Jaz Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 My son and I have changed all the batteries, but they are still beeping. Could it be something else and not the smoke detectors? My husband is out of town. I don't think I can sleep with the intermittent beeping! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 Carbon monoxide detector? Some carbon monoxide detectors get old and beep until you replace them. I don't remember if that can be true of smoke detectors too. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 A bad battery? Why do these things happen when the hubby is not home?????? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arctic Bunny Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 Could be out of date and time for a replacement. If you look up the model, it will tell you. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 Does your battery operated smoke alarm has a reset button? Mine has and we need to reset it after we change batteries to stop the beeping. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 (edited) If you have installed Brand New batteries in them and they keep beeping I think either they are defective and need to be replaced, or, they are detecting a problem. ETA: If you have more than one detector doing this, I suspect they may be detecting something. One beeping detector may be defective, but more than one doing the same thing is more problematic... Edited October 5, 2016 by Lanny 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyGF Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 (edited) This happened to me and my mom and I was so frustrated. Here's what I learned: a lot of smoke detectors require you to reset the alarm when you change the batteries. There may be a button you have to hold down or something. Look at your user's guide (you can probably find it on line) and it'll tell you what to do. This is very common now. Emily Edited October 5, 2016 by EmilyGF 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nd293 Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 It required a reset in our case. Can't remember how that was done though. The intermittent beeping is unbearable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechWife Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 Ours did that when they expired. The expected life span of a smoke detector is about ten years, IIRC. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaz Posted October 5, 2016 Author Share Posted October 5, 2016 Wow, lots of good ideas. Off to try some, thanks! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arctic Bunny Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 Oh wait... More than one is beeping? That sounds like a problem! Are they carbon monoxide detectors? I think that you should crack some windows and leave the house until this is sorted! When did it start? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaz Posted October 5, 2016 Author Share Posted October 5, 2016 We double checked to see if there was a reset and tested each one. My husband just called and said this happened a year ago and it was the house alarm. ???? We took the battery of that when we moved in years ago. I guess it's wired electrically. He couldn't remember how to turn it off unfortunately. I pushed a bunch of buttons on the old alarm key pad. I don't see a serial number to look it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 If more than one is beeping and everything seems okay then they've probably reached the end of their life span and need replacing. At our last house we had to replace all of them at around eight or nine years old because they wouldn't stop beeping. If you're concerned you can call the non emergency number and have your fire department come check to make sure there's no smoke or fire anywhere. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 A bad battery? Why do these things happen when the hubby is not home?????? it's mrs. murphey's law. if anything can go wrong, it will. when he's not home. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaz Posted October 5, 2016 Author Share Posted October 5, 2016 It's one beep every 40 minutes or so. I don't think we have a carbon monoxide detector. It sounds like it's coming from whatever smoke detector is nearest to us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaz Posted October 5, 2016 Author Share Posted October 5, 2016 We just heard the beep again and think it was the alarm echoing off our high ceilings making it seem like the smoke detectors. I pulled the alarm panel off the wall. We'll see if that works. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nd293 Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 We just heard the beep again and think it was the alarm echoing off our high ceilings making it seem like the smoke detectors. I pulled the alarm panel off the wall. We'll see if that works. LOL If it's the alarm, it could be that the power source is unplugged. And those have batteries too, don't they, for power failures? I know ours beeps if someone knocks against the power plug and dislodges it. Hope you get some quiet! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 Try vacuuming them. Sometimes dust is the problem. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junie Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 Probably not your problem, but we had ants in one of ours earlier this year. That was fun. :blink: Their little bodies kept tripping the light sensor. I didn't sleep well for several nights until we were sure we had killed all of them. :grouphug: I hope you get it figured out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaz Posted October 5, 2016 Author Share Posted October 5, 2016 Still making one short beep or chirp. We're trying this from another forum and looking up info on the old alarm system: 1) Take down all the smoke detectors. IF you have a CO monitor also hard wired, take it down as well.2) For each detector, open the battery compartment so that there is no power to the detector. Hold down the test button until all beeping stops to drain the capacitor. The detectors usually have a capacitor that holds some charge even after disconnected from power and battery.3) Close the battery compartment so that the detector is running on battery alone. If it starts to chirp, repeat with a new battery. If it chirps with a new, good battery, try blowing dust out of the detector and repeating. If it still chirps, get a new detector.4) Once all detectors are working on battery power, connect them to power one by one. If the detector starts to chirp, then try a different detector in that location. If both chirp you probably have a wiring problem or connector issue at that location. If one chirps but the other does not, you probably have a wiring or connector problem on the chirping detector. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
displace Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 Probably not your problem, but we had ants in one of ours earlier this year. That was fun. :blink: Their little bodies kept tripping the light sensor. I didn't sleep well for several nights until we were sure we had killed all of them. :grouphug: I hope you get it figured out. 😧 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 I had this problem just a month or so ago. For us, it was an old detector in the garage. It just needed to be replaced. It would go off and set off all the rest of the alarms in the house. Once DH took it off the wall and took out the battery, it stopped. He put in a new detector and it fixed the problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 When this happened to us, it turned out to be an ant having a look-see. If several ants went in there at one time the smoke detectors went off (if one rang, they all rang). That was just super fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaz Posted October 5, 2016 Author Share Posted October 5, 2016 We figured it out! It was a hidden smoke detector right near our bedroom door. I bet we missed replacing the battery January 1st when we annually replace all the batteries in our smoke detectors. I know we won't forget January 1, 2017! Thank you for all the suggestions. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arctic Bunny Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 I'm so glad it wasn't anything serious!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TranquilMind Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 My son and I have changed all the batteries, but they are still beeping. Could it be something else and not the smoke detectors? My husband is out of town. I don't think I can sleep with the intermittent beeping! If the units are older, you need to replace them. They just do that sometime, that irritating intermittent beep. Just pull the batteries until morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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