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Original poster

Please help with my smoke alarm problem

35 replies

Hoverfly1 · 10/06/2025 22:49

Sorry not an aibu but I need some help. My hardwired interconnected smoke alarms will not stop going off I think there is dust stuck in one of them but no amount of hoovering or dusting will stop them going off for the last 2 hours. I live in a rented house so didn’t install them, I have looked for a fuse but can’t find one. Tried just turning the electricity off at the mains but that didn’t make any difference as they must have back up batteries and I suspect trying to remove them will make all the connected alarms go crazy.

I am currently sitting under with a brush silencing it every 5 mins when it goes
off but I can’t spend all night like this and they are still waking my kids and probably neighbours up every time…. Does anyone have any kind of solution? 🙏

OP posts:
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sunshineandskyscrapers · 11/06/2025 07:43

Well done! I felt sure that desperation would drive you to get in there one way or another before the night was over. So glad you managed to kill the noise and get some sleep.

Original poster
Hoverfly1 · 11/06/2025 00:42

I plucked up the courage to prise it off the ceiling with the electricity off at the mains, found several dead spiders inside it. The back up battery cannot be changed according to a label within the unit. All the connected alarms seem to have gone dead now this one has been removed so now have no smoke alarms which isn’t great but at least we can gets some sleep and hopefully get it sorted tomorrow.

OP posts:
Seawolves · 11/06/2025 00:25

mycatismyworld · 11/06/2025 00:22

They are hardwired ones

Show quote history

Hardwired ones still have a battery backup otherwise they wouldn't work during power failures.

chillinwithmygnomies · 11/06/2025 00:24

Could you try blowing it clean with a hairdryer? Maybe it needs to be blown out rather than trying to suck it out with the vacuum

mycatismyworld · 11/06/2025 00:22

JustPloddingOnBy · 10/06/2025 22:52

Have you tried changing the batteries? This happened to me and it was because the batteries needed changing.

They are hardwired ones

Franjipanl8r · 11/06/2025 00:21

Seriously just change the back up batteries, you won’t electrocute yourself!

weathervane1 · 11/06/2025 00:07

With our three interconnected alarms, when the internal back-up batteries get low, they tend to go off. - albeit a bit out of tune. There is a small hole on the edge of the alarm's rim and I have to push a small screwdriver or even a stout match into it to push against a plastic tab. At the same time, turn the lower part of the alarm's body and it comes away from the part still attached to the ceiling - the two parts will still be attached by wires. These wires come out of the ceiling into a "plug" for want of a better word that is pushed into a "socket" on the lower half. A quick waggle of the plug and a gentle pull and it detaches from the lower half. Then I can open the small battery compartment and remove the 9v battery. I have to then reverse the process using a new battery.

I have no idea if yours are the same as mine and I'm only telling you how mine work. Best of luck.

Original poster
Hoverfly1 · 11/06/2025 00:00

I’m also worried I about electrocuting myself opening them. I have i idea how electrics work. If they have their own fuse inside will they still be off when I turn off the Main fuse?

OP posts:
spikefaithbuffyangel · 10/06/2025 23:59

Hoverfly1 · 10/06/2025 23:56

If I could just get open and take the battery out and leave the power off all night I would take it at this stage. I have a horrible feeling it would trigger and the connected alarms though and make a massive racket .mg neighbours must be being driven crazy already!

Show quote history

It might be worth risking it
I was so stressed when mine did it but my neighbour heard the racket, took it off the ceiling and silenced it and then took my phone and got me a link to order a new one

sunshineandskyscrapers · 10/06/2025 23:58

Mama2many73 · 10/06/2025 23:49

They do have a back up battery pg 30 describes how to check they are working, ours are those 9v rectangular style.

They seem similar to ours.
Opening them for the first time is a complete nightmare ( pics on your link). You need to be high up ie on ladders as uou have to find a tiny slit, insert a flat screwdriver and push a little catch to release the alarm cover which slides off from the base.
Ours were going off and I had to go very early morning shopping for new batteries (not cheap) .

They should have a date on which tells you when the unit needs replaced, batteries should be replaced yearly.

Ah, yes. Ignore what I said about twisting. It's a screwdriver and a push. There's a video

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music that you love, upload original content and share it all with friends, family and the world on YouTube.

https://youtu.be/MPh4d7MZJ6s?si=pTsmWuGOuBiyVpP_

Original poster
Hoverfly1 · 10/06/2025 23:56

Mama2many73 · 10/06/2025 23:49

They do have a back up battery pg 30 describes how to check they are working, ours are those 9v rectangular style.

