WNY Handyman

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None of the items on your list are “life and death” devices

If there’s one thing our government SHOULD do is to take this crap off the market. 99% of what gov’t does is a waste and intrusion but stopping this would be welcomed here.

Our Kidde 1275s (I believe)false alarmed twice this morning– first around 3:30am then again around 3:45am. They beeped a three or four times then stopped by themselves. After checking the whole house, I’m convinced there is no source of smoke/fire. I have three hardwired Kidde units that I installed as routine maintenance replacements about 2 years ago– I don’t know brand of units I replaced but they never false alarmed for 10 years.

Since most others on this post report the false alarm at night, I too am wondering if voltage fluctuations could be the cause. I live in the DC area and tonight is fairly hot/muggy so everyone is demanding power for AC units. We’ve also experienced brownouts in the past, but not tonight as the digital clocks didn’t reset. Any EEs on this post that can comment on whether a voltage fluctuation could set off the alarm?

Finally, as I was checking each alarm, I didn’t notice some type of bug on the wall near one of the alarms. I didn’t notice if that was the offending alarm that tripped the others.

Tom

This just happened to me last night! It went off three times for no reason what so ever and then again an hour and a half later. I pulled the detector that was blinking green and have not had a problem since. Does anyone have any suggestions? What model/unit should I replace it with? Thanks for your input, and I will look more closely at the detectors that I have, and purchase in the future!

We have had the exact same problem with ours the other posters here have discussed. I am assuming it is fruitless to call the manufacturer based on the comments here as well. My family is up again at 1:00 am because of these apparently faulty units and needless to say we are very frustrated and now face the expense of replacing them all.

Up this morning at 2:45am because of our KIDDE units. This is NOT the first time we have been awakened by these alarms, but it will be the last. Out of sheer frustration, most of them were RIPPED off of the ceiling and broken in half trying to remove the batteries. Suffice to say we are looking for replacements.

Thank god I am not alone in this! Our model 1285’s started going off at 3:00 and again at 3:45 this morning. Looks like its time to replace them all since my heart is still racing after being startled awake like that, not a good thing for a woman who is 7 months pregnant.

Amazing that no one talks about cleaning the unit out with a vacuum cleaner, as recommended by the manual, everytime they change the battery. I have had 8 units connected together in my house without false alarms, and the units are now almost 10 years old, time to replace them. I have been woke up by the low battery chirp from one unit, but I don’t change the batteries until the unit indicates it is needed. The batteries last about 3 years, standard Duracell’s. Whenever I change the battery, since I have the unit off the ceiling, I vacuum it out with a strong vacuum.

I will echo any complaints about how difficult it is to get the A/C plug/clip off the unit sometimes. Poor design.

I have a similar story – except that my alarms began screaming at 1:00 am. No fire or smoke. I checked the brand/model and yes it is the Kidde 1275. I went online and found this website, and while it’s a shame to see so many posts on this poor product, it’s comforting to know I’m not alone. The house was built in 2002. It’s not surprising to know that builders go with the cheapest product. In 2006 we had an addition built and used First Alert detectors. We’ll be installing those in the rest of the house soon.

We have hard-wired Kidde units (not sure what model #, I’ll have to check when I get home) We were awakened about 5am by the smoke detectors. Startled, we jumped up and ran to the kids room -there were 2 smoke detectors in the hallway and one in another bedroom that were sounding (they must be connected). None of the others in the house were going off (we have 16, give or take a couple). In the commotion I thought it seemed ‘hazy’ or ’smoky’, but I believe that was just blurred vision from being startled awake. Oddly, we smelled nothing, could find nothing wrong. My husband ran into the attic, down to the basement, in every room (even though the sounding alarms were isolated to the upstairs, when they were screaming at us for 10 minutes it was hard to tell if more were going off). He even ran outside (it was raining) to see if there was smoke coming from somewhere. When we were a bit calmed and convinced nothing was on fire – I looked on the internet and found these posts. My husband got the ladder and pulled down the detector that was blinking green and slow red (the two on either side were blinking green and fast red, so we think not the culprits). After reading some posts, my husband admitted that there was a spider hanging from that detector. Hmmm. Well, I hope that’s all it was – but of course now I have a complete lack of confidence in not only our detectors, but our botched ‘family fire plan’…we did horribly. I can only think that’s because we were confused that there was NO FIRE OR SMOKE. Well, I am going to vacuum the units I guess, and work on our family fire plan just in case. With as many units as we have, I feel safer that we are ‘covered’, but on the other hand we just have more risk of false alarms. Good luck everyone.

