This first happened last year, and drove me round the bend. A chirp every 49 seconds. This is normally a smoke alarm with low battery.
The problem is that we have 8 alarms in the house, and trying to work out which is chirping is not as easy as it sounds, especially when it is 2am, as it always is with these tings.
I actually ended up replacing every battery and still had a chirp. I then remembered there is a smoke alarm in the loft, and replaced that, only then to realise it was the CO alarm in the loft! I went to replace that and found it is mains only, and Ei3018 CO alarm. Annoyingly it continued to chirp for some time once removed from the power.
I actually ended up buying a new one, and has been fine for over a year.
Then this week, it happens again. Thankfully I remember the loft this time. What is extra odd is that when I opened the loft hatch, the chirping stopped!
The next night it started again and did not stop. So I removed it, and waited. I put back in place next day.
The next night it started again, so removed, and new one ordered.
But I decided to actually read the manual, and it is odd.
It did not alarm!
Now, a key thing here is, it did not alarm. I would know, I have been in the house all the time, it is linked to all the other alarms, and to a relay input to my alarm/monitoring system as well. It did not do an alarm, honest.
But the manual says it has a memory mode, where, for 24 hours after an alarm, it will chirp. There is however a problem with this.
- It had not alarmed!
- It stopped chirping when I opened the loft hatch, so was clearly not doing a 24 hour chirp.
- It is a single chirp - the manual explains it does 2 or 3 chirps, etc, for different types of alarm.
However, reading further, the manual does have a single chirp every 48 seconds. This is for "AC mains off or low battery backup", or (with green LED) low battery backup. I do not think it had an LED on.
So it does indeed sounds like the backup battery is depleted and the action is "replace alarm".
But this is just over a year for a device that should last over 10 years, arrrg!
I wonder why?
Obvious question I'm sure you have thought of already - does it actually have a continuous mains supply (not mis-wired to e.g. a switched lighting circuit)?
ReplyDeleteYes, the alarms are all on a specific separate circuit (and linked).
DeleteI think some view that as bad practice, as it's less likely to be noticed and fixed, compared to being on sat the lighting circui
DeleteExcept they will all start beeping…
DeleteWe've had various issues with our Aico alarms and smoke heads (and CO's) over year. The varients with the Lithium battery are the only reliable ones (the 10 year ones) -> it gets very annoying (to us like you) when they fail prematurely. Last time, we repalces all 5 of our units at one time (2 CO, 3 smoke heads), and... no issues since. Done 6 years ago.
ReplyDeleteHowever we did have to get one of the "mounts" replaced last time as one wasn't testing "as active" (as you know the mount provides the mains). Bet you it's that. We only replaced one mount last time, as they've remained similar for last 16 years we've had house.
Clearly just junk. Bin it and buy a different brand. Patrick.
ReplyDeleteCould it be that during the recent heatwave the temperature in the loft has caused the battery to fail, or some other "overheating" fault?
ReplyDeleteQuite likely. I had the one on my top floor fail a few days ago too.
DeleteIt's still less annoying than the chirping alarm my sister called us round to deal with twenty years or so back. She was in a flat really high Edwardian ceilings that she had no way to reach, with smoke alarms on them, and one was probably chirping Only we checked, and none were... and that's when she found one stuffed in the back of a cupboard, chirping merrily away. Oops...
A lot of smoke and C02 alarms will also chirp when they have expired. If its mains powered, or chirping even though the battery has been changed - its time to replace it.
ReplyDeleteIt always amazes me nobody has made a smoke alarm at a pitch that allows your ears to locate it. It just appears completely direction less.
ReplyDeleteI have mine connected to HA so I can see the battery level.. of course transmitting that causes the battery to drain faster.. sigh..