Help!! Smoke alarm beeping making me go insane!

[goodytooshoes]

We have mains connected smoke alarms. Three in total, one on each floor. They all talk to each other. When you test one they all go off.

The one downstairs is emitting a beep every 45 seconds. The others aren't. It's not the battery. We've changed it for a new one twice. Reset them and it's still beeping. There is mains power going to it. DH has checked the wiring and it's live.

It's driving me insane. I'm losing my patience with it and it's actually making me feel angry because it's messing with my already fragile head.

I shamelessly put this in AIBU for the traffic in the hopes that someone might be able to help me. For 4 days the bastard thing won't shut up!!! I can't take much more of it. What the fuck is wrong with it!?

HELP!!!

Please.

Damn, the radio link base (the bit that's beeping) is discontinued so we need a whole new system. On the plus side, seeing as it's just the radio link that's dying, all the alarms are in perfect working order as stand alone alarms. Well the radio link is still working as it is with the electric, it's just the radio link battery backup. So providing there's electricity, the radio link will work, an failing that, all the alarms work as stand alone alarms anyway. So we are safe for the time being until we can source new radio link alarms and have them fitted. I just have to put up with the fucking beeping!!!

Good job I'm working a 12 hr shift tomorrow.

I get this occasionally following a loss of power - last time I set it off (and the one upstairs followed) then stopped it by pressing the button again and it fixed it. I'm not sure if it was just asking to be checked?

Apologies if this is entirely useless info for you but it worked for me

Mine is mains connected but they still have batteries that beep loudly and annoyingly and at 3am when they are about to runout. I found this out when I called my local fire station to ask for help (no, not 999). It was a BASTARD to get to though!

Did your building work include plastering? Increased damp levels will cause your alarm to bleep as described.

You need to find the reset button 🤣 love that friends episode so much.

Sorry, hope you stop the beeping soon, I would have to move out, I can’t stand ticking clocks!

Call your local fire service (not 999 obvs) and they will come out and supply and fit new ones. Well they do in Wales.

I really don't understand why alarm companies are allowed to programme them this way. A bleep every hour would remind anyone to get a new battery or check it. Every minute is just unnecessary torture.
I had this and nothing worked. It started in the evening and I had to put up with it for 2 days. I could have cried with frustration. I probably did.

Ours has to have an energizer max battery in it, anything else is too low power. Worth a try...

They beep when they are getting too old to be reliable. So it’s likely knackered and the beeping is telling you to replace it. It is a safety feature.

Is there anyway of switching them off completely? I'd put some new ones in (the non wired) to tide you over if you can't fix them yourselves then see if you can get a contractor to fix them.

We had a very similar situation in our previous home, we had to replace all the alarms. It continued to beep and we realised that the old alarms were still connected to the wireless circuit. We had to basically reprogram everything so that the link was broken between the old alarms and only the new alarms were active.

It was incredibly stressful trying to work it all out!

I hope you get it sorted soon.

If you're in England they tend to just fit new alarms if you're in the 'vulnerable' category, but if you phone your services admin line you might be able to get a home safety check, who can advise. It could be an issue with the mains connection itself which means plugging in a new alarm might not help! Can you get a cheap battery powered one for now to cover the bottom floor? I know you need it to travel up to the 3rd floor, but you can get extra loud ones.

Is it definitely that alarm? When we moved into this house for weeks the smoke alarm was beeping. I felt like I was going mad! In the end my husband ripped the floorboards up and found the electrician had thrown the old one under the floorboards along with sockets light switches etc!

@MaidenMotherCrone I'm in Wales. I do t think they'll fit the ones we need though, we have to have the radio link ones for the building regs. But I'll certainly give them a call on Monday morning. Who knows, they might.

@mumofferals it's definitely that alarm. The light flashes the same time as the beep.

I've worked out what it is though, it's the radio link base. The alarm itself is fine, it's the battery backup in the radio base that's on it's way out. So if there was a fire on the ground floor the alarms will work as they're supposed to, with the radio link to the other alarms. If the electric were to fail, the alarm would work as a normal stand alone alarm. And I'd still hear it in my bedroom in the loft and it would wake me up.

So I'm perfectly safe until we get new ones sorted in the next couple of days, except I have to put up with the persistent beeping.

👉🏻😩👈🏻

@foobio we've put brand new Duracell batteries in. It's not that that's the issue though. It's the enclosed lithium battery in the radio base that the smoke alarm fits into. You can't replace that one. I just have to put up with it for a day or two longer until I can replace the radio base.

Bastard thing. We've taken the batteries out now coz of random beeping keeping us up all night.

This is what you get with nasty BRK trash, get a decent electrician in preferably one with half a idea about BS5389-6(domestic fire alarm regs) and have them fit Aico Radiolinked alarms with a 10 year lithium battery back up, not as cheap as BRK but you wont get this issue until they need replacing in 10 years time as long as you look after them.
You can find someone who should have the right knowledge to help you here. www.aico.co.uk/find-an-installer/

Op well according to DH (was a firefighter) they will but it's worth a phone call 🤷🏻‍♀️.