Smoke detector keeps going off after battery replacement

[HybridSquirrel]

We put in new smoke detectors last summer, one of the batteries started getting low so I replaced it. But now the damn thing keeps going off.

I tried holding the test button down for 30 seconds to reset it but it doesn't work. I tried all 3 batteries from the pack too and it still keeps going off.

Any ideas?

 

[LTC8K6]

Find the manual for it and see if there's an answer in there?

 

[Imp]

Are they expired despite being "new"?

Any chance the battery you replaced was a POS and died in the package?

Is it a dual fire-CO detector?

Is there a fire...?

 

[HybridSquirrel]

Oh shit, there is definitely a fire that explains it!

Manual has nothing about beeping after replacing the battery. Just tells you how to replace the battery.

Batteries are brand new, got a 3 pack and it works with all three. The alarm is only 6 months old as well.

They are stand alone battery operated fire alarms, they're not hard wired. It was working fine last week but the battery chirp was telling me to replace so I replaced.

It's a Kidde Pi9010. The other one doesn't have a problem, even replaced teh battery and nothing. Damn I don't want to buy another one.

 

[waffleironhead]

Sounds like it is dead. Warranty or return time.

 

[Imp]

They are stand alone battery operated fire alarms, they're not hard wired. It was working fine last week but the battery chirp was telling me to replace so I replaced.

I'm going to treat you like you're intellectually disabled for a second...

Did you try swapping a battery from one of the working alarms to the dud?

Website says "10 year limited" under "warranty." Good luck.

http://www.kidde.com/home-safety/en/us/products/fire-safety/smoke-alarms/pi9010/

 

[HybridSquirrel]

I'm going to treat you like you're intellectually disabled for a second...

Did you try swapping a battery from one of the working alarms to the dud?

Website says "10 year limited" under "warranty." Good luck.

http://www.kidde.com/home-safety/en/us/products/fire-safety/smoke-alarms/pi9010/

Yep, I just did that. Still beeping at me. I'm going to try disassemble and clean out the inside if I can.

 

[Red Squirrel]

See if you can test the battery under load, see what the voltage is. Just to confirm you don't have a bunch of bad batteries. Odd if they're brand new though. Maybe the detector itself has a fault of sorts too, cleaning it might possibly help, worth a shot.

 

[Imp]

If you're in Hawaii, they'll probably make you pay for to-fro shipping for warranty coverage and that can't be cheap.

 

[ControlD]

The obvious answer seems to be eluding everyone here. Take the battery out. Problem solved.

But I had the same problem with a smoke detector some years ago. Finally had to pitch it and get a new one.

 

[IEC]

Your fire alarm is likely defective, and you should have it replaced under warranty (unless buying a new one would be cheaper).

I think it happened to all four of the detectors at some point in the four years I lived in an apartment. They used some crappy First Alert smoke+CO detectors that had a pretty high failure rate.

 

[Imp]

The obvious answer seems to be eluding everyone here. Take the battery out. Problem solved.

But I had the same problem with a smoke detector some years ago. Finally had to pitch it and get a new one.

These people had the same idea with a CO detector...

http://www.cp24.com/news/homeowner-...ged-after-allegedly-disabling-alarm-1.2681658

 

[lupi]

put new ones in mine and all the sudden everytime you've got the shower going it goes off.

 

[postmortemIA]

are you sure you've put the new battery correctly? You know, + connector on +, and - on -? My smoke detector expects battery one way, and CO detector the other way.

 

[Brainonska511]

I had one like that - it would beep a few times in a row every few minutes, despite being only a year old (had a sealed battery). Apparently, according to the back of the device, it meant it was defective. I guess I could have used the warranty, but for the $30 cost of buying a new one, it wasn't worth the hassle.

 

[Matthiasa]

Sometimes you need to use the detectors test button to get that to stop.

 

[Red Squirrel]

These people had the same idea with a CO detector...

http://www.cp24.com/news/homeowner-...ged-after-allegedly-disabling-alarm-1.2681658

Wow did not know it was actually illegal to disable an alarm in your own home, 50k fine or jail too, ouch... But then if you call and it turns out it was a false alarm you probably get charged too. I guess one should always have more than one alarm to be safe. If they all go off then you know there's a real problem.

