fire alarn and next door neighbours

[dailily]

I live next to a HMO, they had new fire alarms installed in the summer.

A month or so ago, we were awoken at 4am by our fire alarm going off. Obviouslly completely terrifying, but having established there was no fire, realised that our NDN kitchen lights were on and there was a smell of burnt food. We couldn't here their alarm when ours stopped, so the next day went to check theirs had gone off, it had, someone was cooking a toastie while drunk. Was glad their alarm was working, and didn't think much of it as a bedroom window was open and guessed the particles had triggered ours.

Since then, our alarm has gone off 3 more times, seeminly at random but again, coinciding with burnt food smells coming from next door. I've never heard their alarm go off, only ours. Then this week, again at 2am our alarm went off. DH went round and none of the occupants said they'd been cooking and didn't know why it had gone off, but DH could smell fag smoke when they opened the door.

Their landlord is sending someone to investigate next week but I'm really wondering what is going on here! I've never heard theirs go off which makes me wonder if ours is somehow triggered by theirs going off, and they both start/stop at the same time.

Googling doesn't help. The last few times our windows have been closed so don't think they smell is coming in from outside. Also, the old neighbours smoked loads and we could always smell it, plus bonfires etc and ours never went off.

What is going on?!

Cigarette smoke from next door isn't going to set off your fire alarm. I'd get your alarm tested.

If there's no obvious cause for yours going off I'd be buying a new one or if it's a connected to the mains type be getting it investigated. I'd worry less about your neighbours fire alarm and more about if your own has developed a fault, while it's currently causing an inconvenience I'd be more worried it wouldn't work in the event of a real fire.

When you smell the burning is the smell inside or outside? I can't say I've ever smelt any neighbours burning food from inside my own house.

What's a HMO?

Do you have wireless interlinked smoke alarms? If they are going on and off in sync with next door, perhaps the contractors linked your alarms during set up? I'm not sure if that's possible but I don't think our wireless alarms have a password or anything.

I think you have a problem with your smoke? Alarm and it’s nothing to do with your neighbours . What does hmo have to do with it? Is it relevant?

Also smoke alarms are not triggered by cigarette smoke , unless you’re in a toilet in a plane .

I lived in a flat where the alarm went off every time we cooked. Had a fire man round once (unrelated) who noticed the alarm and said that it was a smoke alarm and our heat alarm was in the hallway, when it should be the heat alarm in the kitchen and smoke in the hallway hence why it was alway going off, and told us to have them switched.

Could this be the case?

@Justcallmebebes house of multiple occupation.

Agree its weird OP, sounds like your alarm is a jobsworth

House of Multiple Occupation

@statetrooperstacey

Also smoke alarms are not triggered by cigarette smoke , unless you’re in a toilet in a plane .

If it's an HMO, they might have ionisation detectors to detect cigarette smoke.

@chesirecat99 it's not the alarm in the HMO that's going off. It's OP's.

The fire alarm is going off in both houses at the same time.

OP said their alarms were going off at the same time as next door, @girlmom21. I suggested in my previous post that it might be possible that the 2 systems could have been accidentally linked if they both have wireless systems.

I have a flat in a Georgian town house. We have to keep updating the communal fire alarm system as fire regs keep changing and the building is subject to extra rules like HMOs because of the number of floors and being a listed building. At one point, we had to have the interlinked wireless alarms set so that if there was a fire burnt toast in one flat, everyone's smoke alarms sounded.

I seem to remember the control panel just searches for any wireless smoke alarms in the vicinity when you set it up. If it detected OP's and the engineer didn't notice, it could be linked to the HMO control panel.

As a PP said it sounds like they are synced together. We have 4 in our house as it's made of wood and they layout requires it. When one goes off, usually the one near the kitchen, all of them go off. Even the one in the basement which is like being in a different house it's so far away.

The wireless sync us the most obvious explanation.

They should be able to sort it out easily, - and tell them to stop setting the bloody thing off.

@chesirecat99

Do you have wireless interlinked smoke alarms? If they are going on and off in sync with next door, perhaps the contractors linked your alarms during set up? I'm not sure if that's possible but I don't think our wireless alarms have a password or anything.

This is what I thought. A friend's alarms go off when a nearby house burns toast and sets their own off. No smoke in friends house at all. I wondered if they were wirelessly linked.