Got a call today that The Smoke Detectors were activating during the night.There is 4 of them and it seems that this has just started with the cold Temperatures .They are 8 years old, all i could was suggest was to have them replaced.
Time to replace them anyway and that will probably take care of the problem. They get dirt and insects inside them, particulary spiders for some reason.
-Hal
They're supposed to be replaced after 10 years anyway, so this is a good opportunity. The last ones I had go off was with a cleaning lady using a vacuum. It was throwing off dust because the bag was full.
Dave
What you could have is a problem with codensation. If it's conduit, your (his) warm moist house air travelling through the cold attic will cause water to form in the pipe and drip down. If it's romex, I don't know, but I wouldn't rule out condesation.
I have seen this many times where the water shorts out the smoke. That's why I never run conduit straight up out of a wall or ceiling box and extend it into open attic. Always follow the contour of the insulation for as long as you can. If you have to up to an attic light, put a few 90's before you fly. This way any condensation will have a chance to re-evaporate as it warms back up.
I've seen this feature on some models of smoke detectors...the detector's light flashes to alert the HO which detector went off first.
Why replace all of them if only one is faulty?
That's interesting, Sandro. Do you know what model?
Dave
+1 for the 'condensation trip' advice. Check the detector on the cathedral ceiling first. (longest run / thinnest insulation)
Dave,
The Firex Smokes will tell you which one is going off.
LED INDICATORS
This smoke alarm features an LED indicator which can be seen through the Push-to-Test button. The LED indicates the following:
Blinks once a minute — indicating normal operation.
Blinks once a second — smoke alarm senses smoke and simultaneously sounds an audible alarm.
Blinks once approximately every 10 seconds — False Alarm Control™ (FAC) feature activated (model GC only).
OFF — another smoke alarm in the (Interconnected system only): network has sensed smoke and is signalling this alarm.
See Page 5 of:
http://www.icca.invensys.com/manuals/firex/110-427G.pdf Bill
[This message has been edited by Bill Addiss (edited 01-15-2005).]
I use to tell the H.O to vaccum the smokes once a month, specially if they had a hot air system. Also, for a little more investment, install the photo instead of the ionization type. Photo is less nuisance alarm and I always worried that they would unplug the ION types and forget they were unplugged.