Five Reasons Your Smoke Alarms are Chirping
Your fire alarms keep chirping at odd, random times and it’s starting to becoming irritating. It could also have you worried. Is the alarm not functioning, is it on its last legs, does it need to be replaced? Read on to learn the various reasons that an alarm is sending out those occasional beeps and chirps.
If it’s time to check the detectors and replace the batteries or the detectors, you’re in luck because SESCOS is currently running a special on smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. For just $79, we’ll test up to eight of your detectors and replace the batteries where needed.
1. They’re Old and Need to be Replaced.
Most smoke and carbon monoxide detectors last about 10 years. Do you know how old yours is? If you haven’t replaced your detectors and you’ve owned your home for more than 10 years, it’s time to replace them.
The best and safest way to do this is to replace them all at once with new detectors. The new detectors will work properly, be professionally installed and have all the latest features.
2. The Detector Doesn’t Work.
If age isn’t the issue, you could have a detector that isn’t working properly or wasn’t installed correctly. As in the situation with an older detector, your best bet is to have all of your detectors looked at by a professional electrician. Save yourself the trouble of testing and re-testing your detectors and let a professional electrician inspect them.
3. Dusty Detectors.
Have you allowed dust to pile up in your house? This could be causing harm to your detectors. In some cases, the detector interprets the dust as smoke and sets off an alarm. In other cases, the detector responds to the dust with intermittent chirps.
This tends to be a problem that happens with older smoke detectors. New detectors have more finely-tuned sensors that can tell true smoke from dust, fumes, and chemicals. If your detector is giving off false alarms, it might be time for an upgrade.
4. Power Problems.
Power brownouts, ground fault interruptions, and overloaded circuits are all problems that can throw your detectors off. If the power goes out temporarily, you might experience problems with the detectors when the power comes back.
Are all your detectors interconnected? That may have seemed like a great idea at the time, but what ends up happening is that one bad detector makes all of them go bad. If one of your interconnected alarms sets off a false alarm, it will make the others do the same thing.
You can nip this problem in the bud by having your alarms disconnected from each other. Don’t attempt to do this yourself. This is definitely a job you want to leave to a professional.
5. It Could Be Battery Problems.
If the battery is starting to wear out in your smoke alarm or carbon monoxide detector, it will begin intermittently chirping. Another problem might be that the battery isn’t connecting properly. They may have been improperly installed. It might be blocked by a pull-tab or other obstruction. It could be something simple like the battery drawer being open.
If you suspect that a battery problem might be causing your alarm problems, we can inspect your detectors to figure out what’s going on. We can replace the batteries with fresh ones and make sure everything is correctly installed.
Stay Safe with SESCOS
Make a New Year’s resolution to keep your home and family safe. With SESCOS sale on detector inspections and installations, you can feel confident that your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide monitors are in perfect working condition. Call us today to schedule an inspection.