Smoke alarm/electrical problem help!

Here's the problem. We have a hardwired smoke alarm system. All alarms have a battery back up. Woke up this morning to the alarm in the hall chirping. Changed the battery.....still chirping. Changed the battery again....actually tried all 4 D-cells I had....still chirping. Tried a battery from an alarm that was not chirping....still chirping.

Next, I physically unplugged the alarm from its harness and removed the battery. The chirping continued....but in the ceiling. I went out and turned off all power to all the smoke alarms in the house at the circuit breaker....CHIRPING CONTINUES.

Does this mean there is a short in the wiring? Not knowing a great deal about this I am confused how chirping could be continuing with no power!!!! I really hate to call an electrician but don't know enough about electrical wiring to even know where to begin. Is there anything else I should check or do?

Thanks for the help!

Post edited by: COArsenal, at: 2008/05/11 17:03

Hello COArsenal, welcome to the forum. I am happy you joined us

Did you clean the sensor when you took the system apart? I ask because sometimes dust and insects may clog and cause chirping as well

Same thing happening with me for the past 2 years. Had an electrician come, and he took all the smoke alarms down... still chirped in the ceiling! He didn't know what to do either. The constant chirping is driving my family nuts!!

Greetings Skippy and welcome to the Forum!

Sorry that we didn't get a report back from COArsneal on the fix for that type problem, my thought would to be just replace the Unit.

Sometimes just cleaning (blowing them out with air or brushing) doesn't get the job done, and they can go bad for other reasons than contamination.

Others may respond here, but, we'd stull like to know how you handled it.

Have a good Day !
S.W.

As the previous poster also stated, the electrician took every smoke alarm down, and the chirping was still there... in the ceiling! How can that be? He did't know what to do... we did try replacing the battery, and the unit.

Thanks!

No battery and no power should equal no chirp. Maybe there is a capacitor inside that will run down in a while.
You could ask the manu about this.

Hi Skippy welcome to the forum

I agree with Thatguy. If all is disconnected there shouldn't be any 'sound'. Now I am getting curious as to what this can be as well. So strange

I know a good Exterminator !

Have a good Day !
S.W.

I agree... so strange. The electrician couldn't believe it either... he said that maybe when they redid our house, they left an old one up in the rafters... but i don't think so. For a while the chirping sounded like it was "dying out", but last night, it was back... as loud as ever. Maybe I do need an exterminater SWHouston! Another strange thing is that the sound seems to travel from one unit to the next. First chirping in one room, then the next... The electrician joked that maybe there was a big rat up there with an alarm strapped to his back!

I hope you aren't having a Roger Waters experience.

Skippy,
Is there enough room in your Attic for you to get up there and look around.
Seems like you could follow the sound.
Another thing, could it be in the Return Air Duct, sometimes they (commercial) put um in there, and the variation in where the sound is coming from, may be due to which doors you have open, making the flow of air or path different.

Have a good Day !
S.W.