Ei144 wont stop beeping!

[Rhaom]

I'm going crazy here.

I just moved into my house 2 months ago and the first thing I did when i moved in was replaced the batteries in all the smoke detectors so I know they are good.

However, early afternoon today suddenly they started beeping, roughly once every 2 minutes and its been going on for about 9 hours now. I've tried taking the batteries out one at a time, all 3 at the same time. I've tried turning the mains electric supply to the smoke alarms off and i've even had all 3 alarms detached from the mounting plate, with the batteries out and the mains electric turned off and they STILL continue to beep and its driving me completely insane!

If anybody has any insight as to what I can do to fix this issue I would greatly appreciate the help

[Safelincs]

Hi Rhaom

Yes, smoke alarms beeping for now apparent reason (especially in the night) can wear you down.

Things to check:

- Are the alarms less than ten years old? Once older they can become erratic. Replacement units are easy to fit

- Believe it or not, a common fault is that the fuse is left switched off after the batteries are replaced, resulting in beeps once the backup battery is running low. Obviously, you had already switched on and off a few times, so this does not apply in your case.

- If none of the above works vacuum out the smoke alarms to ensure dust or insects

- Still beeping? Check the wiring to ensure that the alarms are correctly linked to the 'always on' wires rather the 'switched' circuit of your lighting system.In your case it sounds as if you have a separate circuit for alarms altogether, so this would not apply.

By the way if you remove the units from the ceiling and remove the backup batteries, there can be still some residual charge which makes them beep. Just press the test button to drain the rest of that charge.

I hope this helps

Harry

[green-foam]

If they are beeping with no batteries in them and no mains I would suggest you look in the kitchen drawer or on top of a cupboard because there is another one you do not know about.

[Guest Beaver chops]

I had the same problem, after replacing the battery and turning the mains back on it continued to beep - until I held down Test for 15 seconds and it reset itself, and all is now quiet. 

[Tom Sutton]

Thanks Beaver chops other peoples experiences are very important.

[Guest Caroline]

Our ei144 won't stop beeping every 30 seconds, we've changed both batteries in the main smoke detector and in the heat detector, disconnected and reconnected the mains and reset both units. The heat detector is the one beeping but both units have flashing red lights. Any ideas?

[Safelincs]

Hi Caroline

Did you already check the age of the alarms? If older than ten years, they will need replacing.

Does the beeping continue when the alarms are removed from the ceiling and the battery is removed? There is always the possibility that an old carbon monoxide alarm is hidden in a drawer somewhere, beeping away.

Here a link to a help page about Ei smoke alarms

Harry

[Guest Caroline]

Hi Harry,

Yes it says to be replace 2021. The beeping is definitely coming from the unit on the ceiling, even after the alarm and battery is removed, We only have one carbon monoxide alarm, which I've tested and is working fine.

Any other ideas?

Thanks

[Safelincs]

Hi Caroline, if the alarm is removed and the battery taken out, there is physically no sounder left on the ceiling that could beep! The base plate does not contain a sounder. There must be something else that beeps.

Just for info, if you hold the alarm in your hands and have the batteries removed you can make sure no residual power is left in the alarm by pressing the hush button.

 

Harry

 

 

[green-foam]

I agree with Harry. I can count on two hands the number of times I have had to investigate beeping from "smoke alarms with no battery" only to find that yes it is NOT the device in question, but another one nearby. The most often one I have had is a "spare" smoke alarm sitting on top of a cupboard in the same room as the suspect detector. Once there was another one in the loft ABOVE the offending one.

 

[Guest let my toddler sleep!]

Every 1-2 minutes my alarm beeps once. It's only beeping on one of the units. I take the battery out to change it to a new one and the base continues to beep without the alarm attached to it and alarm with no battery. Any ideas?! 

[Safelincs]

Hi, can you please check that there is no CO alarm hidden away in the same room (with a low battery warning). This is quite a common issue, as it is difficult to spot where a beep is coming from.

Harry

[green-foam]

Bases only have connections and wires, they do not have any sounder at all, so it can not be the base in question.

Have you looked on top of any cupboards nearby or any drawers / boxes nearby?  I have heard of old devices still un opened in their packets found and the battery runs low after years. Also there may be one in the loft, be it one that is supposed to be there, or one that got put in a box for later......