They seem similar to ours.
Opening them for the first time is a complete nightmare ( pics on your link). You need to be high up ie on ladders as uou have to find a tiny slit, insert a flat screwdriver and push a little catch to release the alarm cover which slides off from the base.
Ours were going off and I had to go very early morning shopping for new batteries (not cheap) .

They should have a date on which tells you when the unit needs replaced, batteries should be replaced yearly.

If I could just get open and take the battery out and leave the power off all night I would take it at this stage. I have a horrible feeling it would trigger and the connected alarms though and make a massive racket .mg neighbours must be being driven crazy already!

OP posts:
Mama2many73 · 10/06/2025 23:49

They do have a back up battery pg 30 describes how to check they are working, ours are those 9v rectangular style.

They seem similar to ours.
Opening them for the first time is a complete nightmare ( pics on your link). You need to be high up ie on ladders as uou have to find a tiny slit, insert a flat screwdriver and push a little catch to release the alarm cover which slides off from the base.
Ours were going off and I had to go very early morning shopping for new batteries (not cheap) .

They should have a date on which tells you when the unit needs replaced, batteries should be replaced yearly.

POTC · 10/06/2025 23:48

Hoverfly1 · 10/06/2025 23:39

I’m actually in tears sitting here now. I can’t believe the HA won’t send anyone out to deal with it. I’m just doing tj have to sit here pressing a button all night. I have to be up for work at 6 and my kids are also going to be awake all night.

When my carbon monoxide one was doing this I quite literally whacked it with a broom until it no longer functioned! Obviously you have to weigh up the risk of having no alarm until it gets replaced.
Do try to find the battery first though, it has to have one. Some can't be replaced, that's why they have an expiry date, but some can, and even if it can't be replaced you can hopefully remove it!

XDownwiththissortofthingX · 10/06/2025 23:48

Reset the memory. Press and hold the test button for at least 20 seconds.

wandawaves · 10/06/2025 23:48

I don't know but I feel your pain. Mine have been acting similarly for a few weeks, except not quite as full on as yours- they just go off intermittently, usually at night time, and I have to get up and silence them with the broom. Usually when I get back into bed, they'll go off again 🙄
I've changed the batteries on a couple of them (ran out of batteries for the others) but it still does it.
Google said it was may be a wiring/electrical problem, so I have been meaning to call an electrician but I just haven't had the money.

POTC · 10/06/2025 23:45

Menopausalmum43 · 10/06/2025 23:18

It's a hard wired alarm so not amount of looking for battery is going to resolve anything. You could unscrew the cover and flick the fuse out but ring your landlord.

Mine are also hardwired but do have a backup battery. They all should, if the power goes off for any reason they need to still function!

sunshineandskyscrapers · 10/06/2025 23:44

Have you tried twisting the cover of the smoke alarm to remove the cover. It might feel a bit stiff. Once off, remove the battery. If it's still beeping, turn off the electricity. It can't beep with no power source.

Original poster
Hoverfly1 · 10/06/2025 23:41

spikefaithbuffyangel · 10/06/2025 23:36

Probably at the end of their life, mine did it when it needed a full replacement

They are less than 5 years old!

OP posts:
Original poster
Hoverfly1 · 10/06/2025 23:39

I’m actually in tears sitting here now. I can’t believe the HA won’t send anyone out to deal with it. I’m just doing tj have to sit here pressing a button all night. I have to be up for work at 6 and my kids are also going to be awake all night.

OP posts:
spikefaithbuffyangel · 10/06/2025 23:36

Probably at the end of their life, mine did it when it needed a full replacement

Original poster
Hoverfly1 · 10/06/2025 23:35

Our fire brigade is all retained/voluntary I dont think they would come out!

OP posts:
Original poster
Hoverfly1 · 10/06/2025 23:23

Menopausalmum43 · 10/06/2025 23:18

It's a hard wired alarm so not amount of looking for battery is going to resolve anything. You could unscrew the cover and flick the fuse out but ring your landlord.

I’ve tried they won’t come out, it’s housing association so just goes through to a call centre and they said its not in the list of things they will help with

OP posts:
Menopausalmum43 · 10/06/2025 23:18

It's a hard wired alarm so not amount of looking for battery is going to resolve anything. You could unscrew the cover and flick the fuse out but ring your landlord.

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