AboutFred P. Wessells Expertise I can provide advice regarding most aspects of home and personal security & safety, as well as just about anything related to computer security. Lighting to locks to windows and more. I DO NOT WANT QUESTIONS ON ALARM SYSTEMS, other than common smoke/carbon monoxide detectors. This is not my area of expertise. How to keep from needing an alarm system is more in my area!
Experience I have worked in the industry for 18 years as a security officer, feature writer and editor for a national security magazine and as a security consultant.
Publications Security Technology & Design magazine, Access Control magazine, Locksmith Ledger magazine, several community newspapers and legal newsletters.
Question We moved into a 2-story house that has 11 or 12 hard wired smoke detectors with battery backup. The problem is that every time the electricity goes off, about 15 minutes later every smoke detector in the house goes off and continue sounding until 5 or 10 minutes after the electricity comes back on. I have replaced the batteries in every detector, but that didn't help at all. Is there a solution?
Answer Oh yes, there is definitely a solution, but you may not like it. There are two problems here: the number of detectors and the fact they are hardwired. Let's take the second one first.
If you had read all my answers over the past year or so, you would see a whole lot dealing with this same problem, and I'm going to tell you the same thing I've told everyone else: Ditch the hardwired detectors. Otherwise you will have this same problem all the time (and probably more frequently). What sets off hardwired detectors? Blackouts, brownouts, power spikes, power surges and I believe the phases of the moon. They are incredibly unreliable, and I don't relish having one go off at 4 in the morning (presuming you sleep during normal hours, which I do not).
If the electrician who installed these had a brain, they are all wired into one circuit. Turn off that circuit and put tape over it so no one can accidentally turn it on again. Then we'll get to what to do next in the next part of this reply, mainly because I am definitely not sure you need that many detectors.
Now this is not an inexpensive proposition. You need one combination smoke/carbon monoxide detector, and you need plain old smoke detectors. As to how many, I think you are overloaded, so let's try (without being able to see your home) to figure out where to put these. The CO/smoke detector [Kidde makes a good one for about $50 that runs on two AA batteries] should be somewhere around the furnace. I have a small home, and mine is located at the top of the wall next to the stairs up to the kitchen. This is great placement. It covers any CO leakage from the furnace and also covers my total ineptitude in the kitchen. I have one regular smoke detector (usually run on one 9V battery) on the ceiling between my two bedrooms (one of which is my office). That's it. It helps, of course, that I don't smoke.
So after the CO/smoke detector, where do you place the others? Well, one that will cover the kitchen if the CO detector doesn't. One outside every bedroom (NOT in the bedroom). Then stop for a minute, look around and determine if you think there is any other vast space that isn't covered by those detectors. Unless your two-story home is about 6,000 sq ft, I cannot imagine your needing more than 4-5 detectors.
Now, how to do this. Remember, before you do anything, turn off the circuit to those hardwired detectors, tape it over and then you're ready to go to work. Regular detectors will only cost about $19.95 plus the batteries. Figure out where you really need them, then take down the hardwired detectors in those locations, cap the wires (with those little caps that cost a nickel) and just attach the new battery-powered detector right where the hardwired detector was. Okay so far? Then in those locations where there are hardwired alarms and you don't believe there's a need for one, leave them. The power is off, so they won't go off. BUT, save a penny and remove the batteries. Most detectors are about the same size, so you should have no problem replacing the hardwired with the battery-powered detectors. Also, do NOT put any detector near a bathroom. Steam will set it off. The detector recognizes steam as smoke.
Now that will cost you an hour's work and about $200 if my estimate of how many detectors you need is somewhat accurate (that includes the more expensive CO/smoke detector). But you won't wake up in the middle of the night unless there is a real emergency. The combination detector has a lovely female voice that tells you whether it's CO or smoke. If it is CO, open a window, call the police/fire department and GET OUT OF YOUR HOUSE IMMEDIATELY! You also must have a fire extinguisher in your home. First Alert makes one that I like. I keep mine under the kitchen sink, since all my fires tend to be in the kitchen. [Don't laugh. I quit using the stove for anything other than heating tea water or holding my coffee maker and now rely on the microwave and electric grill to cook.] Grease fires aren't pretty. The First Alert extinguisher is a one-use implement. It has a pin in it, just like a hand grenade. If you need to use it, you pull the pin and then fire off the extinguisher.
Change the detector batteries yearly, and you will finally sleep well, and be better protected as well.
