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My CO detector went off in the middle of the night tonight. I flew out of bed dragging the sheet and staggered around for a moment, wondering what the heck. Then I woke up enough to snatch the thing off the wall to turn it off but it wouldn't turn off. I called 911 and they told me to go outside and wait for the emergency services to come.
Somehow I got the cover off and managed to make the thing stop beeping during all that.
So I got the cat into her carrier, pulled on some jeans and went outside.
Fire truck came, they came inside with their detector but all was safe and well. He didn't know why the detector went off. He played with it a minute, managed to get it to test, then said I should replace it, and off they went.
I am in the habit of testing the thing, but it's been a couple months since I did, now that I think about it.
I guess like anything these things can malfunction and just go off for no reason? Is this common?
I'll be stopping at Home Depot on the way home for work for a new one. I think the county has a free detector program, but I don't want to delay replacing it.
How long have you had the detector? Depending upon model it may only last 5 to 7 years before it needs to be replaced. Mine went off due to a power surge. I got out my paperwork and it stated it should be replaced every 7 years.
The 10 year battery operated detector was installed when I bought this house 3 years ago. Last time I tested it was in April, so I missed a month. I usually test once a month.
According to the information on it, there are different beeps for indicating malfunction, or dead battery. This was the four beep pause, four beep pause of CO detection but the fire-fighters didn't find any trace with their detectors. I'm still feeling nervous though.
The oil fueled furnace was not running and the natural gas water heater is functioning normally.
How long have you had the detector? Depending upon model it may only last 5 to 7 years before it needs to be replaced. Mine went off due to a power surge. I got out my paperwork and it stated it should be replaced every 7 years.
The issue is though that it didn't make any of the beep sequences that indicate things like failing battery or faulty system. It emitted the four beep pause, four beep pause, of CO detection. But the firefighters said there was nothing.
The First Alert CO/smoke detector was installed in July 2020. It's a 10 year battery model. On the back is the date of manufacture which turns out was June 28, 2018, so it is 5 years old.
It was bought and installed as a gift when I bought my house. When testing,(I just tested it) it still tests as okay, but I took a half hour of personal time while at work this morning and went to home depot and bought new CO monitors, Kidde brand.
I got one that is the combo smoke and CO like I had before, and then one that reads CO only, and it has a little screen showing the level. I set that one up as soon as I came in for lunch and it is reading zero. I am going to get a couple more of those I think. They can be set on a table, rather than wall or ceiling mounted. I like that.
The wall one I'll install where the other one was, when I get home from work.
The issue is though that it didn't make any of the beep sequences that indicate things like failing battery or faulty system. It emitted the four beep pause, four beep pause, of CO detection. But the firefighters said there was nothing.
The First Alert CO/smoke detector was installed in July 2020. It's a 10 year battery model. On the back is the date of manufacture which turns out was June 28, 2018, so it is 5 years old.
It was bought and installed as a gift when I bought my house. When testing,(I just tested it) it still tests as okay, but I took a half hour of personal time while at work this morning and went to home depot and bought new CO monitors, Kidde brand.
I got one that is the combo smoke and CO like I had before, and then one that reads CO only, and it has a little screen showing the level. I set that one up as soon as I came in for lunch and it is reading zero. I am going to get a couple more of those I think. They can be set on a table, rather than wall or ceiling mounted. I like that.
The wall one I'll install where the other one was, when I get home from work.
I think you did the right thing by replacing them. I'd chalk the problem up to the general trend of household things not lasting as long as indicated. Like LED bulbs and batteries.
I've had one that went bad and falsely alerted. I had another one in the same area that showed no issues and moved another one to the same location to test and it also showed no issues, so just one random one that went bad after like 2 years or so. Sounds like you may have run into the same thing, but I'm glad you took the safe approach first before assuming it was wrong.
I think you did the right thing by replacing them. I'd chalk the problem up to the general trend of household things not lasting as long as indicated. Like LED bulbs and batteries.
It's a good point. It just bothered me because there are supposed to be specific beeps for things like faulty unit, or low battery. I do tend to get anxious about things like this. My natural gas meter sprung a leak in April, I managed to get over my worry about that after they replaced the meter and sent me a free battery operated gas detector to install in the basement where my water heater is. Oh well, I have to trust the firefighters, we have a good crew
Quote:
Originally Posted by z28lt1
I've had one that went bad and falsely alerted. I had another one in the same area that showed no issues and moved another one to the same location to test and it also showed no issues, so just one random one that went bad after like 2 years or so. Sounds like you may have run into the same thing, but I'm glad you took the safe approach first before assuming it was wrong.
Thank you for sharing your experience. It really helps. Yeah, I wasn't going to mess around with wait and see. After I called 911, I and the cat stayed outside until the fire truck arrived. It was a nice night thankfully, equinox and all. And I knew the crew, which helped.
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