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what invisible thing could set off my smoke detector? (lemm.ee)

submitted 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

85 comments fedilink hide all child comments

(I have carbon monoxide detectors that are not going off)

I have smoke detectors that are incorporated into my home alarm system. The other day, the one by my front door went off for no apparent reason, twice, and when I changed the batteries, it started alarming again immediately.

there was absolutely no reason for it, there were no open windows or doors nearby, it just went off. so, my alarm company replaced it. installed the new smoke detector yesterday and... it just went off again. completely different smoke detector.

there's absolutely nothing in my house that could produce carbon monoxide, but I have separate CO detectors anyway that aren't going off. there's no smell, there's nothing visible, and these are those ~~electro optical~~ photoelectric style ones.

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I don't think this is what you're experiencing, but I had an alarm go off randomly for one beep once. Went and looked at it, and a few seconds later a spider crawled out and away from it.

If it's photoelectric, anything that could scatter light could cause it to go off. Is your house dusty?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

not particularly, and this one is the closest to my air filter. they're replacing it one more time, and I'm going to put a security camera on it this time lol

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

If you're going to the expense of putting a camera on it, why not take it a little further and slap together an arduino-based sensor suite with some logging? See if you can find any correlations in temp/humidity/gas conc that might help with diagnosis.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

expense? I've got a half dozen used smartphones and webcams laying around

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Fair. No arduino kits though?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

nah I'm more of an end-user type