DIYbanter - View Single Post - Smoke Alarms: Battery or Hard Wired and why?

Dove Tail

wrote:

Yesterday our hard wired smoke detector in the basement went off, it
didn't cause the one up[stairs to sound an alarm, so that has me
thinking it is defective. Aren't the two of them supposed to alarm
at the same time??? We replaced the battery and it didn't help stop
the alarm. Tried calling the company's 1-800 number but was on hold
for almost an hour. Eventually got it shut off by disconnecting it.
Now worried the other one might not work. Also, thinking maybe some
battery only ones should be installed as well. Can't hurt! Any
comments or suggestions are welcomed!

Try using some canned, compressed air (or air from a compressor) to
blow the dust out of the detector's ionization chamber. After a period
of time in a dusty environment (i.e. if your clothes dryer or furnace
is in the basement) particulate matter can get into the detector and
create false alarms.