fucking dh and the smoke alarm.

[EccentricaGallumbits]

this morning at 1.30 the smoke alarm suddenly wet off. i shot out of bed to investigate - nothing- then it stopped, then started again a few times over the next hour.

dh didn't even flinch or roll over let alone wake up

today he had a day of and i asked him to sort out a new battery and hoover the blasted thing.

roll forward to now.

it has just started doing it again.

has dh investigated and fixed it? no he bloody hasn't.
?

his solution? to pull it off the ceiling - it was wired into the mains - he claims he didn't know this.

so now it is broken and i am alarmless over night. not that he bloody noticed when the bloody thing went off anyway.

i am not happy.

his slution

I tested mine last week by burning the toast- does that count?

But yes you are right, KAQ. I don't test ours nearly as often as I should, and I watched my neighbour's house burn down a few years ago- she was still inside .

I am also paranoid about alarms, after a terrible accident in our village. No smoke alarms.

We have alarms in every bedroom, 1 downstairs and on the upstairs landings.

I use the stick-up sticky things[!], so you dont need a man screw driver.

Have used them in 3 different houses and haven't had a problem yet.

I was very lucky, and I got the rest of my family out too including the dog and the hamster. Idon't think I would survive losing one of my dc's like that, I kind of feel as though what happened to me was kind of a warning.

When you put the wheely bin out push the button. In my case I have high ceilings so I use a long wand out of the dressing up box :)

Crap.

Thanks a bunch you lot.

Yet another thing to add to the ever expanding list of 'things to do before the bump becomes a baby'

Oh well, I can at least reassure myself that until we actually have a kitchen the chances of a house fire are small.

KAQ - I test ours on the first of the month and they beep when the battery is low as well - occasionally the one near the kitchen gets 'tested' more often

Ahhh but we already know I am more stressy about these things than you are

I have had 1 smoke detector go wrong without sounding. I pushed the button and nothing happened, it was a 10 yr battery type and was 2 months old before anyone says I wore the battery out. I was told to send it back and they replaced it, but it goes to show, things can go wrong sometimes.

I push the buttons, not my luck

I got told by a fire officer to change the batteries on smoke alarms twice a year. He said do it when the clocks change and you won't forget.

and was 2 months old before anyone says I wore the battery out you know your MN don't you!!!

was told about the fire service's thing where they come out to talk to you and fit them at start of holiday at the local fire station open day - meant to do it while ds1 was at home as apparently if they aren't doing anything else they will come in the fire engine but chicken pox has broken out here so am waiting until we are pox free to get them to come. haven't told ds1 in case they can't make it in his idea of heaven on wheels...

I thought I had several smoke alarms so would be OK but fireman pointed out when discussing visit (before thinking of how excited ds1 would be) that most people don't put smoke alarms in their loft which is somewhere they ought to be.

I also have got into the habit of changing them between xmas and new year each year, never gets to new years day without being done. Quite an easy time to remember to do it - can stick it on diary, lots of spare batteries around (and the old ones are usually OK for a while, especially if dc have got new toys with very irritating noises where batteries that wear out quickly is a bonus )

We have 2 smoke alarms, and one carbon monoxide alarm.

My cousin was working in a group home, and there was a fire during the night. He got 7 people out. As he was helping a couple who lived in the basement apt., up the stairs, he collapsed, and he died. There is a street named after him now.

PS Someone had pulled the alarm off the ceiling because it was beeping.

Loft??? Right ok...

You can get ones wired into the mains (ours are, tested them the other day with burnt toast and they are LOUD No frigging clue how to turn them off though!)

Pozzled

We have 3 smoke alarms and 1 CO alarm. 2 of the smoke alarms are wired in to the mains with battery backup, but we're not v good at remembering to test them.

I will be better in future.

My xh husband is a firefighter, and we have alarms in all the bedrooms, landing and hall thanks to the brigade.

This is the 2nd house he's arranged for it all to be done, as I got all paranoid after dd arrived and asked him to check the house over. We were talking at the time though, and aren't now!!

The brigade (Hampshire) recommend changing the batteries twice a year. I do it around dd's birthday (summer) and over the Christmas break.

He's been on some heartbreaking shouts over the years, so many of which could be avoided.

Firemen fitted our alarms. They said one at the top and bottom of the stairs was enough for us so none in bedrooms.

Our house is stairway up the middle and rooms off each side though so I think any more would be overkill.

We have a CO detector by the boiler in the kitchen too.

I am paranoid, we had the house re-wired a couple of years ago and they have to hard wire a certain amount in, but I still have all the ones we had prior to that as well, so nearly every room in the house has one, people laugh at the one in the toilet.

Never even occured to me to put one in the loft though.

We have lots of these type as they save replacing batteries all the time

www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=10256477&ecamp=trf-005&CAWELAID=279375415

When my DH was at his old job (sparks) he was away for a few days on occasion so he taught me some basics such as fitting a plug and changing a fuse, testing the smoke alarms and how to use a test meter, well worth knowing.

And as he can (and does) cook and clean it seems only fair :o

Antidote - you don't need a kitchen to have a fire - you could have one because of an electrical fault.

personally, the first thing I would check when moving into a new house was the smoke alarm.

(said would because i'm not planning to move for a while!)

at home, we have one on the landing and in the hall - you're supposed to have them away from the kitchen because of cooking setting them off.

we have to take the hall one's battery out when we cook, but we always put if back in before bed.
i don't think i could sleep without it being ready.

I have a special alarm in the kitchen that is triggered by heat and not smoke.

www.safelincs.co.uk/reminders This website will send you a reminder peeps

Oh man. Just went and tested smoke alarms and can't make either of them beep! Think one might be carbon monoxide alarm (looks different to normal smoke alarms but is on super-high ceiling and can't get close enough to tell for sure). Balanced on window sill to reach other one and although it has a green light on it, a red light flashes when I press the button and it doesn't beep. What does that mean?? Am tempted to start burning matches underneath them...except can't find matches. Closest thing in house is creme brulee blow torch and don't want to start waving that around the hall.