Annoying fire alarm Q

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olly

Senior Member
Location
Berthoud, Colorado
Occupation
Master Electrician
I don't troubleshoot fire alarms very often. There was one that started intermittent beeping. The home owner went through and replaced all of the batteries on all of them and now they are all intermittently beeping. They are all about 8 years old. I am going over to try to help and am looking for some advice...

I was going to start by changing the one that started beeping with a new one. Im wondering if I should just change them all since you are supposed to every ten years?

Thanks!!!
 
olly said:
I don't troubleshoot fire alarms very often. There was one that started intermittent beeping. The home owner went through and replaced all of the batteries on all of them and now they are all intermittently beeping. They are all about 8 years old. I am going over to try to help and am looking for some advice...

I was going to start by changing the one that started beeping with a new one. Im wondering if I should just change them all since you are supposed to every ten years?

Thanks!!!
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I would check the batteries even though they have been replaced. I have seen bad batteries brand new out of the package. Check them with a volt meter. Failing that, look for an owner's manual that may have a guide for what beeps mean what.
 
Are these smoke alarms? They typically last about 10 years so they could just be going bad.
 
infinity said:
Are these smoke alarms? They typically last about 10 years so they could just be going bad.
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Depending on the brand, if they are combination CO/smoke alarms they may only last 7 years. The cadence and frequency of the chirps should be different for "low battery" vs "He's dead, Jim."
 
gadfly56 said:
Depending on the brand, if they are combination CO/smoke alarms they may only last 7 years. The cadence and frequency of the chirps should be different for "low battery" vs "He's dead, Jim."
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Are you saying if its bad batteries they will all make beeping sounds at different times?
 
Make sure it's actually the smokes that are beeping. I found, washing machines, dryers, microwaves, alarm keypads and a UPS beeping and the smokes getting the blame. :rant:
 
I service smoke and combination smoke/ CO's quite often.
Modern units will typically have 10 years before it reaches it end of life but some end sooner. I doubt that the all reached it sooner at the same time but we've all seen odder things.
Chances are if the home owner replaced a the batteries there is a good chance that he/she placed one or two in backwards.
Someone else mentioned this too that many times there is another battery unit somewhere I the house unrelated to the smoke detectors that needs to be addressed.
Sometimes we just never find the answer because it is just easier and cheaper to replace them all since they are eight years old and labor is expensive.
 
Another (infrequent) problem is when owners try to go cheap and use "Heavy Duty" (carbon-zinc) batteries instead of the specified alkaline (or Lithium) batteries.
The carbon-zinc has a high enough voltage but the internal impedance is also enough higher that they will fail high current pulse tests, which are more reliable than simple voltage checks.
 
readydave8 said:
also bugs or dust can make them chirp
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This is what I was going to mention as well. You could just use a vacuum and/or some compressed air to clean them out.

I also feel like I've had issues with installing new batteries or brand new smokies only to have them chirp, but once I do a test, they stop chirping. I always just assumed it was something along the lines of a capacitor needing to be discharched. Does anyone else experience that?

Rob

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Knuckle Dragger said:
I service smoke and combination smoke/ CO's quite often.
Modern units will typically have 10 years before it reaches it end of life but some end sooner. I doubt that the all reached it sooner at the same time but we've all seen odder things.
Chances are if the home owner replaced a the batteries there is a good chance that he/she placed one or two in backwards.
Someone else mentioned this too that many times there is another battery unit somewhere I the house unrelated to the smoke detectors that needs to be addressed.
Sometimes we just never find the answer because it is just easier and cheaper to replace them all since they are eight years old and labor is expensive.
Click to expand...

Many modern units will last 10 years, but these are 8 years old. If they were all installed and powered up for the first time all at once they will all reach CO end of life at the same time. There is literally an internal clock that counts down to "doomsday".
 
gadfly56 said:
Many modern units will last 10 years, but these are 8 years old. If they were all installed and powered up for the first time all at once they will all reach CO end of life at the same time. There is literally an internal clock that counts down to "doomsday".
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Yup, that definitely could happen too, I didn't rule that cenario out.
I installed a batch of BRK combo's about 10 + years ago. The end of life cycle on the co maxed out at 6years. I talked to their tech support rep he told me the smoke part is good for 10 and co is good for 5 years. What good is that?
They have since corrected that.
 
I've had brand new ones with battery backup that chirp immediately once powered on and battery installed/battery tab pulled.

Sometimes you have to fiddle with them to get battery terminals to make proper contact.
 
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