To break the bloody smoke alarm!

[SacreLao]

Ok ok i'm not really going to do anything to the smoke alarm, it's sods law that a fire will start the very second I do but it's driving me bloody mad!

Got woke up a few nights ago at 3am by it going off !!!
Jumped out of bed, convinced of a fire and sent OH to get the kids while I investigated, NOTHING!

Thought it must a one off and left it.

It went off 3 more times for no reason at all, no cooking etc. at the time.
Called the landlord then who sent out some alarm company today.

They have checked the alarm and said it's fine but reduced the sensitivity just in case something in the house was setting it off accidently.

Now it's just gone off again
I am sat on the laptop and there isn't a smidge of smoke in the house, why the hell is it going off all the time.

Have lived here for 9 years and this has only just started, the poor DC are getting hardly any sleep and my DS being autistic and highly sensitive to noises has a fit everytime it happens and it takes hours to calm him again.

I'm going to call the landlord again in the morning but I don't understand it at all, why has this started happening now.

Anyone know what can set a smoke alarm off other than smoke?

Yes

The technical term when this starts to happen is, "It's fucked"

HTH

I couldnt disengage mine - I wouldnt know when tea was done!

Sounds like you need a new alarm! I would buy a new one and then disable existing one though!

Steam sets them off. Mine used to go off when I had a shower. Dust also but it seems odd that dust would suddenly fly up at 3am.

Is it wired into the mains ? Ours is and it goes off if there's an electrical problem, it also shuts down the electrics. Happened once so far when a fan went iffy, clever tho.

is it a heat sensitive one?

Yes it is wired into the mains, not that I checked for batteries to remove from it

No other electrical problems, in fact the electrics have recently been re-done, well about 2 years ago anyway.

Definately not steam, it's mostly night time they go off and no shower etc. running. Dust may be a possibility, going to go and dust the bloody thing now.

It would the landlord's responsibility to replace it wouldn't it, in a rental property, or is this down to me?

The annoying thing is I have 2 alarms, one upstairs and one downstairs and when one goes off it automatically triggers the other to go off so I have no idea if it is the upstairs or the downstairs one that is playing up.

I really would get the electrics checked out, ours repeatedly went off when it was first put in, turned out a wire was pressing against a beam, it'd been moved when we had some building work done, or it could be a dodgy appliance. Best to be safe than sorry with these things.

No idea if it is heat sensitive, can't imagine it going off for heat at 3am on a cold night however.

I rarely have my heater on and when I do it's only in the rooms being used.

The smoke alarms are in the upstairs landing and downstairs hallway so through rooms only hence radiators always turned off in them.

Just had a thought, if dust can set them off can pet hair?
Wondering if my ninja cat has been attempting some ceiling walking late at night and triggering it

umm, it is the little radioactive sensor they have a half life and it needs replaced, I would ask the landlords if they can contact the fire service because they have better alarms than you can buy and fit them in the correct places, also they are free (well in Kent, I would be supprised if that wasn't the case in the rest of the country), I used the FS for my 2 rentals when I had them and my home and they where great, the rental I live in now, has 7 alarms and except for 1 they are all in the wrong place and 4 of them are new and clearly the LL paid someone to do a bad job, the other 3 are seriously old, of the new ones we have 1 in the Kitchen FFS! and the other 3 are positioned near the wall on the celling, in the area smoke won't fill in the first instance. so basically useless.