Berkeys / Berkeys Blog

December 01, 2016

Smoke Detectors For Dallas Homeowners

Smoke detectors and alarms can be a very useful tool to have in your home and may save your life. But many people experience false alarms with smoke detectors that ultimately make them less effective. By keeping your smoke detector clean and charged, and avoiding putting the unit in places that are not optimal, you can prevent false alarms and may help save yourself or your family when an actual fire occurs.

This video shows how to fix a smoke alarm chirp beep

How To Stop Annoying Smoke Detector False Alarms

Even the cleanest homes can have dust, and it is one of the biggest causes of smoke detector problems. The trouble starts when dust finds its way into a smoke detector. Dust particles can reflect light inside photoelectric smoke detectors, just like smoke particles do. This creates false fire alarms, which can occur at random times of the day or night.

If your smoke detectors continue to go into alarm for no apparent reason, try cleaning them as a first step. It costs almost nothing to do this, and it may solve the problem completely. For details on how to do this, see the cleaning section of “System Sensor Smoke Detectors”.

Water and Steam

Water is a fairly common cause of smoke detector problems. As water vapor, it can billow out of a hall bathroom after a hot shower is taken. The water vapor mimics the effect of smoke, and causes the alarm to go off.

Water leaking in from the roof will tend to collect on the drywall of the ceiling. If a fire alarm is installed near the leak, water can trickle into the unit. There it can cause corrosion, damage to the smoke detector circuitry and electrical wiring, and false alarms.

Cooking Smoke

If you have smoke alarms tied to your home security system, enter your code at one of the alarm system keypads only once, in order to silence the sounder. Open windows to clear the smoke from the house. After the air has cleared up, use your code or reset command at a keypad to reset the smoke detectors.

Chemical Fumes

Bug sprays used by some pest control companies can release fumes that will set off fire alarms, and should not be used close to them.

Many cleaning chemicals contain ingredients that will trigger false alarms in smoke detectors.

Paint can contain volatile carriers that can cause smoke alarms to trip. Oil-based paints are worse in this area; latex-based paint is usually not an issue.

Tip For Smoke Detectors

The only solution I know is to have the fire/smoke detector outside the kitchen. In our house, we have one that’s directly outside the kitchen door in a hallway, which seems to provide enough separation from the kitchen for it to only go off in truly smoky situations. If you really want to have the detector in the kitchen, put it as far from the oven/stove as possible. Call us for your home service and repair needs.