Four Smoke Alarms Go Off Almost Simultaneously

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The other night within about 5 minutes four smoke alarms, First Alert, went off in four rooms--all close to one another. It turned out the batteries were low. Last replaced in 2001/2002. I didn't know they were somehow connected. Is that really what is done now days? The house if 8 years old.

Wayne T. Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA) (121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time) Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet

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               "The Dutch are busy builing amphibious houses."
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Reply to
W. Watson
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Impressive coincidence, maybe helped by a general temperature shift.

John

Reply to
John Larkin

My house built 6 years ago, they were all connected together. One goes off, they all went off.

If your alarms are battery powered and still have a wire going up in the ceiling, then they're interconnected.

Reply to
DecaturTxCowboy

You're probably right, but I've never experienced that before. I have had one go off by itself. In fact, that's the way this started. Typically, previous experience indicates a spider crawling around in the alarm, and the sensor picks it up. I belive if the batteries are low, one should get some sort of mild clicking sound. It's a mystery to me. No repeats since.

Wayne T. Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA) (121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time) Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet

--
               "The Dutch are busy builing amphibious houses."
               --cited in "Field Notes From a Catastrophe", 2006
 Click to see the full signature
Reply to
W. Watson

They are sometimes connected. Some local codes require it. Look for a common color wire going to each detector. Do you have a panel to power the house system and the battery is for backup?

BTW: When your smoke detectors go off look for smoke not a malfunction. Tom

Reply to
tombiasi

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up?

By all means, please check for smoke. As it is now a requirement, all AC powred smokes are required to have battery back ups as stated. If you look, there will be an orange wire that is the "common trip" to signal the rest of the S.D.'s to go into alarm mode. Low battery will chirp locally at the affected SD. This common trip will signal the other units, running on the house AC or on the battery, to go into alarm mode It you use the test button, as recommended monthly, you will hear all units go off. If they don't, look into it. In WI. , required smoke detector are in the bedrooms, common hallways leading to bedrooms, and every level within 6' of the stairway.

Test them monthly!!! Walt Grenier Master Electrician/Commecrcial Insp.=20

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