I found it amusing that these posts were adjacent.
this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2024
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Call the fire department, they have detectors that they can use to look for gas leaks and other things that can set off a detector.
You can also call your gas provider. One of those two should be able to track it down, it could be a lot of things, but two different smoke detectors going off in the same location is a huge red flag.
Best case, you have something kicking up fine dust, worst case, you have a smouldering electric fire in your wall somewhere.
Don't panic, but also do not ignore this.
The weird thing is, it alarmed three times in its current position, but when I changed the battery, it started alarming in my hands in a completely different room, which I already had two other smoke detectors in it that weren't going off.
and there's no gas. I live outside Miami
This makes it sound like it's probably just a defective detector. Swap it with one that hasn't been going off and see if that one starts going off too. If it doesn't then odds are something just failed in it.
You could also just try blowing some air through it to blow out any dust. But it shouldn't be that dusty after only a year so I'm still leaning towards defective.
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~~Look for an expiration date. Radionucleotide style detectors end up failing with false positives when they reach end of life. You might need to have all the old ones replaced.~~
I used the wrong word, but this is a photoelectric detector. The manufacturer date is less than one year ago
Sorry, I must have skimmed too quickly and missed that.
I don't think this is what you're experiencing, but I had an alarm go off randomly for one beep once. Went and looked at it, and a few seconds later a spider crawled out and away from it.
If it's photoelectric, anything that could scatter light could cause it to go off. Is your house dusty?
not particularly, and this one is the closest to my air filter. they're replacing it one more time, and I'm going to put a security camera on it this time lol
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Mine went off in high humidity when I showered and forgot to turn on the fan
I thought of this one too. "Photoelectric" smoke detectors are a thing, and it's good to know if that's the kind you have.
thing is, it's the smoke detector farthest from my shower, and only the third time it went off was anywhere near a time that I had showered.
Iβd call the fire department to ask them to come out and make sure that thereβs not anything slow burning thatβs hidden in the walls. Be sure to mention two separate smoke detectors have been going off. Even if thatβs not what it is theyβll be fine with coming out to check.
Anecdotally, when I was a kid, we had an electrical issue wherein a short or something was causing wires to slowly melt through their jacket, inside the wall. It was triggering smoke detectors, but we couldn't see or smell anything. Fire department came out and found it, but if we'd ignored it, it almost definitely would have been a huge house fire eventually. Definitely second this advice. It doesn't cost anything to have them come look.
In my first apartment, I had a smoke detector that was mains powered. The wire metals weren't compatible and eventually the wirenuts burned and cut off power to half the room. The smoke detector's wires were all burnt up. It never alarmed unfortunately so I only learned about it when half the room just went dark. That could absolutely have turned into an electrical fire.
Definitely worth getting it checked.
High humidity can cause them to go off as well. Used to use a cool air humidifier in our kids' room at night and had to stop because it would eventually set the alarm off.
I've had a photoelectric alarm set off by steam from a dryer in the next room, through a closed door.
That's why I don't understand why a ton of hotels have no bathroom vent fan, and photoelectric detectors within feet of the bathroom door.
I need to replace a set of expired smoke detector at my elderly parents' house. They're too old to have alarms going off in the middle of the night just because the wind blows.
Yet, Amazon only seem to sell ones with photo-electric sensors, and many reviews complain about over-sensitivity with dust, and under-sensitivity when the room is clearly full of smoke.
Additionally, the ones with sealed 10 year batteries - many reviews report a battery life of 2 years or so in practice, with increased false positives as battery life runs down. So now, they have to replace whole units rather than just batteries.
What happened to good old ionizing smoke detectors with 9v batteries that needed replacing every 2 years or so?!
Have you tried driving to the store?
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Spiderwebs or insects can mess with the sensors, likewise with dust. Try spraying some canned air inside. Or if it's a few years old, you may want to replace it.
