Hello,

Yesterday at about 5:30pm my fire alarm in my upstairs bedroom went off. It’s the Kidde fire alarm. It went off for about 20 seconds, 3 times in a row but set off all the alarms in my house. It is hard wired with a battery back up so I took it down and I’m in the process of changing batteries but I’m just confused because it never chirped for low battery. I had all the windows in my house open so I’m wondering if something outside triggered it but I can’t understand what has made it go off.

 

Thanks

Since the windows were open, and your smoke alarm has never gone off before, the probability is that a "pocket of smoke" was blown in and that is what the detector detected, it was doing its job.

If you are changing the batteries, its a good idea to write the date on them too.

On 20/09/2018 at 08:57, Guest Madelline said:

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... 

Same here, 02:30 - 03:38 - 05:00 eventually I pulled all three heads and inspected them, spider by this time had dropped to the floor out of one of the units and was making a break for it.

We moved in an old house in a very remote area in New Hampshire and the 2 alarms when off at the same time in the middle of the night. Lasted about 20 sec and than it stopped by itself. teh alarm is "First Alert" smoke Nd carbon monoxide alarm with voice. I only heard

"evacuate"... the light button next to smoke was red for both of them. Terribly frightening. my 6 year old is crying...

I tested the alarm by pressing the test button and it went off again similarly for about 20 sec both upstairs and downstairs.  

 

Should i do something about this?  Should I be concerned? we moved in the house 2 days ago... this is the first time it happened. Any thoughts or advice are very much appreciated.  Thank you.

Both would have sounded as they are interlinked.

Believe it or not, it's not uncommon for smoke alarms to false alarm (Although in theory they shouldn't, it does happen)

Sadly there is not possible to say "do xyz and you will be fine" as it depends on why one went off. (Being interlinked, one will cause the other to activate) But you should check the age of the detectors, they should be changed when they are 10 years old, also if they have standby batteries, how old are they? You should also clean them once a year (Vacuum cleaner and the crevice tool if you have)

Hi, Smoke Detector went off around 1AM for 3 sec and then become normal. Same thing happened 3weeks ago as well. No other issue found. Annoying as when it happens, triggers all alarms. Each room has it own detector. Please suggest.   

OK. My fire alarm keeps going off. At first it was going well. But for 4 days it's been going off at MIDNIGHT. Yep, you heard that right. 

With it getting colder at night your backup battery is probably running low giving you a low battery warning. Or your alarm is getting too old (more than 10 years). 

Step 1: check the age of the alarm. You can find the date on the side or back of your smoke alarm. If it's older than 10 year, you need to replace.

Step 2: make sure the backup battery has enough power left

Step 3: if none of the above, vacuum the alarm thoroughly to get rid of spider webs etc

Step 4: if the above has not helped replace the alarm

Harry

Is it a fire alarm or smoke alarm? (They are NOT the same)

We live in a two year old home, there are 8 hard wired smoke detectors in the house and ADT alarm smoke detectors

The hard wired smoke detector in the garage went off around 9pm, checked the entire house no smoke or smell of carbon monoxide, I pushed the silence button, it stopped for about two minutes and then went off again, I pushed the silence button again and it stopped for about two minutes, then went off, it sets off 4 other detectors

I replaced the battery with no luck, I unplugged it and removed the battery, that resolved the issue, off to buy a new one in the morning, hope that resolves the problem

You could have taken the smoke detector down and cleaned it with a vacuum cleaner (Clears out any dust etc)

If you are going to change it, as it is interlinked get another one of the same brand, if you don't none of them may work at all.

Carbon monoxide does not smell.

 

Hi, Reading all the above and realising I am not alone. Sebson interlinked alarm went of for a good wee while then started to bleep. Nothing at all to indicate smoke. Any ideas? It stopped itself after bleeping a few times.

If it has now stopped bleeping, and still works when you press the test button, you have had a false alarm.

It went off about an hour ago, we were asleep. Beeped maybe 4 times and stopped automatically. CO is not blinking, just the part where you can test it was blinking red upstairs and downstairs but basement was green. Again, all stopped by itself and we hit test on the main and upper and it’s all now green. Do you think it’s ok?

If it has now stopped bleeping, and still works when you press the test button, you have had a false alarm.

My fire alarm just went off making the laudest noices and robot saying fire repletetly. Thank God there's no fire. Humidity is at 79. Could that humidity triggered the false Alarm?

Possibly.

I would have asked more questions, but as you asked last week, and the probability of you replying is almost zero, it seems pointless. (It's just the way this forum works.)

While this is an old topic, I thought I'd mention my recent findings. Erratic smoke alarm going off randomly. Yes I replaced the unit but took the opportunity to have a deep dive into the sensor. Found a tiny baby spider had been attracted to it, so as it wandered about deep inside the sensing cavity, it made the thing sound. I gave the whole unit a blast of canned air to clean and it's absolutely fine now. So I have a spare. In date.

Cold in the area today . Have been running a humidifier the prior couple days… My smoke alarm sounded today in the afternoon then quickly went off. I took each one down at a time to see which one was setting the whole system to alarm. Three are removed and now another smoke alarm is going off . But , only for a few seconds then going off . Cannot reach the remaining ones . They are old . Can this just be the problem. Thank you 

It could be.

It is often suggested that smoke alarms should be changed when they are 10 years old.

Can someone please explain why smoke alarm goes crazy when very little cooking is done & no steam. The area is well ventilated. 
the smoke alarm is in hall next to kitchen . 
Could it b issue with cooker or fridge / freezer . How could I trace cause ? Wod turning off fridge when nxt cooking rule fridge out ? Advice very much appreciated. I have symptoms of poisoning & very concerned 

 

 

If you have symptoms of poisoning you should seek medical help.

Regarding your smoke alarm:

1) Make

2) Model

3) Its age

4) When did you last clean it

5) When did you last change its battery

6) Does it activate every time you cook?

6a) Does it activate any other time, or only when you cook?

Hi there,

I’ve recently moved into a new flat and the smoke detector keeps going off randomly in the night - sometimes 10:30pm, the 2am and then 3am, 5am so on. The LL has been to replace a new unit today and he said it should be fine.

However, it just went off randomly at 10:30pm - no candles had been lit and no cooking going on either, I was in bed in a separate room. This keeps happening with no exact pattern. Weirdly though it didn’t go off between 6-9pm when I was in the living room and cooking in the galley kitchen next door. It keeps shocking me as it’s so loud and really disturbing my sleep!! I feel like I’m going crazy lol. 

Any advice please as it’s only be 3rd week in the new place and I don’t want to keep bothering the LL without any new suggestions.

Thanks!

Smoke alarms have no user serviceable parts, so the next suggestion is to change the unit, as this has already been done this implies that there is something else causing the smoke alarm to activate. The connections to the smoke alarm should be checked for tightness, but also the supply end of the cable should also be checked for tightness. (A loose connection can induce a spike)

You only mention one smoke alarm, is there not another one in the flat that is interlinked? If so that too should be checked/changed 

You could also temporarily secure a battery powered smoke alarm close to the "troublesome one" and see does that activate too.

Since smoke alarms have no user serviceable parts the other thing to do is relocate the smoke alarm from where it is as it may be sitting in a constant draught