Kidde 1275 going off at 2:30 AM FOR THE LAST 3 MORNINGS. TRIED RESETTING – DID NOT WORK – THEN TRIED TO GET THE AC ADAPTER OFF – VERY HARD – IN FACT THE BACK WIRE BROKE FIRST – THEN THE ADAPTER CAME OFF AND WE WERE ABLE TO REMOVE THE BATTERY – IN HOPES OF REPLACING IT – BUT NOW WE HAVE TO HAVE THE BLACK WIRE REATTACHED. WHAT WILL THAT COST???????

I have Installed dozens of houses with Kidde / Fire X smokes and smoke CO’s it seems that about one in eight installs have this problem in the first 3 months. This has cost my company hundreds and made customers very unhappy last time was in 2009 somebody should sue these @$$ holes for still selling this crap when they know it is defective. I will never trust one of there products again. P.S don’t trust them when they tell you they have fixed the
problem in the newer product.

We purchased our house 8 years ago (new construction) and have had nothing but heartache with these units. They are constantly going off, and sometimes you just can’t stop them. Today was the kicker. I was reading to my 4 year old downstairs when all the alarms went off. I immediatly went looking for any sign of smoke and found nothing. However when I entered my sons bedroom I was welcomed with a horrible smell. It was nowhere else in the house. I called my neighbor (both husband and wife are firefighters) and they came over to inspect. They detected no sign of fire but couldn’t explain the smell in my sons room. Then my neighbor decided to inspect the alarm itself, and when he took it down the odor became worse! He turned it over and the thing had melted inside! It said on the side “replace after 10 years”. I say replace them NOW! Piecs of junk!

Our Kidde (not sure if it’s a 1275 model) smoke alarm went off at 5am this morning – sounding three times then stopping, then a couple of minutes later sounding twice more – not the battery warning sound the proper alarm sound. After waking up very suddenly and charging around the flat checking for smoke or fire we calmed down and then noticed a very “guilty” looking spider crawling away from the alarm in the hall way. After reading these posts and doing a little research it looks like this could have been the cause! In the tired, shocked state I was in in the early hours of this morning I didn’t think to get rid of the spider – hope it doesn’t go for a wander near the smoke alarm again if it’s still about!

Mine work fine. I have five (5) interconnected model #1285 throughout my home, and have not had a problem. Once I burned some toast and set them off, but other than that, no false alarms. I do keep the dust down in the house, and have 3 dogs and cats that I have to constantly have to vacuum up after. One factor maybe carpeted floors. Since building this home five years ago (when the alarms were installed), I went with hardwood and tile throughout. I have noticed a marked decrease in dust within the home. Could this be part of your problem?? New carpet, which sometimes has a lot of “flurries” once installed, or perhaps an old carpet that has since degraded, causing a similar these false alarms. I also take an air compressor lightly to the units when changing the batteries, so that may help. Whatever the source of your problem, find a solution, as these little babies may save you and yours. Good Luck, Sean

this is crazy! one of our just went off last night at 4:30 AM! i thought i was going to have a heart attack! before reading this i did figure out it was the blinking one that needed to be changed. we are still unsure as to what set it off very uneasy feeling all day and im sure for many nights to come.