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what invisible thing could set off my smoke detector?

(I have carbon monoxide detectors that are not going off)

I have smoke detectors that are incorporated into my home alarm system. The other day, the one by my front door went off for no apparent reason, twice, and when I changed the batteries, it started alarming again immediately.

there was absolutely no reason for it, there were no open windows or doors nearby, it just went off. so, my alarm company replaced it. installed the new smoke detector yesterday and… it just went off again. completely different smoke detector.

there’s absolutely nothing in my house that could produce carbon monoxide, but I have separate CO detectors anyway that aren’t going off. there’s no smell, there’s nothing visible, and these are those electro optical photoelectric style ones.

UnH1ng3d ,

A ghost 👻

pelletbucket OP ,

I wish he’d come over and tickle my balls instead of tickling my smoke detector

rustyfish ,
@rustyfish@lemmy.world avatar

Had to scroll way too long to find the right answer.

Fermion , (edited )

Look for an expiration date. Radionucleotide style detectors end up failing with false positives when they reach end of life. You might need to have all the old ones replaced.

pelletbucket OP ,

I used the wrong word, but this is a photoelectric detector. The manufacturer date is less than one year ago

Fermion ,

Sorry, I must have skimmed too quickly and missed that.

shinigamiookamiryuu ,

Dust maybe? Dust can have the same particles as smoke.

Philote ,

I second the dust. Dust can collect on the sensor and trigger the alarm. You can try vacuuming or using a compressed air cleaner, or just replace.

pelletbucket OP ,

this is a brand new smoke detector. it’s all up in the original post

shinigamiookamiryuu ,

That itself could be its own reason. Manufacturing isn’t 100% perfect.

Kit ,

Spiderwebs or insects can mess with the sensors, likewise with dust. Try spraying some canned air inside. Or if it’s a few years old, you may want to replace it.

nezbyte ,

The instructions for my smoke detector recommend spraying the openings with compressed air regularly.

pelletbucket OP ,

now there’s an idea. I live in south Florida and my house was built in the 1950s. I wonder if some spider has decided that the inside of this detector is a good place to hide. blowing it out isn’t going to help though, because I replaced the entire detector and if there’s a spider going in there, they just went back into the new one immediately. I’m going to have to set up a security camera on this thing

Melatonin ,

I used to live in Miami and I had a detector do that. Maybe it’s pollen? There’s a shit ton of weird-ass pollen in Miami.

Bluetreefrog ,

Firefighter here. Brush and gently vacuum your smoke detector. Insects are attracted to the LED and can set off the alarm. They may be very small. Dust can also set it off.

SteveKLord ,
@SteveKLord@slrpnk.net avatar

Try replacing the batteries. That’s often the reason for this type of thing.

pelletbucket OP ,

as stated, as soon as I replaced the battery it started alarming immediately so I replaced the entire detector and it’s still doing it

qjkxbmwvz , (edited )

AFAIK in the USA you can’t have the main batteries be replaceable (I think an aux battery for wireless functions is allowed…).

EDIT: I seem to be thinking of California, maybe not all of US.

scrubbles ,
@scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech avatar

Mine went off in high humidity when I showered and forgot to turn on the fan

everett ,

I thought of this one too. “Photoelectric” smoke detectors are a thing, and it’s good to know if that’s the kind you have.

pelletbucket OP ,

thing is, it’s the smoke detector farthest from my shower, and only the third time it went off was anywhere near a time that I had showered.

mipadaitu ,

Call the fire department, they have detectors that they can use to look for gas leaks and other things that can set off a detector.

You can also call your gas provider. One of those two should be able to track it down, it could be a lot of things, but two different smoke detectors going off in the same location is a huge red flag.

Best case, you have something kicking up fine dust, worst case, you have a smouldering electric fire in your wall somewhere.

Don’t panic, but also do not ignore this.

pelletbucket OP ,

The weird thing is, it alarmed three times in its current position, but when I changed the battery, it started alarming in my hands in a completely different room, which I already had two other smoke detectors in it that weren’t going off.

and there’s no gas. I live outside Miami

Fosheze ,

This makes it sound like it’s probably just a defective detector. Swap it with one that hasn’t been going off and see if that one starts going off too. If it doesn’t then odds are something just failed in it.

You could also just try blowing some air through it to blow out any dust. But it shouldn’t be that dusty after only a year so I’m still leaning towards defective.

bradorsomething ,

Sounds like a bad unit, try replacing it. The fact it’s going off elsewhere and no other detectors go off says it’s the unit.

I missed that you changed units, check your wires.

If the new unit starts going off, you may have a switched wire between your signal (red) and your hot (black) that fried the unit.

pelletbucket OP ,

it’s not hardwired, my security system is entirely wireless

bradorsomething ,

Then some signal from the base unit alerts all units that one detector has gone off, to alarm the home. Either the base unit is sending a false signal, or some outside signal is mimicking the signal.

