smoke alarms going crazy (townhouse, neighborhood, contractors)

[G Grasshopper]

Today I had some extraneous electrical leads that used to go to dishes on the roof removed from my house. This afternoon, my smoke alarms are all firing at once every hour or so. They stay on for maybe 20 seconds, then stop all at once. My smoke alarms are wired into the house, although they also have batteries, which I replace once a year. (I replaced them in July.) So because the alarms are all going off at once, doesn't this seem like an electrical problem? To my knowledge, the people who took off those wires didn't even go into the electrical box because they were all on the outside. But what could be causing this?

[iamwayne]

Fault in one of the smoke alarms, if one goes bad, they all beep? Is any of them giving off a error light?

[centralaustinite]

I grew up with firefighters in the family. I would either call an electrician and have someone come out tonight or I would call the fire department and ask them to come and check. You could have some sort of smoldering fire on your roof. It isn't likely but the odds aren't zero.

[Trainwreck20]

The wired fire alarms are all connected, so that if one goes 'off', they all go off. One of them might be dirty, which might be causing intermittent problems and setting them all off.

[10scoachrick]

Interesting as the 'cooler' weather headed our way has given me the incentive to remove TWO abandoned sat dishes from our townhouse. Phantom smoke alarms are no fun!

[G Grasshopper]

I contacted the contractors who were here today, and they say that some dust could have tripped one alarm, which sometimes trips the others. They only did it three times - it hasn't continued every hour. I'm hoping they won't do it again tonight. The contractors will be back tomorrow and will check it.

Coachrick, I also had two unused dishes on my roof. I had them taken off when I got a new roof last summer, but the roofing people left all the wires, which were unsightly. That's why I had them taken off today. But the contractors today, in addition to taking off the wires, were also doing ceiling and wall texture repairs, so maybe a little dust got into the smoke alarm from some of the sanding of plaster. At any rate, their electrical guy will check them tomorrow.

[10scoachrick]

My dish removal includes one attached to the fascia(easy, I hope) and one mounted through the ROOF
I'm going to leave the mount for the roof unit, rather than risk removing it. The wiring is a bit unsightly being black on a sandstone trim background.

I wonder if there is any 're-purposing' a sat dish? I should have done this before bulk trash week.

[RooCeleste]

Originally Posted by 10scoachrick

I wonder if there is any 're-purposing' a sat dish? I should have done this before bulk trash week.

A few years ago, a neighbor in our 'hood used one of the giant old style satellite dishes as a sandbox cover in her backyard. Obviously, everyone was appalled because her backyard faced the greenbelt down the middle of the neighborhood and you could see that hideous thing from a long ways, even from the street. It was so tacky looking.

[G Grasshopper]

Originally Posted by 10scoachrick

I wonder if there is any 're-purposing' a sat dish? I should have done this before bulk trash week.

Maybe, if you are really creative. But maybe they should go to a metal recycling place.

[Return2Paradise]

Originally Posted by 10scoachrick

Interesting as the 'cooler' weather headed our way...

Haha. I like how mid 90 degree temps in mid October is considered 'cooler' here. It was 97 F'ing degrees here yesterday! I just broke out my mittens and wool scarf.