Mark J Posted June 10, 2022 Report Share Posted June 10, 2022 I know there's some well informed people here, and @Coop used to be in the business, so I'll ask this here. Why do smoke detectors give false alarms during a power outage? I'm not talking low battery chirping, but full on every detector in the house blaring. ComEd had a scheduled power outage today. About 15 minutes into the outage the alarms went off (falsely). The sheer intensity of the noise forced me to evacuate my wife's dog (and frankly myself). (Dawg got a truck ride out of this). Sitting on the porch now I can tell the alarms have stopped, but the power is still out, and I'm reluctant to go back inside untill it's on. This has happened before and with other smoke alarms, but I've always attributed it to hot humid summer air. Today is quite mild and dry. Any insights on the cause or how to mitigate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted June 10, 2022 Report Share Posted June 10, 2022 Mark, are these hard wired or connected to an alarm panel in anyway or are they stand alone battery operated? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark J Posted June 10, 2022 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2022 Residential units that are hard wired with battery back ups. There is no alarm panel. By design when one goes off they all go off. I just don't understand why any of them went off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted June 10, 2022 Report Share Posted June 10, 2022 I checked with my guys and as all of their work is on commercial stuff with panels,they are unaware of what the problem could be. Sorry. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted June 11, 2022 Report Share Posted June 11, 2022 Mark, I hate it when I don’t know the answer to something I should so I went to a higher power, Google. It seems that with AC with battery backup detectors, this is common, to let you know that they are on a battery backup mode. Here are some solutions. https://www.hunker.com/13419430/how-to-turn-off-smoke-alarms-after-a-power-failure 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.