Help. My smoke alarm is chirping every 15 seconds what should I do?

Try changing the battery.

If it has a battery that is a sign it needs to be replaced.
If it is hard wired you can take it down,by grabbing it,now easy as not to break anything,turn it just a little to the left you will feel it get loose then pull it down and unplug it, then after it has aired out for a few hours put it back up.

Does it check for carbon monoxide, too? I hope this isn’t what it is, but don’t sleep if you feel drowsy.

Buy a 9V battery, and replace the one in the smoke detector.

Ok I just received the landlord’s phone number and will call tomorrow at 9. I rent and have to play by the rules. I was told months ago that they need to change my smoke detector to something less sensitive they haven’t gotten to it yet. I am on a list ,I hope, I need the laundry machine fixed and the front two burners in my oven. On the bright side my neighbor claims to not have heat. I will push test every 6 hours until I can get it fixed.

Take a broomstick and knock the damn thing off the ceiling, then, replace the batteries. haha

_ _

@dappled_leaves I don’t think that I am allowed to mess with the smoke detector. I don’t want to get in trouble. The firetrucks came 2 days ago from burnt popcorn. I don’t think that they would appreciate having to come back.

@talljasperman Usually, it is the tenant’s responsibility to replace the batteries in the smoke alarm. But if you can wait until tomorrow morning and get someone else to do it, that’s ok, too.

@talljasperman Okay, you wait on the landlord. Then you have a fire, and you don’t wake up because the battery is dead. You die in the fire. You want to make that call to St Peter?

@Adirondackwannabe The battery isn’t dead, it’s still chirping. He’ll be fine for one night.

@dappled_leaves Yeah, I always trust in dumb luck to keep me alive.~

Cripes.
You’re Jolly Green Giant tall.
Reach up, twist the cover off, and remove the battery.

@ibstubro Ok I ripped It out of the wall and found cords. No battery. The cords are still together. Im leaving it alone for today.

Look up the manual for that model on the internet, find the section for “troubleshooting” and see what it says. It may be dusty – it’s always a good idea to vacuum the vents around a smoke detector every six months or so, because dust will mimic smoke and cause the chirp in a hard-wired detector (or any other, for that matter). There may also be a “reset” button that you can push.

Finally, check the date on the base of the detector. These things do have a limited life (not “planned obsolescence”), because they are based on a tiny, low-power radioactive isotope to perform its function, and when that isotope reaches its half-life, the detector needs to be replaced.

Find the manual, and see what it says.

@CWOTUS It says not to replace until 2022. I don’t have the manual. Doesn’t have a battery to replace. I don’t see any dust.

@talljasperman Sounds like it’s hard wired ,but those wires should come to a plug right at the unit and you should be able to easily pull the plug out of the alarm.

Look up the manual online. In addition, if the unit is hard-wired it will operate off a circuit breaker. Find the breaker, flip it off and then reset.

better contact the landlord before doing anything.

I have heard that sometimes cockroaches get inside and set them off. I don’t know if that is true, or a landlord’s tall tale.

The 15 second beep is typical of a low battery alert. But you said yours is hard wired.

Oooo! It could be the alert for the CO2 sensor! If you had smoke a couple of days ago some of it could have gotten in the sensing element. It can be telling you to blow out the dirt. It only takes a tiny bit to plug it up. You probably don’t have a can of compressed air but you can try blowing on it while it is hanging open. The manual will tell you. Somewhere in that unit is the fine print that tells the model number. Find it and look it up. Or wait the 6 hours after every push of the test button. That probably lines up with your need to pee so it won’t affect your sleep schedule too much. :-)

What I want to know is how many talljasperman does it take to change a battery on a smoke detector? lol ;-)

@talljasperman I just thought of another easy thing you can try – if you have a vacuum cleaner.
Open it up and try vacuuming the smoke detector guts.

* Make sure to open the air bleed on the vacuum cleaner hose so it does not suck with full force and damage the unit.

@talljasperman Did you get this fixed?

@chyna The repair guy is coming tomorrow. I have a doctors appointment tomorrow I hope that they don’t clash.

My hardwired smoke detector has a backup battery since power might go out during a fire. It chirps when the battery gets weak.

Ok repair guy is here… he is going to replace the smoke detector.

Thanks for the update! It was a bad unit?

@LuckyGuy Don’t know. Got new smoke alarm with carbon monoxide detector.

If that one starts going off, get out right away, then call for help.