Smoke Alarms

There I was, 2.45a.m, blissfully in the land of nod, when all of a sudden I was woken by such a din - it was the smoke alarm going off.
Just for a second I felt a slight panic, fearing the house was on fire, then woke up enough to go and investigate. Absolutely nothing wrong. Must have been the battery warning. I couldn't stand the noise and it was frightening the dogs too, so I grabbed the little 2 tread steps to get to it but wasn't tall enough. Stood on a chair, still not tall enough. In the end I had to go out into the garden shed in me nightie to fetch the bigger steps so I could finally reach. I took the battery out and will put another one in today.
Has your alarm ever done that at an inconvenient time?

Re: Smoke Alarms

Not quite so dramatically, no Mups. It must have been scary.

My old (and very cheap) alarm used to go off every time I made toast - was always rushing to wave a tea towel at the thing and eventually it just died. Then, earlier this year, our local Fire Brigade was offering free fire risk assessments which included installing fire alarms where needed - so I applied. To the amusement of my neighbours, four burly firemen arrived - in a fire engine - checked each room - they went pale and nearly fainted when they saw the craft room - stuffed to the ceiling with card, paper and every type of glue known to man! They put up a new alarm that only needs batteries every ten years - and they come to do it ! Has the usual button to press to check it is working, also has a light that blinks every 10mins or so (unnoticeable except at night).

Might be worth asking at your Fire Station to see if they do something similar.

Re: Smoke Alarms

Poor you Mups
Quite a rude awakening!
I think you were very brave going to get the steps from the shed at that time of the morning
I'd probably have got a broom and sent it flying

Blimey Tabby, I'll look into that too - I like the idea of four burly firemen

Re: Smoke Alarms

When council built these flats they wired the alarms into the mains, idea was no batteries we would have to use them, good idea until about 10 years they started to go off randomly. So yes had that happen a number of times before we disconnected it and decided to live without. Not safe I know but heart attack in the middle of the night is something we decided we could live without.

Re: Smoke Alarms

Yes..they always seem to let you know in the middle of the night..lol
I have one at the top of my stairs, and its near bathroom
when my G/daughters stayed over once, theyd both had showers
one was in so long when she came out the Steam set it off ..
I wouldnt be without them tho..

Re: Smoke Alarms

Poor you x
You can get a 10 year life smoke alarm in B an Q etc ..... worth it gal

Re: Smoke Alarms

They usually beep at you when the battery start to go flat rather than make an alarm sound. They have a limited life anyway but I had one fail on me during a period of rain and high humidity. I dried it out, replaced the battery reinstalled it but within 10 minutes it sounded the alarm. Dried it out again same result. - when I say dried out I mean I waited until warm low humidity weather. Gave up and bought a new one, they're cheap enough.

I change the batteries each year when daylight saving starts so the batteries never go flat.

Re: Smoke Alarms

'Our Council insisted that as we are an HMO (house in multiple occupation) smoke and heat alarms in every flat were de rigeur. We now have a full integrated system wired into each flat with a large control panel situated in the common hallway right outside my ground floor flat. Neighbours (upstairs) are not very good cooks and frequently burn their food which then manages to trip the fire alarms which 'go off' in EVERY flat!!!

Re: Smoke Alarms

get 'em from from the handsome firefighters!

Re: Smoke Alarms

yes had this happen , ours is wired in to electric with a heat alarm as well, has to be done now when rewired and we had a new kitchen with cooker .
Just the other week i had burnt some toast in the toaster so alarm went off , i went into auto , opening the back door for burnt smell to go out and closed the door into the hall so as the smell didnt spread . All this time the alarm continued so i got a tea towel and started to flap it at the alarm on the ceiling this didnt take it off , so went to get a chair thus passing the alarm in the hallway , then the Penny dropped and i realised it was the alarm in the hall which is smoke that was going off and the one in the kitchen was a Heat alarm ...