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Friday, March 21, 2008

Liz: Is it just me?


Does this look familiar to you? It's the sorry sight of the hole left in your ceiling when you rip a malfunctioning smoke alarm out and stomp on it in the middle of the night just to Make. It. Stop.

So here's my question: WHY DO MY SMOKE ALARMS GO OFF IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT FOR NO REASON AT ALL? And question two: Why do they NEVER go off during the day, when I would be able to deal more rationally with the situation?

This happened again one night this week and I am embarrassed to say that it was the third and final smoke alarm in my apartment that was operational, the other two having gone off and felt my wrath last year. I know this is incredibly unsafe, so my first task today is to buy a few replacement 9 volt batteries and reinstall all three. Well, I also need to buy one new device because I really did crush one the one this week that woke me from a NyQuil-induced slumber at 4 a.m. In my drugged and confused state, I did not just disengage it. I killed it.

Is it just me? I know I have confessed in the past that I believe my building exists in some kind of an electro-magnetic vortex. Did the strange stuff start when the elevator got hit by lightning and the controls melted or was that just another sign? I do not know.

I will faithfully put all three back in place today but I fear it will just begin another cycle of malfunction and violent overreaction.

Do I need an electrician or a ghostbuster? Help.

posted by Liz at 9:44 AM

11 Comments:

  • I am so glad to hear that I am not the only person to have "rage" issues against electronic products going haywire.
    I have come close to taking a baseball bat to my smoke alarm when it has gone of when my kids are sleeping.
    The only thing to keep my rational is the memory of fireman day in elementary school with the movie and safety talk.
    The Starbucks where I work had magnetic issues when it first opened. We could not keep anything with magnets hung up. We still have some problems. I have joked that the building is in some kind of anti-magnetic field.

    By Blogger michellewaite1, At March 21, 2008 11:20 AM  

  • Liz, I'd stick with the electrician if I were you. Or, have you tried going to your local hardware store and asking for recommendations?

    We change our batteries in the smoke detectors every time daylight savings time starts and ends. It's been a long time since we've had one go off by mistake--not since we started doing this.

    I actually did the same thing you did and ripped one right out of the wall I was so frustrated. It was very difficult to find the exact same detector as I didn't want my husband to know I had lost my temper. :)

    By Blogger Patty S., At March 21, 2008 1:49 PM  

  • Liz,

    I have them so darn sensitive that if I BOIL WATER they go off. Last year I replaced one with a new and improved one that has a big button on it to stop the horrid buzzing (it scares my "kids" a/k/a dogs and cat). So any time I try to cook, I drag out a stool and have it all ready to climb up and hit the button.

    Only middle of night sound I've had is when the battery is on it's last leg and it "chirps". That chirp sound can wake me from a deep sleep and, again, send at least one dog running.

    Isn't technology "fun" --- NOT!!!

    By Blogger Mary B. (Twin Cities), At March 21, 2008 1:50 PM  

  • (teehee-snort-chuckle) It is always in the middle of the night. The last time I moved, I packed up my CO detector. It plugs into the wall so I completely forgot to take the battery out before throwing it in a box. And taping it shut. I had a lot of boxes. As the movers were still unloading, I heard a faint beeping sound. I couldn't tell which room it was coming from. I thought it was one of my new smoke detectors in the ceilings until the movers commented that they had heard it in the truck. Did I mention I had a LOT of boxes? I narrowed the search to the 20 boxes in my bedroom. Of course, it's not a continual beep so my friend and I kept "waiting for the beep" until we found the box. I still had no idea what it was until I opened it up!

    By Anonymous urbangirl, At March 21, 2008 4:42 PM  

  • Oh Liz, it is always at night and my poor dog pins his ears back and runs around frantically looking at me to DO SOMETHING! You did a much better job of killing yours than I did. I don't know the solution because they are required by law (and hopefully save lives) but they misfire (no pun intended) and, thankfully, eventually stop. I was told once by an alarm company that the smoke alarms are set to ring for only 10 minutes or so (I forget how long) and automatically shut off because if there really is a fire, when the firemen arrive they can't do their job with the blasted alarm going off! No kidding...:-)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At March 21, 2008 5:37 PM  

  • Liz,
    I feel your pain. We do change the smoke alarm batteries on daylight savings time changes like Patty S. does, but has your fax machine ever run out of paper?? That is more annoying than the smoke alarm. Maybe because I know what the smoke alarm is. But the soft beep in the basement can be really scary when you are not thinking about the fax machine because you hardly use it. And of course, it happens during the day when we are at work and the dog is home alone and is freaking out all day because she can't shut it off.

    nancy-michigan

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At March 21, 2008 6:23 PM  

  • Liz,

    Thanks for the humorous sharing of life's daily drama that seem to pop-up. I agree with you as well. It seems when my smoke alarm battery is at its end, it is always between the hours of 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. I have "killed" a couple of these alarms myself.

    I too have replaced the dead alarms and wonder occasionally when the next alarm will sound..... I figure at least these alarms are merely warnings and not real fires!

    You did manage to give me a good laugh at the end of a very trying week! Thanks.

    Kristin
    Tampa, FL

    By Blogger Kristin, At March 21, 2008 10:11 PM  

  • Liz, the same thing happened to me a while back. One alarm kept going off in the middle of the night which in turn set them ALL off as they are hard wired. A neighbor heard my desperate pleas for help at a party and gave me a solution that worked! Vacuum around the sensors. Dust builds up and sets them off! It was advice that saved my life in more ways than one. Give it a try! Good luck and sleep well.

    All the best...

    By Blogger Bridget W from CT, At March 22, 2008 2:08 PM  

  • HA! Sorry about your troubles. That certainly is a sound that gets you out of bed. grrrrr. (especially if there IS no fire.) In my house, the former owners were forward thinkers and had the alarms hard wired to the electricity. the good news is no batteries. The bad news? There is NO killing of the alarm. Man those things are loud! Hopefully, for you, it was a battery issue. Hopefully.

    By Blogger Kelly in VA, At March 23, 2008 2:46 PM  

  • I have similar feelings towards and experiences with fire alarms. Why can't they keep us safe without being so annoying?

    By Anonymous Anna in MN, At March 25, 2008 2:01 PM  

  • Did you know that security systems also have battery backup? As someone who only gets home 60 days a year, it was really frustrating to come home to the "chirp" that WASNT coming from the smoke detector. We finally figured it was due to a dead battery in the hidden control panel for the security system we never use. What good is a security system when no one is around to hear it?

    Sunshine

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At March 31, 2008 5:23 PM  

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