather has been all over the place here so some nights I have the A/C on or the heat on or nothing at all. No matter which of those I do, they go off. The only one that I haven't heard go off is the one in the guest room. I keep that room shut at all times (to prevent my cat from going in) and all the vents are shut to save my energy bill so that room stays pretty cold at all times (not sure if that's helping?).

Any advice on this would be appreciated as I'm going on week 4 of this.

[Safelincs]

Hi Amanda

I would need the brand and model number of  your alarm, please (or a photo). It is unusual that mains powered alarms should beep once they have been removed from the base. Are you sure that it is not a different alarm in the room causing the alarm, eg a carbon monoxide alarm? Of course you did mention that the alarm set off others at some point, which speaks against a battery powerd carbon monoxide alarm.

If there was a lot of renovating going on it could be that the smoke detectors have dust contamination. To address this potential issue, vacuum around the openings of the alarm with a soft brush attachment.

Harry

[Guest Amanda]

Hi Harry,

Appreciate you getting back to me! I have cleaned them and no it isn't the sound for carbon monoxide issues. My apartment complex installed brand new ones a few days ago but after a few days the issues started again. I cleaned them and still the issues remained. They came in yesterday and completely un-installed the one in the living room to "solve" the issue. But last night, it started again with the one in the hallway. I'm starting to think this might be an electrical issue now.

Any other suggestions you might have are welcomed since my complex is doing the bare minimum.

thanks,

Amanda

[Tom Sutton]

Get them back they haven't solved the problem.

[Guest ClArita]

Hi Can you please help me here.

 

My kitchen smoke alarm had gone off due to Smoke which has activated loud siren which has switched off automatically, however I am not sure if I have to reset the alarm?

Looking forward hearing from you 

[Safelincs]

Hi, Usually the alarm will reset by itself.

Harry

[Guest Homebody]

My less than 8, month old smoke detector has randomly gone off twice in my bedroom. First time it only beeped twice. Second time it beeped three times. There was about a weeks time between each time it went off. The day of the second time we were doing renovations in the bedroom. There was sawing and lots of joint compound (but no sanding). It’s a 10 yr battery smoke detector that a company put in when we had our bathroom renovated last October. Any ideas why it’s going off and only in my bedroom. 

[Safelincs]

Hi Homebody, would you know what alarm model this is? Mabe you can send a photo?

Harry