Why is it ALWAYS in the middle of the night?

[JMintzer]

Early last week, the Boss called me to inform me that one of the smoke alarms had started beeping around 4:00am... She wasn't happy...

Via FaceTime, I was able to help her determine which one it was (with a significant amount of exasperation and muttering under my breath...), and replace it...

I told her that when I came down at the end of the week, I would replace the rest of them, since this was the 2nd one to go (the last being in December)...

I arrived Friday evening, had a wonderful dinner, relaxed and had a good night sleep...

Saturday came, and we went to an exercise class, had brunch, took the dog for a long walk (making sure she pooped IN OUR YARD before we set out) and then dinner at a friend's house... All in all a very nice day...

Soooo... at 3:05am, CHIRP!, CHIPR!, CHIRP!... It's the one in the hallway between our bedroom and the laundry room...

Go to the garage, get the ladder, batteries and proceed to change THAT one...

So much for a good night's sleep...

This morning, I changed all of the remaining detectors... I'm done for at least another year...

So here's the question... How do they always know to go off in the middle of the night? :censored::censored::censored:

[sawtooth]

Just had this happen to us (3:00am), replaced all six as couldn’t determine which was chirping. We did discover that flipping the breaker worked quickly so could deal with it better in the daylight hours🤪

[Papa_lecki]

JM - i got tired of that sort of thing. I went to Lowes and got the detectors with a 10 year battery, replaced all smoke detectors (my house is about 14 years old, so figured it was smart to replace them anyway). I put a label on them with the install date. Don’t have to worry about 3AM chirping anymore.

[CoachKandSportsguy]

3AM is dark, smoke from the fire makes it dark. the fire alarm is easily confused. .

[Altavia]

Temperature related. Lowest temperature at night equals lowest battery voltage.

[TedfromGA]

Temperature related. Lowest temperature at night equals lowest battery voltage.
This is the correct answer.

[JGVillages]

Early last week, the Boss called me to inform me that one of the smoke alarms had started beeping around 4:00am... She wasn't happy...

Via FaceTime, I was able to help her determine which one it was (with a significant amount of exasperation and muttering under my breath...), and replace it...

I told her that when I came down at the end of the week, I would replace the rest of them, since this was the 2nd one to go (the last being in December)...

I arrived Friday evening, had a wonderful dinner, relaxed and had a good night sleep...

Saturday came, and we went to an exercise class, had brunch, took the dog for a long walk (making sure she pooped IN OUR YARD before we set out) and then dinner at a friend's house... All in all a very nice day...

Soooo... at 3:05am, CHIRP!, CHIPR!, CHIRP!... It's the one in the hallway between our bedroom and the laundry room...

Go to the garage, get the ladder, batteries and proceed to change THAT one...

So much for a good night's sleep...

This morning, I changed all of the remaining detectors... I'm done for at least another year...

So here's the question... How do they always know to go off in the middle of the night? :censored::censored::censored:

Manufactured in China so there they go off in the day.:a040::a040::a040:

[Stu from NYC]

Guess we treat our smoke detectors better than some ours decided to go off at 7 am. Very considerate

[JMintzer]

Temperature related. Lowest temperature at night equals lowest battery voltage.

This is the correct answer.

Well, we have the thermostat set to the same temp all 24 hrs, so there's that...

[JMintzer]

Manufactured in China so there they go off in the day.:a040::a040::a040:

Now THIS is probably the correct answer! :1rotfl:

[thevillages2013]

Dogs tend to freak out when those darn things start chirping and God forbid the security alarm gets inadvertently set off

[JMintzer]

Dogs tend to freak out when those darn things start chirping and God forbid the security alarm gets inadvertently set off

Yup, my pup started shaking and refused to stay on her dog bed (at our feet) for the rest of the night. I had a 12 lb Schoodle permanently affixed to the crook of my legs for the rest of the night...

[Bay Kid]

Why can't the warning be more constant? Several smoke alarms and when one dies you need to keep waiting to find which one is bad.

[dshoberg]

Replace all detectors after 8-10 years....3 chirps is a detector starting to die...says so on the back

[DonnaNi4os]

Yes, they always seem to go off in the middle of the night. It is exactly why I make sure to change them twice a year. Since I started doing that I’ve had no more middle of the night chirps to wake me up. Doing it around the time we change the clocks makes it easy to remember. Incidentally, mine are interactive, meaning when you change one battery you must change them all or they will sound.

[fdpaq0580]

Yup, my pup started shaking and refused to stay on her dog bed (at our feet) for the rest of the night. I had a 12 lb Schoodle permanently affixed to the crook of my legs for the rest of the night...

Off topic, but what I want to know is why you can type "Schoodle", but you can't type "B@gger"???😕

[thevillages2013]

Well so I guess I need to go ahead and change all my batteries. Bought new in Pine Hills ( moved from Bonnybrook) in October 2016 and haven’t heard a peep out of any of the smoke detectors. They are hardwired and only in the event of a fire / power outage combo would the battery backup come into play. By the way I have a generator but I will go ahead and getter done. By the way only replaced one lightbulb (that came with the house) since 2016

[Topspinmo]

I’ve got 5 combination smoke alarms in my crackerjack house. Some are 120v and some are battery operated only. In my case they take 9V battery that can easily check with multimeter. So, every year on my birthday I get ladder outs and check the ones that take batteries. If voltage is low in battery I replace it. My house was rental at one time, maybe that explained why it has 5?

[JMintzer]

Off topic, but what I want to know is why you can type "Schoodle", but you can't type "B@gger"???😕

Because my Schnoodle is freakin' adorable, that's why!

92711

[JMintzer]

Well so I guess I need to go ahead and change all my batteries. Bought new in Pine Hills ( moved from Bonnybrook) in October 2016 and haven’t heard a peep out of any of the smoke detectors. They are hardwired and only in the event of a fire / power outage combo would the battery backup come into play. By the way I have a generator but I will go ahead and getter done. By the way only replaced one lightbulb (that came with the house) since 2016

I’ve got 5 combination smoke alarms in my crackerjack house. Some are 120v and some are battery operated only. In my case they take 9V battery that can easily check with multimeter. So, every year on my birthday I get ladder outs and check the ones that take batteries. If voltage is low in battery I replace it. My house was rental at one time, maybe that explained why it has 5?

All of mine are hardwired, with a 9V backup. Since we settled (a year ago last week), one started chirping in December, and a 2nd one last week. I went ahead and changed all of them...

[patfla06]

I would like the answer to this! It never happens during the day.
In our Tampa house it was always around 2 a.m.
To add to that difficulty we had 12 foot ceilings so my poor Husband
would be on the top step of the ladder changing batteries. :ohdear:

[mtdjed]

You need a taller ladder or a lower ceiling.

[mtdjed]

In The Villages, doesn't the Fire Department change the batteries for residents. They probably would welcome a 2:00 AM call.

[DaleDivine]

Time to replace all the smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarm.

:ho::ho:

[JMintzer]

Time to replace all the smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarm.

:ho::ho:

No, just time to replace the batteries...

When they start with the rapid beeps, that means they are going bad...

[asianthree]

In 2020 We put in the 10 year batteries, in carbon/ smoke alarms. I was one short, up north. Today my cameras picked up a sound and sent me an alert. Yep the the one I use a regular battery is chirping like there is no tomorrow. When the grands get home from school will have them change it with another regular battery. Will see next year who chirps next. If the 10 year even lasts for 5 years, it’s worth it.

[worahm]

Maybe the warranty is really not ten years. The battery warranty I read mentions the ten year warranty refers to shelf life. In other words, the battery is warranted for ten years if you don't use it to power anything.