Community Chat

[sarahpanda]

I feel your pain !  I had an episode with mine a while back but live in a small town and called 911 and the big long fire truck with 3 people came to my aid !  They had mine fixed in short order and were very kind about doing so.  Then they told me if I ever have any problems again, please call them.. #winning !!!

[retiredatlast]

I have had the same issue with  my hardwired smoke alarms that always seem to have the battery go out with loud chirping during the night.

My solution was to change the 9 volt batteries every year around Halloween/time change in November and this has solved the problem for me.  I use Energizer Max 9v batteries and they last the year with no issues.

[Neetgal2]

@Desert Lily 

I sympathize with you!  I have not had luck with the lithium ones.  Less than one year, one did not work, so back to the hardware store with receipt.  Not even sure what is up there now.  I have three smoke Dectectors, two are definitely 9 volt and I can handle.  Very small shore house.  I always have batteries.  

I had an awful experience one night at home.  Smoke detector, in with security system went off.  Scared us, both in mid 70's.  My mind instantly went to my Dad, who has been gone for 15 years.  Well, alarm company was calling, my cell, which was in the bedroom, on silence, since I was out in the main part of the house trying to figure out what was going on.  I looked outside and saw flashlights and two police cars.  Spoke with alarm company, let policemen in.  Fire Comoany on the way.  Firemen went all through house and concluded it was some malfunction.  I get the system checked yearly! This was so disturbing for us, we had smoke detectors unwired and installed battery.  We are both very responsible about battery things.  We get notices, in a text, from alarm company in low batteries for alarmed areas, so who knows what was up with smoke dedector.

This happened around 1:00 a.m.  The neighbors never heard a thing!  Both police and fire came quietly.

[Shanus]

@Desert Lily   Ah, the whoas of living in a house at our age. That's why we sold the house and moved. Nothing to do in an apartment. There's always someone in the building to call on, but we haven't needed them yet.

[San Antonio Gal]

What a nightmare @Desert Lily .  Your poor baby didn't know what was going on.  Hope you don't have to ever go through that again.

[millieshops]

@Desert Lily   I also have a hard-wired alarm.  The only thing I would have done that you didn't would have been to carry a flashlight with me to the basement.  I learned through previous alarm noise to know I can't do anything but flick off the electricity.

[jlkz]

@Desert Lily 

I hope you were able to step outside for a reprieve during the 10-hour sound blasting ordeal !

I know how that sound throughout the house can be nerve-wracking:  at the mountain place during the winter, if the heater went out and the inside temperature got too low, the chirping would start.  It got to the point that thinking was impossible...a good way to go mad !

[sunshine45]

i got rid of all of our hardwired units. i am not even sure who recommended them. i could not stand them and always had trouble getting them to stop making a noise. YES, always in the middle of the night!

i just have battery operated ones in each room and in hallways. they are MUCH easier to deal with.

[lolasgaga]

Hi Ladies,you need batteries even if hard wired so if you had a power outage the Batteries will keep your smoke detector active.

[Mom2Dogs]

@Desert Lily    Holy smokes, what an ordeal.   We have three smoke alarms in our house but I guess I am glad they are not hard wired!

At least you are all set for a while...and our dog also freaks out when the alarms go off as well as when it thunders..I bet your dog took a nice nap once it was quiet in the house.