Personally I’d install a standalone detector in that spot.

pelletbucket OP ,

I’m slowly concluding this might have something to do with my Ring Doorbell and a new Chime I’ve added to that system, or cobwebs. I’ve thoroughly dusted this corner of the wall and ceiling now, and the chime stopped working anyway so

Catoblepas ,

I’d call the fire department to ask them to come out and make sure that there’s not anything slow burning that’s hidden in the walls. Be sure to mention two separate smoke detectors have been going off. Even if that’s not what it is they’ll be fine with coming out to check.

KoboldCoterie ,
@KoboldCoterie@pawb.social avatar

Anecdotally, when I was a kid, we had an electrical issue wherein a short or something was causing wires to slowly melt through their jacket, inside the wall. It was triggering smoke detectors, but we couldn’t see or smell anything. Fire department came out and found it, but if we’d ignored it, it almost definitely would have been a huge house fire eventually. Definitely second this advice. It doesn’t cost anything to have them come look.

Max_P ,
@Max_P@lemmy.max-p.me avatar

In my first apartment, I had a smoke detector that was mains powered. The wire metals weren’t compatible and eventually the wirenuts burned and cut off power to half the room. The smoke detector’s wires were all burnt up. It never alarmed unfortunately so I only learned about it when half the room just went dark. That could absolutely have turned into an electrical fire.

Definitely worth getting it checked.

TheDubz87 ,

Does it get hot by your front door or in direct sunlight? We have a few in my house that go off if our kitchen gets too hot. We had to move them down the hall slightly and they stopped. A really old one we have upstairs, hardwired into the house electric (built in 86) trips if too much steam builds up in the bathroom and let’s loose into the hall.

pelletbucket OP ,

it doesn’t, my house is outside Miami so it’s well designed to prevent direct sunlight from any of the windows.

SzethFriendOfNimi ,

Depends on what kind of detector it is but alot of them use small amounts of radiation and a detector that triggers when the number of particles detected drops below some level.

How smoke detectors work

That being the case any particulate large enough to interrupt the particles could cause it to go off.

For example high humidity misty water from a shower wafting over a detector placed over the bathroom door, etc.

CaptainBlagbird ,
@CaptainBlagbird@lemmy.world avatar

Did you open one up yet? That might give you a clue 🤔

E.g. I don’t know exactly how wide the gaps are, but here it looks like small insects could get in. Maybe you have another problem than smoke 🫣

pelletbucket OP ,

a spider could absolutely crawl through the grading over the detector portion. these are under warranty from my security company, so I’ve held off on disassembling one but I will eventually

pelletbucket OP ,

update - so I’ve got two more diagnostic steps. I have another detector of the exact same brand in another room, I’m going to switch them and see what happens. if the detector from my kitchen starts going off by the front door, then I’m going to try another brand that I have elsewhere in the house and move forward from there.

TheLimiter ,

It could also be an issue with the wiring if they are interconnected

pelletbucket OP ,

they’re connected to the base station wirelessly is all

MsPenguinette ,

I think you said elsewhere that they are new and that they are photoelectric rather than the radioactive ones.

I’m purely taking a shot in the dark but I’m wondering if you should try sealing up the hole(s) in the wall that you made to run electric and to mount the detector

My thinking is that dust might be getting caught up in a tiny draft through that hole and it’s so close to the source that it sets it off. Cause like, if wind hits the side of the house, there can be some positive pressure in the crawlspace which often also means inside the walls.

I guess maybe somehow there could be some stream or condensation as well. If it’s right by the front door and the humidity is high, maybe the hot air from outside meets the AC air and causes a tiny amount of condensation. Or if you live in hellscape temperatures, maybe there could be some vapor generated because of the hot air.

pelletbucket OP ,

omg 😭😭😭 The new detector went on off in the living room where the old one did. switched it to the kitchen, put the kitchen detector in the living room, and the new one went off in the kitchen. wtffff

fulcrummed ,

Sorry, trying to follow here. Three locations: front door, kitchen and living room. 4 detectors: original front door, new front door, kitchen and living room?

Original front door went off in situ and in the living room while holding it?

New front door went off at front door. Swapped NFD with living room - NFD went off in living room.

Moved NFD to kitchen and it went off in there too?

Where are the K and LV detectors now? Have any of those gone off anywhere in the house? Are THEY functional? (Sorry if you already said, I’m trying to piece the bits together and mighta missed that)

pelletbucket OP ,

three detectors. front and living room are the same place. but I’m getting one more replacement to check

yukichigai ,
@yukichigai@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

Are your smoke detectors linked to each other? Could be faulty wiring in the circuit, or a completely different smoke detector failing and sending out an alarm that triggers the others. The latter happened in my home when I was growing up: the living room smoke detector kept going off a few seconds before the rest of them would chime in, but it turned out it was the one in the nearest hallway that was failing and sending out bad signals. The living room detector was just the next in the circuit.

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