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<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0It looks so innocent<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n The summer doldrums are in full effect here in Arizona.\u00a0 With temperatures soaring well over 100<\/strong> and the nightly lows in the mid-80’s, it’s an optimal time to be indoors.\u00a0 Apparently, it is also the perfect time for our smoke detectors to set off in the middle of the night.\u00a0 We are no strangers to problems with smoke detectors<\/strong> – they seem to have an almost human-like sense for the most annoying time to go off.\u00a0 Kind of like the neighbor who blares heavy metal music on the very night you retired early to read a good book.\u00a0 Last year we replaced all of our smoke detectors and inserted long-lasting batteries.\u00a0 We were under the naive illusion that we would be spared any problems for the next ten years, by which time we would either be dead or have moved.\u00a0 Not so fast.<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Sadly accurate<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n I’ve had plenty of experience with chirping smoke detectors.\u00a0 As a new homeowner, I once thought the chirping was a sign that fire was imminent<\/strong>, so I grabbed the dog and ran outdoors in my nightgown, sure that I had evaded a fiery demise.\u00a0 The neighbors got a good laugh out of that one.\u00a0 I have also set the smoke detectors off numerous times while attempting to cook dinner.\u00a0 Most of the time it was simply my inept frying skills or a forgotten pot of soup that set off the alarm, although once I actually did set fire to the oven<\/strong> while cooking a roast.\u00a0 As the fire trucks rolled up to my house the neighbors got a kick out of that one too.\u00a0 In our current house the smoke detector in our living room went off one August night.\u00a0 The problem is it is a 16-foot ceiling, and we don’t have a ladder tall enough to reach it.\u00a0 Long story short, we ended up calling the non-emergency line at the fire department and three hunky firemen<\/strong> came to fix it.\u00a0 I thought the response was so gracious (and they were so cute) that I’ve tried to think of reasons to call them back ever since.\u00a0 Eventually we ended up taking the battery out of that unit, which I later discovered, has rendered it useless.<\/p>\n In any event, our latest foray into the vagaries of smoke detectors<\/strong> has been the smoke detector in our master bedroom (naturally) that has not just chirped but sounded the alarm several times over the past few weeks.\u00a0 Not a constant blaring, just one scream. Enough to give you cardiac arrest at 2 a.m. in the morning<\/strong>.\u00a0 Since the unit is only a year old, I knew it didn’t need to be replaced.\u00a0 The green light was going on and off every two seconds, which I learned means it needs to be reset.\u00a0 So up on the ladder we went, disconnected the unit, pressed the test button for 20 seconds, and then reinstalled it. Done and dusted!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Suzanne Sparrow Watson The summer doldrums are in full effect here in Arizona.\u00a0 With temperatures soaring well over 100 and the nightly lows in the mid-80’s, it’s an optimal time to be indoors.\u00a0 Apparently, it is also the perfect … read more![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/cooking-300x225.jpg\")
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<\/a>But it got me to wondering WHY they always go off in the middle of the night.\u00a0 I did some research with the smoke detector company, and here is what I learned.\u00a0 The chirping is caused by the relationship between the battery’s charge level and a home’s air temperature<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0As a smoke alarm’s battery nears the end of its life, the amount of power it produces causes an internal resistance. A drop in room temperature increases this resistance, which may impact the battery’s ability to deliver the power necessary to operate the unit in an alarm situation.\u00a0Most homes are the coolest between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m.<\/strong> That’s why the alarm may sound a low-battery chirp in the middle of the night, and then stop when the home warms up a few degrees.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/bill-murray-300x223.jpg\")
<\/a>Okay – whatever you say.\u00a0 But in Scottsdale, where the A\/C is running at a constant temperature<\/strong> day and night in the summer, I’m not buying it.\u00a0 This week, a unit on the other side of the house has started chirping periodically – like every 10 hours or so. Always in the middle of the night. I still say there are gremlins built into every unit<\/strong>, intent on ruining a good night’s sleep and triggering anxiety with every “chirp”.\u00a0 At this point I feel a bit like Bill Murray and the gopher.\u00a0 Explosives may be my only option.<\/p>\n