In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 4 Jul 2018 08:44:29 -0700 (PDT), John G
wrote:

On Wednesday, July 4, 2018 at 9:54:40 AM UTC-4, micky wrote:
How do I get my home's smoke alarm to not send a signal to the
monitoring company right away?

Even though the system is grounded through a 6' copper rod, there was a
lightning strike that set off the smoke alarm which called the
monitoring company.

A week later, I was broiling something and I left the oven on in case I
needed to put the food in for more time, and though I didn't smell
anything, the smoke alarm went off and it started dialing the monitoring
company within about 2 minutes. I called them and cancelled, but now
I'm afraid to cook anything except by boiling.

What key words should I look for to buy something new?

I would contact the alarm company for guidance. Maybe they can do something at their end.

It's a long story but for good reasons I hate to bother them.

A 6' ground rod is not to code. 8' is the minimum required length and burial depth. Even though you have a ground rod, if the connections to the ground rod and at the service are not good, the rod will not be as effective as it can be.

Maybe it was 8 feet. It's been a while. But lightning** is not what
I'm worried about. It's my cooking. In the past I've set the smoke
alarm off maybe 10 times in the last 15 years, so I expect to do it
again. However in the past, I had no monitoring, just the smoke alarm,
so if it buzzed, I'd go upstairs and wave a magazine undeneath it until
it stopped. And that was the end of it for a year or two.

What do other people do?

John Grabowski
https://www.MrElectrician.TV

Wade, it's a 110 volt smoke alarm. I forget what that says about it.


**That was interesting, actually. I was on the phone when the lightning
struck, not my house but nearby. The siren went off and I started
downstairs to stop it, but it stopped on its own maybe 60 or 90 seconds
later for some reason. I went back to the phone call and in a couple
minutes heard touch tones. I didn't know what they were but my friend
on the other end of the line did. After about 5 attempts at one or two
minute intervals to call with touch tone, it switched to pulse, about 5
times at one or two minute intervals. Eventually it stopped and I
thought I was done.

Went to sleep early. Next day go downstairs and find the alarm control
panel squealing. Disarmed the alarm (even though I had not armed it)
and I thought I was done. Five or 10 minutes later the police show up.
It seems that disarming the alarm must have restarted its attempt to
call the monitoring station, and when they called me to verify, I'd left
the cordless phone upstairs so I didn't hear it. Police said they'd
gotten loads of alarm calls because of the lighting. Then a couple days
later a guy from my alarm company called me. So everyone was involved.
The second time, I cancelled so only the monitoring compnay was
involved, not the police or the alarm company, but I expect somehow the
next time, everyone will be involved ag again.