Laugh, cry, or what?

[Someone-Else]

Recently got off the phone to neighbour who was calling from my mothers (She is 80 and can't hear very well over the phone)
Neighbour "How do you stop these alarms?"
Me "The smoke alarms I can hear in the background?" (She also has a burglar alarm too)
N "yes, how do you turn them off?"
M "sorry you can't turn them off"
N "But you must be able to, how do you turn them off?"
M "Sorry you can't turn them off, they are there to alert you of smoke"
N "Yes, but how do you stop them?"
M "Sorry, as I said you cant stop them or turn them off...."
N (Doesn't let me finish) "Well that's not very good is it, can't turn them off"
M "If you could turn them off you would never turn them back on, what happened in the first place?"
N "I don't know, I will ask your mother"
After a pause
N "ah, your mum burnt the toast"
M "The smoke alarms can still see smoke, that's why they are still going, are all the doors and windows open?"
N "No" (You can now hear the penny starting to drop)
M "Would you ask my mother to open all the doors and windows"
N "Yes done that, they are still going"
M "Give it a minute"
N "Still going"
M "Give it time"
N "But they are still going, there must be a way to turn them off"
M "Waft a rigid paper under them to clear the smoke"
Just as I said this, guess what, they stopped.
N "er, thanks" (phone hangs up)

Do you laugh cry or what? My mother does not have / want an electric toaster, she uses the grill on the gas cooker, so to have set the smoke alarms off the bread would be blacker than the door of 10 Downing street, so there would have been a lot of smoke. I have told her before what to do, I guess it must be an age (forgetful) thing.

If she had have been watching the toast in the first place, this would have never happened.

Have you ever burnt something and set the smoke alarms off?
Personally I think smoke alarms are under rated for what they can do (save your life) yes they are "annoying" when they go off, but that's the idea, to attract attention, and if you open the doors and windows to clear the smoke they soon stop.

(Rant over, thanks for reading)

[big-all]

some people just dont get it

perhaps they are smokers so live in a smoke filled house

[BillyGoat]

Ours goes off a fair amount.

Where is it compared to oven? Are you better replacing it with heat detector interlinked with smokes elsewhere?

Just buy her a toaster. Bet she will use it.

My parents never want anything 'new' yet if you buy them one, its ALWAYS in use.

Perhaps she tried one years back before they were any good, or Maude told her they were newfangled and hard to use.

You know its 20 quid well spent.

Bg

[big-all]

they are from a generation where if you dont need it you dont buy it
for your own piece of mind buy her a toaster before the neighbour works out how to take the battery out

[moderator6]

I'd also advise fitting a CO alarm if your mum regularly uses the grill. If it's not burning properly or the doors shut during use they can be the most dangerous of all gas appliances.

[ultimatehandyman]

In the last few months I have fitted three different types of smoke alarms on my own properties - interlinked-smoke-alarms-t62099.html

In one house there were wired interlinked smoke alarms installed, one smoke alarm at the bottom of the stairs, one at the top and a heat alarm in the kitchen.

The tenant promised she would not smoke in the property

One night she text me asking to ring her at 21:30 on a Friday night, I called her and the smoke alarms were sounding and could not be silenced.

I got there and the alarms were silent, someone had switched off the dedicated MCB for the smoke alarms (who ever thought this was a good idea wants to have a re-think- if the smoke alarms were on the lighting circuit the tenants would not switch them off)

The Burglar alarm had also been going off randomly (probably because someone had been pressing buttons and put it into test mode, I think she blamed this on the electrician too)

I was there 20 mins and the smoke alarms did not sound. (The tenant and daughter were drinking and smoking in the front room)

Originally I thought perhaps the smoke alarms may of sounded after she got an “electrician” to replace 3 energy saving lamps in the living room with Tungsten filament lamps, as he damaged the bayonet fitting on one of the lamps- causing the RCD to trip.

Sunday night I received another text at 21:30 asking me to ring, so I did and the smoke alarms were sounding again
When I got there the alarms were silent, but the alarm on the landing (which they had been pressing with a broom handle to silence) was flashing orange every few seconds. I removed this alarm and got a replacement a few days later. It has been fine since.

Very annoying though

[BillyGoat]

This would be a good opportunity to make a sounder box that goes off when it detects power has 'failed' for the smokes.

For the safety of the residents, you should use the loudest possible soundbombs you can lay your hands on. Make sure the box is assembled in such a way that they can't obscure the holes and that it has multiple in.

Power from an essential circuit.....by the sounds of it, one that has their TV on........they will NEVER turn that off

BG

[Someone-Else]

This would be a good opportunity to make a sounder box that goes off when it detects power has 'failed' for the smokes.

Years ago, you could buy a plugtop that did just that. It was meant for your freezer, so if it was unplugged you would know about it. I guess its downfall was that if you had a legitimate power cut the buzzing would literally drive you up the wall.

My mothers smoke alarms are mains operated but each has a battery for back up, the battery should last for a year. (Or close to it) so although you could switch the mains off, it would be a waste of time.

I am considering changing them and getting a smoke alarm hush button.

[Wee Eck]

Have you ever burnt something and set the smoke alarms off?
Personally I think smoke alarms are under rated for what they can do (save your life) yes they are "annoying" when they go off, but that's the idea, to attract attention, and if you open the doors and windows to clear the smoke they soon stop.

Occasionally but, as far as I'm concerned, it's good to see they are doing the job they were designed for.

[BillyGoat]

Plugtop?

What if its a moulded plug?

[Joelc]

Granted, they are annoying, but I'd rather have the annoyance, if nothing more than to remind me that they are working.

[ultimatehandyman]

My mothers smoke alarms are mains operated but each has a battery for back up, the battery should last for a year. (Or close to it) so although you could switch the mains off, it would be a waste of time.

The ones I fitted also had a battery backup, but when someone switches the MCB off and the alarms are sounding the batteries do not last long at all. I had to replace 2 of them at the last visit- most annoying

[scot-canuck]

UHM: I think S_E means the ones with the integrated Lithium Ion battery that you cannot remove and do not have to change.

[Someone-Else]

Sorry if I am causing confusion here.

The ones I installed at my mother's house are mains operated with a 9v pp3 battery as back up, so if the mains is removed (Or the friendly neighbour switched the whole consumers unit off in this case) the smoke alarms would still continue to sound. *

However when I mentioned a year, I meant that they should still work for a year if they are running on just battery power. I have no idea how long they would sound for if they were running on just batteries, we will never be able to answer that one as it will always depend on how old the battery in question is.

* Until the battery goes flat or some joker takes that out.

The ones with a non replaceable Lithium Ion battery claim to have a 10 year life, after which you should change the whole detector.

But in light of the grief I have had over this (Thanks for everyones comments) I am going to change them all to the ones that will accept a "silence button" in that, this button silences them all for 10 minutes (I think) then re enables them. I know its easier to say "open the doors and windows to let the smoke out" but it is for my 80 year old mum.