100 Volt smoke detectors

[B-Sass]

Three weeks ago I installed 5 smoke dectors with 9 v battery backup, plain jain and cheap in an addition for a residence. 1 in the existing common area,1 in the attic of the addition by the HVAC equipment,1 in the new bedroom,2 in the common areas of said new addition. Here is the problem...@ a week ago the H.O. complained that the smoke detectors went in the middle of the night and he ripped out the one in the existing residence to stop the bleeding from his ears.1 smoke down. I explained that if does this again he would need to see which one stays lit and remove it to see if it was the defective unit. It happened again and turned out to be the one in the attic of the new addition and the H.O. removed it from service. 3 days later smokes went off again. Not sure wich one went off this time but what the ?? If any body has any ideas other than taking an$80 hit to replace them all I would like to hear it. The times the smokes went off were random. an usually during the AM.
Thanks,
B-SASS

 

[mxslick]

Again I am gonna post this: If the smokes are going off, DO NOT EVER assume there is nothing wrong!! First order of business is ALWAYS call the fire dept and let them check for any signs of fire or smoke. I am personally aware of at least five cases where someone assumed that the smoke detector was going off for no reason, and they ended up with a house (and place of business) in flames. (Three of the five were electrical fires, one was a bad chimney and the other was a dropped cigarette behind a couch.)

With that said, one issue in this case may be the detector located in the attic...a lot of brands specifically say not to mount in the attic due to heat issues (and possibly dust). So heat detectors are the best bet in the attic. (Unless it is roof/ceiling insulated and/or finished.)

Loose interconnect leads or interconnect leads grounding out could trigger alarms.

I have had a smoke alarm go off when a spider got in and was in the sensing chamber. It was obvious that it wasn't smoke or fire as the alarm was very erratic.:grin:

Very rarely, a defective detector or power surges/glitches could trigger a false alarm.

In this case though my bet is the attic smoke causing it, or the HVAC equipment may have an issue..in fact I'd say the HVAC is to blame.

 

[dieselram752]

Smoke in the attic sounds like its getting cooked by the heat.
They cant be rated to stand for attic temps.
I had a local fire dept require a smoke in an attic years ago and i warned the home owner and the fire dept that it was a bad idea and sure enough 2 weeks into the summer i was back removing the smoke and putting a blank plate on the 4" round in the attic

 

[MichaelGP3]

You can't really be asking about 100 volt smoke detectors. I didn't think they were distributed outside of Japan. If you have these, they don't like 120 volts.

 

[Split Bolt]

Smoke in the attic sounds like its getting cooked by the heat.
They cant be rated to stand for attic temps.
I had a local fire dept require a smoke in an attic years ago and i warned the home owner and the fire dept that it was a bad idea and sure enough 2 weeks into the summer i was back removing the smoke and putting a blank plate on the 4" round in the attic

I had a very similar experience as well!:roll:

 

[Martinelli]

I have had this same problem on several jobs. It is always in the middle of the night and the home owners are usually very unhappy, first they take out the battery, then they tear it off the wall because they don't have the patience to figure out how to remove it properly. I have called the manufacture and talked with suppliers, apparently it is common in this area, I was told that the utility company send "dirty power" through the lines at night. This seems to trigger the detector. I was told a surge protector on the main panel will help. I

 

[brantmacga]

i talked to a manufacturer about this once when i experienced a similar problem;

in your case, its probably the attic, but the manufacturer told me to look for moisture in the battery contacts. they said it can cause a false alarm.

in my situation it was a faulty smoke detector. the homeowner thought a few were bad, but it was simply the interconnect tripping the other alarms. i had to sit there for an hour and wait for the alarms to go off, then find the one that started it.

 

[B-Sass]

They are 120 volt, that was a typo. The one in the attic was removed and the still exists. I guess I'll have to replace them all but the attic to satisfy the H.O.
Thanks

 

[Rad sparky]

This may seem funny but one home owner and I narrowed it down to small insects. They were going off in the early am hours. I guess the bugs liked the led. The owner after talking to the rep.taped a piece of flea collar to the smokey and no more problems. The homeowner could see the bugs with a magnifying glass.

 

[electricguy61]

I had this problem a number of times.

Solution: throw away the batteries that come with the units and install good quality replacements (duracell, energizer, rayovac, etc.)

Haven't had a problem since I made this an SOP for my guys.

 

[jmellc]

Mega dittoes on the batteries. I often find out of date batteries in new units out of the box. A lot of them are off brand batteries too. 1 supply house will give me new batteries for the outdated ones. Otherwise, I buy good batteries & add to the bill. That takes care of a lot. I find a bad unit out of about every 25 or so as well. If the battery bracket doesn't slip in well or unit doesn't hold well in the mounting bracket, I replace it then, especially if it's in an awkward location.

I always tell customers to replace batteries spring & fall, when they reset their clocks. Use old batteries in radios, clocks, etc.