(I have carbon monoxide detectors that are not going off)
I have smoke detectors that are incorporated into my home alarm system. The other day, the one by my front door went off for no apparent reason, twice, and when I changed the batteries, it started alarming again immediately.
there was absolutely no reason for it, there were no open windows or doors nearby, it just went off. so, my alarm company replaced it. installed the new smoke detector yesterday and… it just went off again. completely different smoke detector.
there’s absolutely nothing in my house that could produce carbon monoxide, but I have separate CO detectors anyway that aren’t going off. there’s no smell, there’s nothing visible, and these are those electro optical style ones.
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.
this is a brand new smoke detector. it’s all up in the original post
That itself could be its own reason. Manufacturing isn’t 100% perfect.
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Does anyone in your house vape?
Vapes don’t trigger traditional alarms
They also don’t produce invisible results
My partner’s vape triggers ours https://www.kidde.com/home-safety/en/us/products/fire-safety/combination-smoke-co-alarms/KN-COSM-IBA/
I resolved it by installing an air purifier in the bedroom where she vapes. But agreed, her vape isn’t invisible (though I think some e-liquids are) and OP didn’t mention so it’s low probability in this case.
They will trigger a laser alarm though. Depends what type of fire alarm you have. I have a laser alarm in my house and if I open the bathroom door too quick after a shower the steam can even trigger it.
I had trouble with them going off in humidity, they were past their expiry date so replacing them fixed the issue.
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.
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.
it doesn’t, my house is outside Miami so it’s well designed to prevent direct sunlight from any of the windows.
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
I have set off smoke detectors with a power washer and with saw dust
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
If you’re going to the expense of putting a camera on it, why not take it a little further and slap together an arduino-based sensor suite with some logging? See if you can find any correlations in temp/humidity/gas conc that might help with diagnosis.
expense? I’ve got a half dozen used smartphones and webcams laying around
Fair. No arduino kits though?
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.
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.
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
I think he’s trying to say that maybe they sent me a new detector that was just as old as the old one, but they didn’t
I’ve had the first detector for like 5 years and the second had a manufacture date from about a year ago
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?!
so the other brand I have in my house, I’ve been very happy with. First Alert combination smoke and carbon monoxide. The only improvement they’ve made is that it runs on AA instead of 9V (I’m pretty sure my smoke detectors were the only reason I was keeping 9 volt around the house anymore), and you can slide the battery tray out without removing the detector so you can disable the alarm and replace the batteries without even having to take it down
Have you tried driving to the store?
Spend a bit more on UL approved brands, those tend to be more resilient to dust.
Photoelectric type is better for home use as your typical fires are smouldering, which photoelectrics are better at catching.
Here’s a deep dive if you’re interested https://youtu.be/DuAeaIcAXtg
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
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.
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.
