AIBU to ask why my fire alarm just went off in the middle of the night?

[KTD27]

Posting for traffic
Anyone know anything about smoke alarms?
We moved into our rental property last week. All fine. Accidentally set the smoke alarm off today around 4pm grilling fish fingers in the oven (used wrong setting) opened kitchen door and it silenced after a short while.
1:45am smoke alarm goes off for what seems to be no reason. Me and DH leg it out of bed run down to landing and it just... stops. Now it was beeping as in full on can’t hear yourself think beeping. Not the chirping I’ve head on other alarms when the battery needs replacing. I was convinced I’d left something on downstairs but nope.
Now lying in bed trying to work out a) why?
B) if it will happen again the minute I go back to sleep!
So... wise hive mind. Help a tired lady out - what gives?

Is it hard wired into the main electrics? If it is then it could have been a power surge that’s set it off. If you live somewhere that’s getting bad weather / high winds etc just now then that could have caused a power surge that could have caused the smoke alarms (and possibly other things like security alarms) to go off.

Apparently if an insect crawls or lands over the sensor this can happen?

It’s definitely one where they all go off together so yes possibly that?!
No high winds that I can hear and the roof sounded like it was about to fall off last week with wind so I’d say we have seen worse already in the short time we have lived here.
I’ll put it down to a power surge...

@BillBaileysBum

Apparently if an insect crawls or lands over the sensor this can happen?

Eugh big hairy spiders.

Our hard wired alarm gets set off in the summer by dust and insects 🤷🏻‍♀️ No idea why but w shave to hoover it occasionally to stop it from happening

Ok will give them a Hoover tomorrow

Low battery or dust or building work can set them off. Try wafting air through the alarm or hoovering or temporarily covering with a plastic bag. Could also just be a malfunction and new alarm needed.

Could the ghost be cooking bacon?

This happened to me, last year. it went off for no reason then chirped.... in the middle of the night

So I took it down and replaced batteries, made no difference.... so I took out the batteries and went to all night Asda to buy a new one.

We've had this too, and it was a low battery causing it.

We've got Nest smoke/Carbon Monoxide detectors that "talk" to each other. They decided that they were going to "test" themselves in the middle of the night once. All hell broke loose and for good measure I got an alert on my phone, bloody things.

Could it be the carbon monoxide warning? Just making sure it’s not that and you don’t ignore it.

If you can detach the main cover it will be obvious whether battery or mains powered. Sometimes it happens randomly though. Recommend cleaning them like the other posters have said.

Inside they have a small source of radiation, and a sensor. They work because particals in the smoke block the radiation, so the sensor can no longer detect it.

Anything small enough to get inside between the sensor and radiation source can set it of (eg. Dust / small insects). Has anyone been in the loft? Walking over the ceiling may have dislodged dust.

We are in the loft conversion bedroom. Could be anything I guess. I’ll give them a dust and a clean and check for batteries. Might replace them
For good measure I’m knackered! Could do without the midnight dance again.

@ThePawtriarchy

Could it be the carbon monoxide warning? Just making sure it’s not that and you don’t ignore it.

Wouldn’t have a clue what that sounds like. Would it be the same? I have a portable one somewhere we use when we go away. I’ll dig that out of a box today and pop it up and see what it says

@PhilCornwall1

We've got Nest smoke/Carbon Monoxide detectors that "talk" to each other. They decided that they were going to "test" themselves in the middle of the night once. All hell broke loose and for good measure I got an alert on my phone, bloody things.

It’s one of these!! Total arseholes. Not sure how to get it off the ceiling and get the code but will endeavour to try today so I can link it to the app

Strangely enough this has happened to me a few times this week and mine is not wired in to the electrics. I have no answer but am going to try running the hoover over it incase it is dust. Unfortuanately I cannot get in to change the battery as I foolishly stuck the whole thing on the ceiling with ' no nails ' and now cannot get inside it without ripping the whole thing off the ceiling.

They are arseholes. I have no idea of the solution but since our loft conversion we go through this a few times every autumn (humidity? Low back up batteries - they are also mains wired-? Spiders? Dust?) Happens for a few night, baffles us, then stops.
Also when we got our new burglar alarm it accidentally got set on some sort of elder/homecare setting which makes the alarm go off - and rings contact phone number - if someone doesn't move for three hours (we were in bed! Of course we didn't move! And how frightening for an elderly person living alone if their alarm starts going off!)
That Nest thing is awful! Some evil programmer designed that.

It’s one of these!! Total arseholes. Not sure how to get it off the ceiling and get the code but will endeavour to try today so I can link it to the app

Getting it off the ceiling should be ok, it's a turn clockwise or anti, forget which way.

To connect them to the app, you scan the QR code on the back of the detector from the app and then give the detector a name.

The one we have on the landing is a right pain, our 18 year old lives in the bathroom making himself "beautiful" all the time and the sodding thing lights up when he walks past it. A right pain at 2 in the morning, it's like a searchlight!!

So I can turn it anti-clockwise but am worried if I pull it I’ll electrocute myself!

So I can turn it anti-clockwise but am worried if I pull it I’ll electrocute myself!

Mine are battery powered, are yours wired in? If it's battery powered you won't electrocute yourself

Haven’t a clue! It helpfully says both on our inventory check in! Might switch the mains off just in case...

Haven’t a clue! It helpfully says both on our inventory check in! Might switch the mains off just in case...

That's useful. If they are the Nest wired ones, the mains power source has a connector on the end of it that plugs in to the detector, so there should be no bare wires. It should be fine to take them off and pull the connector out of it.

Its probably a spider. Bloody things go walkies in the night hunting and wander into the smoke detector ports for a look around. It sets them off everytime. A vacuum is good, also a blast of air if you have one of those keyboard air can cleaner thingies can help