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Help! My Smoke Alarm Will Not Stop Beeping

Smoke alarms save lives. Sometimes, a smoke alarm will beep intermittently for seemingly no reason. This rhythmic beeping is enough to drive any person mad, but don’t rip the batteries out of your alarm out of exasperation! There are several reasons why your alarm may be doing this and some of them are very important.

Make Sure the House Is Free of Smoke

The first thing you should do when your smoke alarm begins beeping is investigate the source of the sound. The sensors in a smoke alarm are quite sensitive and may pick up on particles in the air before you do. Do a survey of your home to make sure that there is no smoke present, indicating a fire. If you have confirmed that there is no smoke present, you can figure out why else your alarm is going off.

Low Battery

If your alarm is chirping every 30-60 seconds, it is most likely due to a low battery. Whether your alarm is battery reliant or hardwired with a battery backup, changing out the batteries should resolve the issue.

Old Unit

If you changed the batteries but the beeping persists, the problem could lie with the alarm itself. Most smoke alarms have a lifespan of 10 years. After a decade, the parts within the alarm begin to degrade. Check the back of your alarm for a date. This is not an expiration date but a manufacturer date. Nevertheless, this date should give you an idea of how old your alarm is. If it is particularly old, you may consider replacing it.

Sunlight

Many smoke alarms are photoelectric. This means that their sensors have beams of light inside them that help them to measure the amount of large particles in the air. If these types of alarms are faced with direct sunlight, it can disrupt their function and cause them to misread the room, and therefore be triggered.

Power Surge

If your alarm is hardwired, a power surge can cause it to chirp. This can be a tricky process depending on how many smoke alarms you have in your house, but first locate the chirping alarm. Then try to identify which breaker that alarm is connected to. This may take some trial and error. Once you have located the right breaker, turn it off and then back on again. This should be enough to reset the alarm.​

At the end of the day, there are several reasons why your smoke detector might be triggered in the absence of smoke. If that is the situation you find yourself in, try these troubleshooting options to try to silence them.

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By Ripple Creek Homes 8-25-2022