 

[Guest Stressed out new homeowner]

So I moved into my house 1 month ago, came out of the shower today and the alarm outside the bathroom sounded tried to reset by holding down the hush button but it wouldn't reset I had to resort to removing all alarms from their base plate and then placing them back on.  Now when I try and test the offending alarm it goes off but sets off all 3 alarms and will not turn off again until I remove it from its base again!! So stressful!! 

[Guest Mike]

On 16/12/2016 at 10:29, Safelincs said:

Hi Caroline, if the alarm is removed and the battery taken out, there is physically no sounder left on the ceiling that could beep! The base plate does not contain a sounder. There must be something else that beeps.

Just for info, if you hold the alarm in your hands and have the batteries removed you can make sure no residual power is left in the alarm by pressing the hush button.

 

Harry

 

 

Thank you save my sanity found co2 alarm hiding away thought it was the smoke alarm. 

[green-foam]

Not wishing to as pedantic as it may sound, but I will say you found a CO alarm, not a CO2 alarm.

CO is carbon Monoxide and is the same density as air, its a by product of incorrect combustion.

CO2 is carbon Dioxide and is denser than air, it is also what makes fizzy drinks fizzy and is also used in fire extinguishers,

[Guest help]

My alarm won't stop bleeping. I've even removed the entire unit from the ceiling. Now the wires ate bleeping. Please help

[Safelincs]

Hi, it is definitely not the alarm :-) You need to hunt for hidden carbon monoxide alarms in the vicinity. One of those will be in a drawer with a low battery warning.

Harry

 

[green-foam]

As Harry said, its something else, it can not be cables / wires since they do not beep.

[Guest I live next door]

On 02/07/2014 at 14:20, Safelincs said:

 

- If none of the above works vacuum out the smoke alarms to ensure dust or insects

 

Harry

Well, I had a beeper in the middle of the night (at about 3.30am) up stairs on the landing. I live in a terrace and noises at night can travel. After an hour of frantically prodding it, twisting it, trying and failing to open it I graduated to repeatedly checking the clearly perfectly in order fuse box and trying to open it again and doing some more failing. All this punctuated with occasional bouts of (wishfully) thinking it had stopped only for it to start again 10 minutes later.

As a last resort - which clearly should have been my first - I went online for support, I mean solutions, and found this suggestion.  It totally totally worked.

Blessed silence since 4.30am - well that's what you'd expect wouldn't you? But no.

Sure there hasn't been a peep from the smoke alarm.

It would appear though, that what with all the beeping and the vacuuming I woke my neighbour. I got the impression, due to some unusually loud harumphing followed by a door slam, that the 5 to 7 seconds of vacuuming was somehow the last straw. Since then my large but usually nimble-footed neighbour has discovered that the stairs can be ascended and descended just as easily by clomping up and down them. The lack of sleep must have interfered with his memory or his bladder because he needs to do this rather regularly. Someone of of a suspicious mind or someone suffering from sleep-deprivation-induced paranoia I might consider him of being determined to make sure neither of us got back to sleep.

Surely it was better to stop the beeping?

Oh look whose here! "Hello 7.30am, I've been expecting you. Four thirty am was here earlier, but he's gone now."

Thanks for reading

[Guest Help]

How is the base plate beeping?? I removed the thing and it's still beeping, it's unbelievable, if it's suppose to last 10 years, why is the power running out just half a year once I moved into a newly built apartment? Just whyyyy??? 

[Harry]

Hi, it is definitely not the plate that beeps, as the plate has no sounder. It will be a CO alarm with low battery hidden away in the room somewhere.

Harry

[Guest GuestNo]

On 29/10/2018 at 11:01, Guest Help said:

How is the base plate beeping?? I removed the thing and it's still beeping, it's unbelievable, if it's suppose to last 10 years, why is the power running out just half a year once I moved into a newly built apartment? Just whyyyy??? 

What did you end up doing? I have the same problem.

[Safelincs]

Hi, if the alarm has been removed (see instructions) and you still hear a beeping in the room, it comes from a different source (eg a carbon monoxide alarm with low battery in a drawer).

Harry

[Guest Naomi]

On 13/01/2019 at 12:48, Safelincs said:

Hi, if the alarm has been removed (see instructions) and you still hear a beeping in the room, it comes from a different source (eg a carbon monoxide alarm with low battery in a drawer).

Harry

Safelincs, just wanted to say thank you. First home and typical on my own first time the alarm keep beeping! Didn’t have battery (will always have these now) so disconnected to wait till someone could help me in morning, was worried it would keep beeping after removing from unit but hasn’t so far and guessing it won’t so might be able to sleep tonight after all!