Have you experienced a situation in which your smoke alarm went off for no reason in the middle of the night?
This can be scary for two reasons; first because waking up instantly to a smoke alarm can create panic and second if there is a fire going on, it would be difficult to handle at that time of the night.
I had the same situation in my home where my hard-wired smoke detector kept going at night and then suddenly stopped.
I instantly woke up but after a few minutes, the alarm went off and started beeping 3 times or 4 times, I am not sure but It wasn’t beeping 5 times for sure.
The beeps are the indications of the reactions to the smoke detector and you should know about these indicators to figure out what’s happening rather than getting panicked in the middle of the night.
A hard-wired smoke detector compared with a battery-powered smoke detector has a backup battery and is also connected with AC power when it’s working fine it blinks green and when there is an issue, it blinks red but red flashes can mean a lot of things.
A hard-wired smoke detector goes off at night when the battery is dying out, there is steam inside your home, cooking heat coming from the kitchen, dust, an outdated detector, and an issue with the circuit breaker will cause the detector to go off for no apparent reason at the middle of the night.
Before you can discover why your smoke detector is maddening in the middle of the night, you should know about the type of smoke detector you have installed in your home. So, there are two types of smoke detectors
Photoelectric smoke detectors: Photoelectric smoke detectors are old-technology smoke detectors in which a beam of light monitors the home or surroundings and when smoke particles disrupt the beam, the smoke detector goes off.
Ionization smoke detectors: This type of smoke detector uses electrons and ions to identify smoke and it only goes off when the smoke particles reach the chamber of the smoke detector to disrupt the flow of particles and then the alarm goes off.
Why Turn Off Smoke Alarm?
The biggest question that you should ask yourself is why would you want to turn off or shut off the smoke alarm, wouldn’t you be vulnerable in this way?
The thing is, there can be a few reasons when you do want to turn off the smoke alarm like when you want to replace the wires, replace the battery, it’s chirping due to false reason, replacing any part of the detector, or you simply want to reboot the detector.
How to Stop Hardwired Smoke Alarm Keeps Going off at Night
Turning off by pressing the button
Most homeowners don’t even have a switch for the hard-wired smoke detectors, they are directly connected to thprimaryin grid but if you want, you can cut off the power source to turn it off anytime you want.
So removing only the battery is not going to help so let’s discuss in detail how to turn off a sounding hard-wired smoke alarm.
How to turn off Hard-wired Smoke Alarm
Let’s get down to how to stop the hard-wired smoke alarm if it’s caused due to internal or external problems.
Remove the Cover from the brace
The easiest and most effective approach is to simply remove the cover from the brace which is the outer layer of the detector by rotating the detector counterclockwise and dismounting it from the ceiling.
Remove the battery
Once you have removed the detector from the ceiling, it’s time to open the battery compartment drawer and pull the battery out from the tray smoothly.
Unscrew the brace
The brace or the part of the smoke alarm requires to be unscrewed so that you can disconnect the circuit.
Be careful when doing this as there can be current in the wires and an accident can electrocute you. Therefore, keep a voltage detector near the power supply.
Locate the circuit breaker
The next step is to locate the circuit breaker and for that, the steps are described below
It will be a 15-amp circuit, it’s not always the circuit of the room where it is, and it will never be connected to a ground fault circuit.
Do a Trial and Error of the breaker
If there are multiple smoke detectors integrated, you may have to spend some time finding the right one to stop it.
Simply locate the breaker and see if the green LED light is on that will show everything is all right.
Double-check if it turned off
Now you have to make sure that the detector is completely turned off with the help of a voltage detector to see if there is no voltage moving. Remember to not touch any wire with bare hands.
Reassemble the device
When you have made sure that it is turned off completely, then you have to reassemble the device and remove all the disconnections as well.
It’s a super easy process in which you simply have to connect the battery with the device and then provide it power from the breaker and after that, the detector should show green light that will be a signal that the AC power is going perfectly in thsensoror.
Pay close attention because red right flashes when there is something wrong with the detector regarding power.
The smoke Alarm isn’t turning off
If your smoke alarm is not turning off that can be a threat about smoke in your home that you can handle by calling the fire department.
Why Hard-wired Smoke Detector Goes off in the middle of the night
Low Battery
The CO detector discontinues performing when it’s in the decline stage and when the battery levels are low. Some homeowners prefer connecting the detectors directly with the grid to ensure they do not have to replace the batteries each month because this is something that most of us will forget.
