Is Your Smoke Detector Beeping and Chirping with New Batteries?
A constantly beeping smoke detector outside my bedroom recently taught me a little bit about battery-operated smoke detectors that I didn’t realize: In addition to replacing the smoke detector batteries every six months or so, you should also consider replacing your smoke detector every so often.
This battery powered voice smoke detector is my smoke detector of choice because it detects smoke and carbon monoxide and it is reasonably priced.
As usual, the chirping of my smoke detector started around 3AM on a weeknight so I groggily stumbled out of bed, reached up and pulled the smoke detector down and took out the batteries before it woke my toddler son. I stumbled back to bed to deal with the issue in the morning.
When I woke up the next day I checked the batteries in a little flashlight and they all appeared to be good. No, this isn’t a scientific test and I wouldn’t rely it. I had just put new batteries into the detector around October of last year, so I figured they would still be okay. I shrugged and grabbed a new set of alkaline batteries and put those into the smoke detector. The smoke detector beeped once (as it always does initially) and that was it. I put it back up on the ceiling and it seemed to be okay. But as I was walking away the smoke detector chirped again.
Again, I took it down, got another pack of batteries, put them in and put the smoke detector back up. Again, the smoke detector beeped as though it was ready to go and then, once again, the smoke detector started chirping every 30 seconds as though the batteries were bad.
As I was taking the smoke detector down a third time I noticed a sticker on the side that said, “Installed February 2002.” I thought that was an odd thing to place on a smoke detector unless, of course, there was a need to know the install date. My smoke detectors came with the house when I bought it, so any manuals for these things were long gone. However, a quick search on the manufacturer’s website revealed that my particular brand of smoke detector was supposed to be replaced every seven years. The manual also warned that the “smoke detector would chirp every 30 seconds” when the time to replace it had arrived.
I checked the smoke detector at my basement stairs and sure enough, it was the same brand of smoke detector and had the same “expiration” date. That day I went out and bought two new smoke detectors, saved the smoke detector manual, and noticed that each of these new smoke detectors would also beep or chirp not just when they needed a new battery but also when the smoke detector needed to be replaced.
My house had Kidde smoke detectors and I stuck with them simply because I could use the same brackets that were already installed on my ceiling and they seemed to work exactly as advertised. I would imagine that it’s probably a good idea to replace any brand of battery-powered smoke detector every five to ten years.
I might even try replacing the smoke detectors before they start beeping and chirping next time because you have to figure smoke detector technology probably gets better after five years… and it’s really no fun being startled out of bed by a beeping smoke detector at 3 o’clock in the morning.
Comment by Deb Carlisle
I loved your daylight savings tips for Fall. I am a presenter at a meeting next Tuesday and would love to share your Spring forward tips. Are they out yet. Great article and very helpful. Thank you, Deb Carlisle
Comment by Lance
Great tip and information.. My detectors started this and I did not know they had a life finite life span..
Comment by John
I have the same issue, but I replaced all 7 of my smoke detectors last year. They all worked fine, until I replaced all the batteries. Now that the batteries are all replaced, I have one of the detectors that won’t quit chirping every 30 seconds. Any ideas?
Comment by Tom
John,
Huh… that’s odd. Any chance you just have a bad batch of batteries? Did you swap batteries with another smoke detector of the same type to see if the maybe the chirping stopped or was related to just dud batteries? I suppose there’s a chance that one of your smoke detectors was damaged or defective from the factory (just enough that a small bump like when you chance the batteries would break it)… I’d first try the old swap and move around with other smoke detector and batteries, just to make the problem is really related to the actual unit.
Most smoke detectors have a limited warranty so you might actually be able to get a free replacement out of it if you’re able to contact the manufacturer….
Good luck!
Comment by woken up by a chirping detector
All true in your article. The one main point I would highlight is if the thing starts chirping at 3am like ours did too…if you want to get some sleep and deal with in the morning, TAKE THE BATTERY OUT and that will stop the chirping till you can deal with it after a good nights sleep.
Comment by Matt
Disconnect the battery and re-install. Next, spray the detector inside and out with compressed air. It worked for me. You should be able to find cans of compressed air at any big box retail store.
Comment by Jeramy
I have the same problem as John. Several of my kidde smoke alarms have been chirping. I’ve changed batteries a couple of times. At first I used new Duracells, then tried new Energizers. In both cased chirping continued. I went and bought a new one of the same type and as a sanity check used the same Duracell and Energizer battery. Both batteries worked fine in the new one. The old ones are only 2 years old, so this is a bit confusing.
Comment by Kortney
Here’s one for you - the past three nights, a smoke detector has been going chirping every 30 seconds between the hours of 4:00am - 5:15am…then it stops for the rest of the day. I replaced the “suspected” smoke detectors’ batteries yesterday, and it still happened last night. Any thoughts?
Comment by Tom
Kortney,
That’s easy - you need an exorcist!
Seriously, that’s pretty darn strange. My only guess is that your smoke detector could be picking up some sort of interference from a radio or telephone signal or something used by a neighbor. Either that or you have some strange gas leaks in your house. Without much more info, I’m not sure if I can make any better guesses… Is your smoke detector still beeping during those times now? What brand and model is it?