Smoke Alarm Woes

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tdgeek

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#217970 20-Jul-2017 17:38

Replaced battery in kitchen smoke alarm. Tested, all good. Put back, but it beeps every minute like the low battery warning. 10 minutes later its fine. Odd?

When I had this I changed the battery in another smoke alarm that doesnt have low battery beep, now it does.

Bad battery batch or do they need to settle in for an atmosphere change? I guess they went in 2010 when the house was built.

Old and new batteries are Eveready Super Heavy Duty.

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#1826058 20-Jul-2017 17:52

Fixed it. Youtube suggested there could be charge in the components, so removed battery, hold down test button for a few seconds, all ok now. the one that fixed itself must have sorted that out itself, maybe the residual charge in the components has gone to the ether, or I accidentally did the discharge on it.

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#1826064 20-Jul-2017 18:06

Probably close to needing to be replaced due to age, as I believe they aren't as effective as they get older. I would get one of those 10 year battery ones.

tdgeek

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#1826071 20-Jul-2017 18:16

mattwnz:

Probably close to needing to be replaced due to age, as I believe they aren't as effective as they get older. I would get one of those 10 year battery ones.

True. I did see a date on one of 2019. There are only 4, but one differs. I'm keen on a new set and start afresh.

Good advice.

michaelmurfy

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#1826072 20-Jul-2017 18:18

Got those 10yr smoke detectors in my house (combined with the house alarm connected ones) - they're pretty good.

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Ventura

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#1826088 20-Jul-2017 18:27

Beeping for ten minutes after replacing the battery is normal. Don't ask me why, but it is. As a fireman, I can say that most will do this.

The best smoke alarms are the long life optical alarms. Hassle and worry free. The battery is not able to be removed and should last you ten years. Older ionisation alarms should be replaced after this long anyway.

Make sure you whip the vacuum over them every now and then to remove dust built up.

As with anything, you get what you pay for.

tdgeek

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#1826093 20-Jul-2017 18:44

Thanks all.

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clive100

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#1826095 20-Jul-2017 18:50

Surely smoke alarms are supposed to take Alkaline batteries ? Super heavy duty are only carbon zinc type.

Ventura

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#1826096 20-Jul-2017 18:51

BTW, the kitchen isn't the best place to put smoke alarms. They will go off for burnt toast etc. and this usually ends up with removal of the battery because of the false alarms.

Hallways and bedrooms are a must, as well as living areas. When you sleep, so does your nose, you want them to wake you up when it counts. Not be a pain in the proverbial. Make sure you have escape routes and a safe meeting place.

jarledb

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#1826097 20-Jul-2017 18:52

Actually, Super Heavy Duty is just fine. Might not last a full year, but they will discharge slower than Alkaline and give you more of a heads up of the need to change them.

You can use Alkaline, but its not the most economical or the best (in terms of the low battery warning time).

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mattwnz

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#1826099 20-Jul-2017 18:54

Ventura: BTW, the kitchen isn't the best place to put smoke alarms. They will go off for burnt toast etc. and this usually ends up with removal of the battery because of the false alarms. Hallways and bedrooms are a must, as well as living areas. When you sleep, so does your nose, you want them to wake you up when it counts. Not be a pain in the proverbial. Make sure you have escape routes and a safe meeting place.

If it is a 2010 house, you would have hoped the council would have checked the location of where all the alarms are located, so they were positioned correctly to begin with.

jarledb

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#1826100 20-Jul-2017 18:55

Ventura: BTW, the kitchen isn't the best place to put smoke alarms. They will go off for burnt toast etc. and this usually ends up with removal of the battery because of the false alarms. Hallways and bedrooms are a must, as well as living areas. When you sleep, so does your nose, you want them to wake you up when it counts. Not be a pain in the proverbial. Make sure you have escape routes and a safe meeting place.

Kitchens can be problematic. But its the room in your house where there is the biggest chance of a fire happening. So make sure you have a smoke detector close to the kitchen.

There are smoke detectors that can be "silenced" for a little while on false alarms, if you find one of those they can be good for the kitchen.

And ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS choose photo electric smoke detectors. They warn for smoldering and open flame fires, while the ionisation alarms only warn about open flame fires and are a lot more prone for false alarms.

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#1826288 21-Jul-2017 00:28

Get Cavius alarms. They make a kitchen alarm that is actually a heat alarm and not a smoke alarm. Therefore no false alarms even when installed in the kitchen.

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#1826302 21-Jul-2017 06:44

tdgeek:
Fixed it. Youtube suggested there could be charge in the components, so removed battery, hold down test button for a few seconds, all ok now. the one that fixed itself must have sorted that out itself, maybe the residual charge in the components has gone to the ether, or I accidentally did the discharge on it.

This is the answer to your original issue. Some alarms don't reset the low battery flag when the old battery is removed.

tdgeek

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#1826316 21-Jul-2017 08:14

Ventura: BTW, the kitchen isn't the best place to put smoke alarms. They will go off for burnt toast etc. and this usually ends up with removal of the battery because of the false alarms. Hallways and bedrooms are a must, as well as living areas. When you sleep, so does your nose, you want them to wake you up when it counts. Not be a pain in the proverbial. Make sure you have escape routes and a safe meeting place.

Agree. The one on the kitchen, is technically in the kitchen. Downstairs the kitchen and living room is a large area. Next to that is dining area, off that is formal living room. The alarm is where the kitchen leads to the dining area, so its quite a way from the gas cooktop, and we haven't had any false alarms. Havent burnt any toast either though

neb

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#1826624 21-Jul-2017 15:02

jarledb:
Actually, Super Heavy Duty is just fine. Might not last a full year, but they will discharge slower than Alkaline and give you more of a heads up of the need to change them.

You can use Alkaline, but its not the most economical or the best (in terms of the low battery warning time).

You can also get 9V LiIon rechargeables, which apart from being a one-off cost have the advantage that they don't start beeping at 5am when it gets cold. I recharge mine once a year so I don't know how long they'd last if you just left them, but it's quite a while.

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