Diane and I woke up to a chirping sound. “It’s one of the smoke detectors,” I groaned. We threw on our clothes and wandered around our house trying to find out which smoke detector was the culprit (we have 8 of them). Finally, I located the chirping unit…in the basement. This detector is hard-wired into the ceiling.
After setting up our step-stools, Diane and I managed to take the lower half of the detector down. We replaced the battery and…it still chirped. Diane fiddled with the battery. Still chirped. I fiddled with the battery. Still chirped. I changed the new Duracell battery with a new Energizer battery. Still chirped.
Finally, it occurred to me that this Kidde detector was both a smoke detector…and a carbon monoxide detector. And, carbon monoxide detectors expire after 6 or 7 years (although the manufacturers claim they’ll last for 10 years). So I called Capital Heating (the guys who installed the detector when they installed our Generac Natural Gas Generator about six years ago). Capital Heating was still up and running during the coronavirus pandemic.
I spoke with the Capital Heating dispatcher and she told me, “Our technician will be out between 4 P.M. and 7 P.M.” Since we’d been tortured by the chirping, for an hour already (it was 9 A.M.) this was NOT what I wanted to hear.
But, luck was with us! The technician arrived at 1 P.M. and sure enough, a new carbon monoxide/smoke detector installation solved the chirping problem. Better yet, the installation was totally covered under the Generac generator service agreement (go figure!). Diane tipped the technician lavishly.
Have you checked your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors lately? Don’t you just hate that infernal chirping sound?
I live in an apartment so I only have one smoke detector. Unfortunately it’s in a hallway outside my bathroom . If I take a shower too long the steam will set it off so I end up taking the battery out before I shower. I don’t have to do this too often as I’m a bath person. My previous apartment was in a small building with only 8 units and they had detectors in the hallways and would chirp for three or four days before the owner would get around to changing the battery.
About twenty years ago some friends of mine were getting sick and suffering from migraines and it turned out to be carbon monoxide poisoning. They were lucky to figure it out before someone died.
Steve, our building codes require a smoke detector in every bedroom. And carbon monoxide detectors on every floor, including basements. Carbon monoxide is deadly. A few years ago, some girls were having a sleep-over in a basement. The furnace leaked carbon monoxide and one of the little girls died. Very sad.
Like Steve, we have one outside the bathroom. And yes, I hate that chirping! It’s especially annoying when you change the battery and it won’t stop. Annoying. There was once a small fire in the basement of the building that was set by a disgruntled tenant. We have two fire escape windows, but the only usable one is in the bedroom, next to my side of the bed, so if necessary we could easily get out and either go down or go up to the roof. The long ladders on the big fire trucks reach the roof too.
Jeff, the chirping of the smoke detectors is maddening! Fortunately, we lucked out with an early visit by the technician. He was in and out in five minutes. Better yet, ZERO cost!
Once again, my comment appeared, then disappeared. What’s up?
Rick, I think the coronavirus is attacking your comments! Or, it’s all the traffic on the Internet. I had trouble logging on to by bank’s web site yesterday to find out if our Economic Stimulus money had been Direct Deposited–it hadn’t.
I hate that sound, but it happens about annually until we change the battery, though Energizer batteries seem to last half again as long as the copper top ones. We have three detectors, one up, two down. You have eight? Wow. Your house must be huge, 4,000 sq. Ft. or more.
Rick, it’s just the building codes here. We have four bedrooms so that’s four smoke detectors. We also have two more smoke detectors hard-wired in hallways. And we have three carbon-monoxide detectors, one on each level of the house.
We have one in the kitchen, den, hallway, and each bedroom (4). We also have a carbon-monoxide detector in the hallway. We try to remember to change all the batteries every time the clocks go forward or back—but that’s a lot of 9-volt batteries so sometimes we have waited for the chirp. A couple of years ago, the twins and some friends rented a cabin in the mountains of north Arkansas during winter break. John and I got them a carbon-monoxide detector to take with them because I knew they’d be using the cabin’s heater and I’ve read too many tragedies about faulty heaters and plugged up vents. Better safe than sorry.
Deb, that was very smart of you and John to send a carbon monoxide detector with the twins. You can’t be too careful about carbon monoxide. It’s odorless. We usually change all our smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector batteries in August. That used to be the time Diane would get into Back to School mode and would deep clean every room before she went back to work.
I had to replace both of the carbon monoxide detectors last year. They started chirping within days of each other. They plug into the wall so just died – no batteries to replace.
Smoke detectors get attention when needed.
Beth, we replaced the plug-in carbon monoxide detectors a year ago so we should be set for a few years. This hard-wired carbon monoxide detector was another story.
We have smoke detectors in every bedroom but I’ve only heard them when I pressed the test button or when the battery’s empty which happens not too often.
They are like a disk so you can threw the holder in or just leave them somewhere.
In the guest apartment in the old house our daughter in law once complained about a “gas smell” so we bought a “gas detector” for the kitchen where the gas heater was located, but it didn’t react???
And then one day we had that smell again – coming from the neighbour’s gas meter!