Firefighter here. Brush and gently vacuum your smoke detector. Insects are attracted to the LED and can set off the alarm. They may be very small. Dust can also set it off.
now there's an idea. I live in south Florida and my house was built in the 1950s. I wonder if some spider has decided that the inside of this detector is a good place to hide. blowing it out isn't going to help though, because I replaced the entire detector and if there's a spider going in there, they just went back into the new one immediately. I'm going to have to set up a security camera on this thing
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A ghost π»
I wish he'd come over and tickle my balls instead of tickling my smoke detector
Had to scroll way too long to find the right answer.
I've set one off while dying my hair.
Dust maybe? Dust can have the same particles as smoke.
I second the dust. Dust can collect on the sensor and trigger the alarm. You can try vacuuming or using a compressed air cleaner, or just replace.
I have set off smoke detectors with a power washer and with saw dust
Are they Kidde? I've had 3 photoelectric Kiddes that started failing and going off randomly. I've been slowly replacing all of mine.
The builder installed them. Occasionally walking through our neighbourhood we hear other people's going off too.
I think you said elsewhere that they are new and that they are photoelectric rather than the radioactive ones.
I'm purely taking a shot in the dark but I'm wondering if you should try sealing up the hole(s) in the wall that you made to run electric and to mount the detector
My thinking is that dust might be getting caught up in a tiny draft through that hole and it's so close to the source that it sets it off. Cause like, if wind hits the side of the house, there can be some positive pressure in the crawlspace which often also means inside the walls.
I guess maybe somehow there could be some stream or condensation as well. If it's right by the front door and the humidity is high, maybe the hot air from outside meets the AC air and causes a tiny amount of condensation. Or if you live in hellscape temperatures, maybe there could be some vapor generated because of the hot air.
Might be worth buying an infrared thermometer to see if there is wiring overheating in your walls. I'm not an electrician but i wonder if it's something then can happen sporadically such as if there is something drawing a lot of power that turns on/off. There are inexpensive ones out there and they can be handy to have around.
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update - so I've got two more diagnostic steps. I have another detector of the exact same brand in another room, I'm going to switch them and see what happens. if the detector from my kitchen starts going off by the front door, then I'm going to try another brand that I have elsewhere in the house and move forward from there.
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They are probably both about the same age and need replacing. Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors have a finite lifespan, no matter how often you change the batteries. Fortunately they're not all that expensive, just get new ones. I had the same problem in my apartment last year, and the carbon monoxide detector was over 10 years old. So they just replaced it, problem solved.
so, my alarm company replaced it. installed the new smoke detector yesterday and⦠it just went off again.
Nice theory but it's disproven by OP's initial text
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Interestingly enough, smoke detectors get more sensitive as they get older, but eventually they just stop working.
If your smoke detectors go off every time you cook, it's time to replace them.
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Does it get hot by your front door or in direct sunlight? We have a few in my house that go off if our kitchen gets too hot. We had to move them down the hall slightly and they stopped. A really old one we have upstairs, hardwired into the house electric (built in 86) trips if too much steam builds up in the bathroom and let's loose into the hall.
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Since it went off in your hands, have you tried googling the make and model to see if there are any similar complaints or even recalls for them?
they're replacing it one more time
omg πππ The new detector went on off in the living room where the old one did. switched it to the kitchen, put the kitchen detector in the living room, and the new one went off in the kitchen. wtffff
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Some newer (in the last 10 years) smoke detectors use an infrared sensor to detect fire as well as smoke, and it may be going haywire off a reflection of the sun, or intense heating of a spot within its detection area.
If you can, borrow a FLIR or infrared camera and check the area when the detector goes off.
If you post your model of smoke detector, it would be easier to tell if it has this feature.
Are they networked? Mine are somehow connected and the one that beeps doesn't always seem to be the one that detected the issue.
they are networked, wirelessly, but one won't set another off. they will set the base station off, as if my burglar alarm has been tripped. also, my system will tell me exactly which smoke detector went off
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