Chirping Smoke Alarm Kidde

Bubbles

Well. Got call chirping SA. Ok..battery. Owner replaces and I replaced all 4. There are 4 interconnected smoke alarms in house. He had other elec. over and he finally disconnected one red lead and that stopped them all from chirping (just lead to that SA). When I hooked the red lead to see what happens. Nothing happened til I was on the highway of course. All I know is the SA were all brand new...brand new batteries and somehow by disconnecting one red lead it stops the whole setup from chirping. BTW the chirping rotates between 2 different SA's. I'm thinking just replace all 4..make sure brand new batteries are in and new and return the others and see what happens again? oh, everything has 120 to it and is interconnected.

Jim M

Have you checked all the connections yet? SA will chirp when the power is interrupted or restored.

mdshunk

It's also possible that if they replace all 4 with new one's, there might be a 5th of a different brand that they don't know about that's screwing with the whole system. Maybe a combination smoke/CO alarm someplace? Something like that. An idea to consider, anyhow.

TxElectrician

Check the specs on the SA. I had a call a year or so ago - same problem - HO had replaced batteries, unit continued to chirp. I replaced batteries to all units, blew compressed air to clean dust off sensors, still chirpped. Read back of unit and noticed Brand and part # for replacement battery, along with warning that another brand may not work properly. Replaced w/ spec'ed battery and no more problems.

Bkessler

I had the same problem once and it ended up being a bad wiring harness for the smokes.

mdshunk

I use Kidde almost exclusively, and the only time I had this problem was when the battery was in wrong. Worth a look, to be sure. Make sure, too, that a piece of that plastic stuff they put in the battery holder didn't rip off and is preventing contact.

dSilanskas

The problem is that you have to use a certain type of 9V. They give the type in the manual. If you dont have one good to the whole saler and look at one.

woodchuck2

In my own personal home when i was finishing the basement i was installing SA's and i dropped one on the floor. I thought no big deal, several weeks later they all started going off intermittenly. I had to disconnect one at a time until they stopped sqawking, turned out the problem SA was the one i had dropped. It took me several days to figure it out too, wife was real happy about 9 SA's going off in the middle of the night.

Bubbles

All good tips. I'm on a quest now...

bjgelect

A few years ago I had a job replacing all thos POS BRK smokes in a group home, put in all new Kidde 1275's, after a while they started chirping. Never had problems with these, but this drove me nuts until I found a hidden BRK in the attic. Replaced the BRK, problem gone.

acrwc10

How old are they ? They have a 10 year life expectency. 4 smoke detectors don't cost that much either compaired to the time to go out there and change a battery then have to go back. Change them all. and be done.
P.S. The smokes at my house don't seem to like "Duracell" batterys.

wireless

i recently had a similar problem with the alarms going off for no reason, I just replaced all of them yesterday HO called this morning they all went off again! Now what do I do?

ampman

i put smokes in a house that had none all ceiling mounted and they were going off all the time tried everything stated above no help moved all to wall mount no more problems i think the heat and humidity from attic was the problem attic was not well ventilated

Quiglag

I was in an apartment in Reno while doing some work at Lake Tahoe in the winter and the smoke detector would chirp every time the apartment got cold. After the heater was able to heat the apartment up, the chirping would stop. It was the weirdest thing.

Static Design

I installed about 10 of these in a lake house and had the same problem, all brand new batteries, etc. I called them and asked them what was up, then they said check the dates on the battery. Sure enough they were expired but still held voltage on a dmm check, I replaced with new batteries that were not expired and bingo, problem solved.

Related info: Make sure the dust covers are off along with the paper tab over the batteries.

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