Ok, I have a fun question... old smoke detectors

[EatenByLimestone]

It started going off for no reason tonight. Looking back, it's probably 11 or 12 years old, past the 10 year battery. What do you do with this thing? You used to be able to take the battery out and make it shut up. Having it go off in my trash can seems awkward for the neighbors. My wife doesn't like it going off inside. I really don't blame her. She didn't like my idea of a trip to the local convenience store/Walmart and their trash can. I'm thinking an adjustment via framing hammer? Its currently wrapped up in my kid's comforter because she's having a sleepover and not home. She'll eventually come home though.

 

[EbS-P]

I thought mine had a tab on the back to permanently disable and then they would no longer secure to the base plate. Don’t they have a bit of radioactive material in them? Or were those the older ones. I bet you can pry the plastic off and find the battery.

 

[ABMax24]

Yes, most smoke detectors have Americium-241 in them. No way I'd be smashing it with a hammer if that's the temptation.

If there is no other way to silence it, I'd open the cover and cut the wire to the siren, then bring it in for disposal.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

My mother has one that is not old enough to be past its expiration date, but it started going off when there is no reason. When I talked to her the other night, she had put it in the car outside to muffle the sound. I’ll have to ask her if it stopped going off. She hasn’t mentioned it since.

We have smoke detectors that are hardwired into our house’s electrical system, but they also have battery backups, and they drive us crazy. We change them more than the twice a year, and they still let off chirps in the night a couple times a year. I don’t know if it has to do with the electrical current, but it seems to be often when the weather is changing. It’s incredibly aggravating, especially as we have high ceilings, and depending on which alarm it is, it requires dragging out quite a big ladder and hauling it up the stairs in the middle of the night. The last time this happened (only a few weeks after we changed the battery) we took down the hardwired detector, and we’re now relying on simple battery detectors (with new batteries) that have not given us such problems (yet).

 

[RockyMtnGriz]

UPS them to people you don't like? That's a good way to get rid of those infernal styrofoam peanuts too, so maybe pack them in plenty of those!

 

[peakbagger]

How about drowning one in some salt water?

 

[DuaeGuttae]

I don’t know if your alarm is actually a Kidde or not, but I thought this article might help.

Kidde Battery Settings for 10-Year Sealed Alarm

Learn how to activate and deactivate your battery on Kidde's sealed 10-year Smoke Alarm.

www.kidde.com

 

[EatenByLimestone]

It’s been replaced. I have no idea what happened to the old alarm. My wife took it somewhere. Im not going to ask questions until I need to, lol

 

[begreen]

They should be properly disposed of. Old photoelectric detectors can go in the trash. Ionization detectors can be taken to the local hazardous waste center if there is one in the area. Otherwise, it should be sent back to the manufacturer after the battery is removed.

https://www.des.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt341/files/documents/2020-01/hhw-1.pdf

 

[stoveliker]

@DuaeGuttae
Ones thst randomly go off before the end of (battery) life.may be because of dust. A good vacuum cleaning might help.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

It could be dust- (or insect- or scorpion-) related. We have done the good vacuuming, but it doesn’t get done all that often since that also involves hauling out a big ladder that is too heavy for me to carry up and down the stairs. We don’t have the same problem with the other detectors, though, so at this point we’ll just use the plain old battery powered ones. We won’t go without detectors.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I’m the same way with detectors. I put a new one up that night.