If your detector runs on the battery, you will hear three beeps with red lights not blinking, indicating that you need to replace the batteries. If the detectors chip every 30 to 60 seconds, the entire sensor is faulty, and you should mind replacing it ASAP.
Life Span of a Detector
A CO detector is built to last up to 7 years, but I have seen that many people are using the same detector for as long as ten years, which is not recommended for anyone with a family. Thinking that the detector is working fine makes you vulnerable to hazardous gas because the sensor will wear out after a long time. Regardless of the battery levels, the CO detector may not be able to detect rising levels of CO.
Damaged or out-of-service detector
Most of the time, the detector has worn out, expired, or broken, and in this condition, it can start beeping erratically, and those abnormal beeps are not because of the CO levels but due to the damaged sensor or parts of it. Therefore, you should consider replacing it once the time of life is passed for optimum protection.
Fire in the house
Another situation that can cause the detector to go off is the actual fire incident in the house. Therefore, the recommended option for homeowners is that they should integrate all the sensors and must be connected with the grid for constant provision of electricity. If by accident, there are rising levels of CO in one place, all the connected detectors will go off telling you that something is wrong, and you have to figure that out. Then, you can try to identify the source or, without wasting time, empty the premises and get every living body out of the home until the emergency responders do not arrive.
Sudden changes in the room temperature
Sometimes, there can be sudden changes in the room temperature, like when you use the air conditioner and suddenly the hot wind blows in, or if you have a compact home with poor ventilation, then the kitchen heat, appliance temperature, and thermostat temperature can cause the unnesssecary beeping. Therefore, the CO detector should be installed wisely, away from regular CO emission plates.
Improper installation or maintenance
Improper installation of the Carbon Monoxide Detector can be one of the reasons for the trigger, and to avoid that, always hire professionals to install the detector with proper calibration.
False Alarm Caused by Dust
You get more frustrated when you discover that you are being paranoid by the false alarm. False alarm can also be a significant stress factor because it creates unimaginable worry and unnecessary panic due to frequent beeps. Therefore, you should clean it frequently and ensure that it is not installed in areas with a lot of dust or humidity because these are the biggest triggers of the detector.
Error codes from previous instances got triggered.
Moving on, the strange reason for the detector to trigger can be the log records of previous triggers because the sensor maintains logs which sometimes cause problems. Similarly, when you are changing the batteries, you should the detector will get off and blink three times before stopping, thanks to the previous instances, but to resolve this problem, press the sensor 5-10 times. It will contain the erratic beeping for sure.
Another reason a detector can release high-pitched annoying beeps is when the battery is not inserted correctly and keeps beeping for an extended period. You may have to remove the battery by pulling the tabs, and the smoke detector won’t get any power. Still, it will issue the warning that you should insert new batteries. You can remove the pull tab and close the door properly to ensure that the battery is fitted correctly; this way, you can prevent unnecessary chirping of the detector.
What to do when the CO detector beeps
When you hear the beeping sound, immediately unplug the appliances in your home that can produce the CO before the CO reaches unsafe levels.
After that, open all the windows inside your home and get everyone out, including your pet. Doo does not forget to call the emergency responders, like 911 or nearby hospitals, and tell them that the alarm went off.
Until any emergency responder hasn’t arrived, do not enter back into the house unless you are sure that the CO levels have gone down or there isn’t anything that is producing the CO because this poisonous gas can immediately affect your brain and body parts and can make it difficult to escape as well if you got late. Therefore, to prevent such misfortunate events, you should do regular home maintenance checkups of your ventilation systems, generators, chimneys, furnaces, central heating devices, and anything else that can be the reason for CO.
Also, it’s a good habit to keep testing your detectors frequently and occasionally.
CO is a tasteless and colorless gas, so it takes time for the gas to dissipate, and with open windows, the concentration of the CO gas may no longer be harmful to you.
Robert Smith is a technology lover and loves to write about laptops, monitors, printers, tablets, Apple products and anything that's related to computers and games. He is passionate enough that he maintains this blog regarding tech updates on a daily basis.
Robert Smith is a technology lover and loves to write about laptops, monitors, printers, tablets, Apple products and anything that's related to computers and games. He is passionate enough that he maintains this blog regarding tech updates on a daily basis.
