AboutDave Neuweiler Expertise The design and application of burglary and fire systems for homes and businesses. Helping alarm owners understand how their system works. Helping to troubleshoot false alarm problems. Questions about monitoring issues.
Experience Over a quarter century in the industry. Experience in installation, service, and monitoring centers. Training manager for a national protective services company; director of education and training for a national trade organization for for alarm dealers.
Question I have a new home that is 2 years old with a total of 5 smoke alarms. One night all of them went off at the same time. I unplugged the 110v power with the batteries still in and they quit. What could have caused this?
Answer Hello John, and thanks for your question.
The most common cause of false alarms is dust and dirt. Smoke detectors become more sensitive as they become dirtier.
Manufacturers recommend that smoke detectors be cleaned on an annual basis.
The best method is to use a can of compressed air (you can get this at any office supply store) and using the wand, blow air into every opening in the detector that you can. Follow up by vacuuming each detector with a brush attachment.
If you continue to have false alarms, something else is causing them. So before cutting the power, take a look at each detector. The LEDs will indicate which ONE sets ALL of them off.