Considering the people in that situation were feeling sleepy and stuff it was stupid of him to ignore it though. Definitely should have called fire dept.

 

[William Gaatjes]

Are these the cheap models that use a led emitter and optic detector ?
These work because the "thick" smoke obstructs a light beam between the emitter and detector. When the light beam is obstructed enough, the sensor will sound an alarm.

These may be sensitive to dust. It can be there is some dust in it ?
When cooking, oily fumes rise up and may attach to the inside of the smoke alarm mounted on the ceiling.
And dust particles may settle on the (now sticky and oily) led and detector depending on the design.

 

[JulesMaximus]

These people had the same idea with a CO detector...

http://www.cp24.com/news/homeowner-...ged-after-allegedly-disabling-alarm-1.2681658

My sister and her husband had a similar experience a few years ago living in upstate NY. Their CO detector started blaring one evening so they replaced the batteries but after that the alarm went off again so they thought there might be a problem and got the hell out of the house and called the fire department. Sure enough, there furnace had been spewing carbon monoxide into the house and that's why the CO detector had gone off. If they had ignored it or disabled it they would probably all be dead.

 

[HybridSquirrel]

If you're in Hawaii, they'll probably make you pay for to-fro shipping for warranty coverage and that can't be cheap.

Not as expensive as people think. USPS flat rate is still like $7 for a package that size.

 

[boomerang]

I had to replace all five of the hardwired detectors in this new place we bought. They weren't communicating with each other, only one would make a bit of a squeak when the test button was pressed and they were original from when the condo was built. They had 1997 date codes on them which made them long overdue for replacement anyway.

The ones I bought have a little door that swings open on a catch latch to change the battery. This looked like an excellent feature when I bought them but evidently the terminals on the 9V don't make good contact which means they start chirping like the battery needs to be replaced. It's become a real PITA. I've had to futz with two out of the five so far and I have them in a happy place right now but I feel like I never know when they're going to have a change of heart.

Kidde i12060A http://www.kidde.com/home-safety/en/us/products/fire-safety/smoke-alarms/i12060/

And why is it that they decide to get unhappy at 2 AM?

 

[bruceb]

I had a new Kidde AC and Battery Powered Smoke / CO detector (hard wired type) that would not power up at all, fresh out of the box (this was a group buy of 7) .. So I called up Kidde at 800-800-6788 gave them the story, they asked for Model and Serial # ... they sent out a new one Fedex next day (this was on a Friday so I got it first thing Tuesday) They did not want the old one back, just said to recycle it as per local methods. New unit worked as it should, but it chirped about Low Battery after a couple of days. Put in 2 new AA cells and it has been fine since.

 

[Engineer]

We put in new smoke detectors last summer, one of the batteries started getting low so I replaced it. But now the damn thing keeps going off.

I tried holding the test button down for 30 seconds to reset it but it doesn't work. I tried all 3 batteries from the pack too and it still keeps going off.

Any ideas?

Strange, I had one start doing the same thing recently. However, it's much older (at least 10 years old). Took 3 batteries before it finally stopped the damn chirping.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Are they expired despite being "new"?

Any chance the battery you replaced was a POS and died in the package?

Is it a dual fire-CO detector?

Is there a fire...?

My home was built 199-2000 and I moved into it late 2000. The smoke detectors installed were all recalled within a year. When I put the new ones in--sent for free to me by the manufacturer--I had the same issue happen. While they are centrally wired for power and use a battery for backup, I eventually gave up on the 9V source as I couldn't resolve the issue.

 

[bruceb]

Older units, like from your time frame and also 2007 era, had a 7 year life, after which, they claimed the CO Detector will not work and they want you to replace it. Personally I think the US Gov't forced them to do this, so people would check and maintan them or replace them, so the makers would not have liability issue in the event of fire or CO poisoning. Newer units can be had with a 10 year life and a built in 10 year Lithium Ion Battery that should not need any work for the life of the unit.