this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2024
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(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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[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Did you open one up yet? That might give you a clue ๐Ÿค”

E.g. I don't know exactly how wide the gaps are, but here it looks like small insects could get in. Maybe you have another problem than smoke ๐Ÿซฃ

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

a spider could absolutely crawl through the grading over the detector portion. these are under warranty from my security company, so I've held off on disassembling one but I will eventually

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

omg ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ The new detector went on off in the living room where the old one did. switched it to the kitchen, put the kitchen detector in the living room, and the new one went off in the kitchen. wtffff

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Sorry, trying to follow here. Three locations: front door, kitchen and living room. 4 detectors: original front door, new front door, kitchen and living room?

Original front door went off in situ and in the living room while holding it?

New front door went off at front door. Swapped NFD with living room - NFD went off in living room.

Moved NFD to kitchen and it went off in there too?

Where are the K and LV detectors now? Have any of those gone off anywhere in the house? Are THEY functional? (Sorry if you already said, Iโ€™m trying to piece the bits together and mighta missed that)

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

three detectors. front and living room are the same place. but I'm getting one more replacement to check

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

What country? AFAIK in the US you can't make the batteries replaceable. If they are wirelessly linked they can have auxiliary batteries for that, but (I believe) that's different than the main battery...

EDIT: I seem to be thinking of California, maybe not all of US.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

It's the same here in New Jersey, or at least the city I'm in. Recently a fire inspector came by the condo building I was living in & failed ~ 60% of the units because they still had the old style replaceable battery smoke detectors. Apparently going forward we are/were supposed to be using sealed battery smoke detectors & replace them entirely every ~10 years when they stop working.

EDIT: Not sure if that's OP's problem unless their alarm company is so cheap that they keep giving OP really old detectors to replace with.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

Depends on what kind of detector it is but alot of them use small amounts of radiation and a detector that triggers when the number of particles detected drops below some level.

How smoke detectors work

That being the case any particulate large enough to interrupt the particles could cause it to go off.

For example high humidity misty water from a shower wafting over a detector placed over the bathroom door, etc.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

Are your smoke detectors linked to each other? Could be faulty wiring in the circuit, or a completely different smoke detector failing and sending out an alarm that triggers the others. The latter happened in my home when I was growing up: the living room smoke detector kept going off a few seconds before the rest of them would chime in, but it turned out it was the one in the nearest hallway that was failing and sending out bad signals. The living room detector was just the next in the circuit.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

UPDATE: so they kept sending me the same model of smoke detectors so I didn't remove the old bracket, I would just mount the new detector in the old one. well, today, I see a moth larvae crawling out from behind it. I take the bracket off, and there we are; two moth nests. I think we've discovered the issue

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Have you ruled out other types of fumes? Eg fresh paint, perfume, scented oil diffusers etc.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

yeah I'm autistic so i can smell that shit a mile away

[โ€“] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Try replacing the batteries. That's often the reason for this type of thing.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

AFAIK in the USA you can't have the main batteries be replaceable (I think an aux battery for wireless functions is allowed...).

EDIT: I seem to be thinking of California, maybe not all of US.

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