So I had the brilliant idea of cooking steaks tonight on a cast iron skillet, indoors. Needless to say it set off the smoke alarms. The problem is that the smoke cleared over an hour ago, but the smoke alarm continues to go off. And it's not just the one in my kitchen, it's ALL SIX OF THEM THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE HOUSE! I finally got them shut off by removing all the batteries and figuring out which breaker they were connected to. I left the breaker off for over an hour, but the second I flip it back on the alarms start going crazy again. I've tried pushing the hush button on the alarms, but they come right back on a few seconds later. Does anyone have any idea what could cause this? The smoke is cleared so I can't figure out wtf is going on. The breaker also runs all the power for my bedroom, so it's a pain in the ass to leave it off. Any ideas are appreciated! Or if anyone know what type of specialist (electrician?) I'd call to look at this that would be a big help as well.
1. Batteries may be low, but if it is all of them I doubt that is the culprit. 2. Hold down the button to reset the alarms. 3. Vacuum the alarms or blow them out with an air duster. Never heard of smoke alarms being connected to a breaker but oh well, maybe bad wiring if that is the case.
I did this exact same thing searing a steak on a cast iron skillet (did you watch the Good Eats episode?) I just unplugged the smoke alarms and waited it out, not sure what else to tell you. You should be able to disconnect the smoke alarm from the ceiling temporarily. Maybe try it with batteries outside to confirm there is no smoke in the house.
Yeah it's not a battery issue, because when the batteries are low it just beeps once every 5 mins or so. This happened when I was cooking so I know that was the culprit. I just can't figure out why they are still going off. This sucks!
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Some smoke alarms can be networked via a wireless signal so they all go off at the same time. Google the model.
Hard-wired detectors all speak to each other; that is, they are wired together. So it makes sense that when one goes off, then they all go off. That's what they are supposed to do, in case you are asleep and the furthest one from you detected an actual fire, they all go off, so you wake up. So, it is conceivable that the one that picked up the smoke first still thinks there is smoke, or it is malfunctioning, and making the downstream ones stay on. Blow out your kitchen one, like Lil Pun suggested. If that doesn't work, do process of elimination. Turn off breaker to the first one, and cap the wires. Turn breaker back on...what happens. If they are all off, go grab the one furthest from the kitchen, and install that in the kitchen...again turning off the breaker first. What happens? If they are all silent, then the kitchen one was still thinking there was a fire. Move it to the room where you took out the second one. Apparently, you can also call the fire dept, like a kiitty up a tree call.
Crisis resolved. Whatever it was cleared and after 2 hours I was able to turn the breaker back on and put the batteries back in them. Thanks those of you that tried to help.
Oh yeah and the steak was awesome, but my wife was so pissed about the smoke alarms she wouldn't admit that they were good.
hmm. http://www.google.com/#hl=en&expIds...=&oq=smoke&gs_rfai=&pbx=1&fp=fb0beceb888e9115 http://www.ehow.com/how_4741675_stop-smoke-alarm-beeping.html
At least in Houston, its pretty much code that all smoke detectors in a house are wired together (which is why when one goes off, they all go off) and powered by the electrical power in the house. The batteries are just used as a backup power supply in the event of power lose. EDIT: Didn't see HP's post. What he said.
hopefully it won't come back on during the night. do you have an alarm system that the smokes could be tied in to? possibly needs to be reset with some key sequence?
Lol!!! I got the suggestions from a flier my fire department hands out yearly when they do battery replacements. I wonder if they got it there, more than likely.
BTW, that may sound weird but our fire department does a yearly check of home smoke detectors and replacement of batteries. They will also replace for free faulty ones with the $5 versions you can get at Walmart or Lowes. I think it's a nice setup. Of course not sure if they'll continue with all the budget cuts going on.