Thoughts on smoke alarm?

[Osuna]

Hi everyone,

Smoke alarms went off last night. Never happened before. I seek your advice.

My setup:

I have a Morso non-cat stove, installed new in 2010, along with a stainless steel liner inside a chimney that is cleaned by a professional company yearly. The stove drafts well, no problems whatsover. 2000 sq. ft., center hall, gambrel colonial. The stove is located in the living room adjacent to stairs leading to the second floor. I usually burn in the evening upon returning from work then let the stove burn down to coals before going to bed, and the fire is out by early morning (6:00), probably much sooner.


4 Smoke alarms all hard-wired, battery back-up: 1 at top of basement stairs, 2 on first floor (in areas other than the room where stove is located, at least 20-25 feet away), 1 at top of stairs to second floor. The alarms are relatively new, all replaced when remodeling kitchen in 2013.

Problem:

At 3:00 a.m. the smoke alarms went off. First time EVER that this happened when stove was lit., day or night. Temperature outside here in Rhode Island was about 45 degrees.

When alarms went off, no smell/sign of smoke anywhere throughout the house. There was a good bed of coals glowing in the stove. I cracked open the stove door, opened the air completely and opened outside door to increase draft, just in case. Alarms continued to ring, so after 5 minutes I disconnected the alarms. Startled wife plus kids home from college...great excitement for all as you can imagine.

Normally I leave the air completely open and let the coals burn down before going to bed. Last night though, I decided to close the air all the way down before going to bed (11ish). I had reloaded the stove (a couple of oak splits) around 10:00, then turned the air all the way down at 11:00. I did not bank the fire. I have only banked it once before as an experiment: I was interested in seeing how easy/difficult it would be to restart the fire in the morning.

What do you think? Tiny particles of ash accumulated over time in the alarms, setting them off? The relatively warm temperature affected (down)draft? Turning the air down caused smoke to build up, and seep into home (didn't smell anything, though)? A combination of all of these scenarios?

Thanks in advance for any pointers/advice/stories, etc., and Happy Holidays.

 

[kswaterfowler]

Ionization or photoelectric detectors?

 

[Osuna]

The brand is Kidde. On the back of one, one reads "Combination Photoelectric/CO Alarm", and on the back of the other alarm "Ionization and Photoelectric Smoke Alarm."

 

[moresnow]

Snuffed fire may have caused a high CO problem that the alarms sensed. My best guess if there was no smoke.

 

[firefighterjake]

Hard saying, without knowing . . .

Could be a CO issue . . . could be a draft issue . . . although it sounds like interior and exterior temps weren't that close to each other to affect the draft.

Could also be just a coincidence . . . electric power surges can cause hard-wired detectors to sound occasionally.

Something to watch . . . honestly, I really couldn't give you a true educated guess on this one.

 

[nola mike]

I've had my kidde alarms trigger twice for no apparent reason in 8 years. I don't think I had a fire going either time. Freaked me out, and also woke up the household.

 

[firefighterjake]

This has been a

I've had my kidde alarms trigger twice for no apparent reason in 8 years. I don't think I had a fire going either time. Freaked me out, and also woke up the household.

This is a test. For the next 60 seconds this fire alarm system will conduct a test of the Smoke Alarm System. This is only a test. If this had been an actual emergency you would have also freaked out and run around frantically trying to figure out what was going on and whether you should immediately leave the home while wearing your Star Wars pajamas or whether you should attempt to save your prized collection of C.M. Coolidge reproductions. This concludes the test or your Smoke Alarm System.

 

[saskwoodburner]

I wonder if you couldn't try to recreate the problem (with safety in mind) while you're awake, just to see if you can get the alarms to go off?

Get up early one day, run the stove up to temp, and settle it in like you would if going to bed, and observe how the stove acts when dying down.

Are those type of alarms sensitive to moisture in the air? I know our alarms will chirp in the late fall on those nights you forget to leave the furnace on.

 

[Smoked]

Maybe get at least one CO detector with a digital display too. You will see low numbers even before alarms sound!

 

[Molsonlabatt]

I have similar hardwired detectors in my house. There is an alarm followed by a voice which states whether it is a fire or CO alarm. As well, the detector which triggered the alarm will flash a different led light to indicate which detector was tripped. Try replacing the unit which tripped the alarm.
I would check the smoke detectors before assuming it was the wood stove because I replaced an old alarm with a new one and it would go off randomly in the middle of the night for ~ 10 seconds every couple of weeks (this was in the summer). After the second time it happen I replaced the faulty unit.

 

[firefighterjake]

I wonder if you couldn't try to recreate the problem (with safety in mind) while you're awake, just to see if you can get the alarms to go off?

Get up early one day, run the stove up to temp, and settle it in like you would if going to bed, and observe how the stove acts when dying down.

Are those type of alarms sensitive to moisture in the air? I know our alarms will chirp in the late fall on those nights you forget to leave the furnace on.

Some are . . . in the Summer if it's humid out and I'm not running the A/C sometimes they will chirp or go off.

 

[firefighterjake]

I have similar hardwired detectors in my house. There is an alarm followed by a voice which states whether it is a fire or CO alarm. As well, the detector which triggered the alarm will flash a different led light to indicate which detector was tripped. Try replacing the unit which tripped the alarm.
I would check the smoke detectors before assuming it was the wood stove because I replaced an old alarm with a new one and it would go off randomly in the middle of the night for ~ 10 seconds every couple of weeks (this was in the summer). After the second time it happen I replaced the faulty unit.

Another good point raised here . . . we recommend folks change their smoke detectors every 10 years as studies have shown that this is about the time when the sensors start to go bad. That said, like anything else, some are faulty and die an early death.

 

[Boiler74]

I had problems with my smokes going off. When I took them down I found moisture behind them. Just like a cold drink on a hot day, if you have cold and hot coming together, condensation can form. Smokes that straddle the hot/cold barrier, like attics, can false when this happens. I had to seal the electrical box behind it and then I used cabinet bumpers on the bottom of the smokes to get them away from the ceiling just a tad to allow air behind. Fixed it. Here in Indiana we've been having unseasonably warm and moist air. Had a buddy with a brand new house text me about his smokes going off. Same problem. May not be yours, but thought I would mention.

J.

 

[Osuna]

I had problems with my smokes going off. When I took them down I found moisture behind them. Just like a cold drink on a hot day, if you have cold and hot coming together, condensation can form. Smokes that straddle the hot/cold barrier, like attics, can false when this happens. I had to seal the electrical box behind it and then I used cabinet bumpers on the bottom of the smokes to get them away from the ceiling just a tad to allow air behind. Fixed it. Here in Indiana we've been having unseasonably warm and moist air. Had a buddy with a brand new house text me about his smokes going off. Same problem. May not be yours, but thought I would mention.

J.

Thanks to all for the helpful replies. The alarms are relatively new (installed 2013) so perhaps one of them is indeed defective. Maybe it is the hot/cold barrier/ventilation issue on the second floor. I do think I'll try to recreate the situation and see if they go off again. And yes, when the alarms sounded, the recorded voice came on: "Fire". We've had unseasonable temps as well here in New England which perhaps has created greater moisture buildup. Merry Christmas to everyone.