Smoke alarm having a lot of false alarms

Discussion in 'Repairs & Maintenance' started by James H, 15th Aug, 2017.

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  1. James H

    James H Well-Known Member

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    Hi, my interconnected hardwiring smoke alarms were shouting for no reason occasionally. But The battery has been newly replaced and the alarms were only 6months old.

    When it shouts it makes noise every 30second until I remove the battery. There was no one cooking nor there was any smoke. It often make noise at midnight while everyone is sleeping! Can anyone suggest what may be the reason for the issue? Thanks.
     
  2. The Y-man

    The Y-man Moderator Staff Member

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    Had this happen now an again on a mains powered unit as well. Unfortunately, no idea what causes it.

    The Y-man
     
  3. Martin73

    Martin73 Well-Known Member

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    Try blowing it out with some compressed air or vacuuming and if that doesn't work consider a warranty claim.

    What causes intermittent beeping or chirping | Kidde

    We had a mains powered smoke alarm that would chirp at unusual times and ended up replacing it but it was much older.

    It's not also a CO alarm as well by chance?
     
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  4. James H

    James H Well-Known Member

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    Hi thanks for the information. What is CO Alarm?
     
  5. Anthony416

    Anthony416 Well-Known Member

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    I had a friend with the same problem, turned out to be a warranty claim, new unit worked fine from then on.
     
  6. The Y-man

    The Y-man Moderator Staff Member

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    Carbon Monoxide.

    The Y-man
     
  7. James H

    James H Well-Known Member

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    Thanks! So is CO alarm supposed to be more accurate? Attached my alarm photo and I cannot really tell what type it is. It has a green light with a test/hush button.

    I am open to upgrade the alarm if it make sense. Bunnings has CO, CO+photoelectric and 10-year-long-battery-life models. Which one do you recommend?

    Search - Our range

    I am interested in the long life model. It says "always on, no chirps". But if it become faulty one day and shouts with no smoke, can I actually "turn it off" easily without smashing it? Thanks
     

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  8. DaveM

    DaveM Well-Known Member

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    Replace it.
     
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  9. Martin73

    Martin73 Well-Known Member

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    The Quell C3010K-CO doesn't have a replaceable battery - but at that price if it malfunctioned during its 10 years I'd get a free replacement from Bunnings. Make sure you scan your receipt.
     
  10. Joynz

    Joynz Well-Known Member

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    The OP says the existing smoke alarm is hard wired.

    JamesH - check that regulations allow you to replace a hard wired alarm with a battery operated one.

    I say this because there was some discussion on this forum about regulations being changed in some states to require that alarms be hard wired. Can't recall the details though.
     
  11. Anthony416

    Anthony416 Well-Known Member

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    I think in NSW all new homes must have hard-wired smoke detectors.
     
  12. jim1964

    jim1964 1941

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    Between midnight and 6am usually in this house,dont ask me why..............................
     
  13. Paul@PAS

    Paul@PAS Tax, Accounting + SMSF + All things Property Tax Business Plus Member

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    It can also be a failed earth leakage unit. Ours did this and it drove us nuts until sparkie replaced the module. (I would never had guessed that)
    Says they have a life of 10-15 years and trigger false smoke detector power level reading sometimes. Despite being on a different circuit !!
     
  14. SatayKing

    SatayKing Well-Known Member

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    An old thread but what the heck.

    Hardwired smoke alarms were going off intermittently early this morning. No fire or smoke fortunately. Decided to throw money at the problem. Faulty unit. Had them replaced. Now I can get some sleep. Must say it was a good service. Fella arrived within 20 minutes of me making the call.
     
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  15. Paul@PAS

    Paul@PAS Tax, Accounting + SMSF + All things Property Tax Business Plus Member

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    I recall my guy was glad I had HPM. Some cheaper system arent backwards compatible or something similar. Means all system except wiring needs replacement