Domestic smoke alarms

[keniff]

Hi guys any idea what would cause false alarms on aico interlinked smokes? Iv cleaned them all out and checked connections are good, but still randomly setting alarms off!! Any way of testing them for faults?

 

[stuartcourt]

is there any near bathrooms, steam is a problem and make sure correct batteries are in it

 

[Darkwood]

What are they ionisation or optical? Where are they positioned?

 

[keniff]

They are positioned in hallways and bedrooms they have been ok for 2 years, batteries replaced when needed etc I can't seem to see any faults with them!

 

[boycie17]

If they're hardwired try doing a IR or a quick continuity on between all cores obviously disconnect the alarms first...I had a similar situation where the customer had placed a heavy box on the cable in the attic which damaged the cable and caused the fault.

 

[stuartcourt]

and when you say batteries replaced are they the right ones

 

[keniff]

Yeah batteries all the same as came out from new ill strip the circuit down and do a few tests this week see if it throws up anything

 

[Octopus]

Such alarms have a "life" - have you checked the date on the label? They may need replacing

 

[Darkwood]

If it rented are the tenants smoking?????

You won't believe how many lie about smoking hence i asked if optical or ionisation .... it might be the case they are picking up cigarette smoke also dust trapped within the chamber can be also a cause of nuisance alarms try pulling the dust out with a once over with a vac.

 

[oldtimer]

Had the same thing the other day and yep it was 2 years old its expiry date is Feb 2020 only problem was it was on the wall not the ceiling so cleaned it out and replaced the battery as a matter of course

 

[NDG Elecs]

I had same issue with Aico approx 4 wks ago. I was lucky as they falsely triggered when I was there. I was even luckier in that when I removed them one by one (with alarms still going off), the last one kept going off with the other three removed. So I deduced that the last one likely to be faulty as it was triggering the interlink. Yet with all others removed it was still sounding so the others were not setting it off.

The above makes sense.....honest!

Anyway, I tried the dodgy smoke in a different base and after 15mins it was sounding again. Also, there is a red led that should blink every 40 seconds, on the dodgy one it was blinking every 12 seconds. This made me 100% sure it was the faulty one.

Emailed and sent it back to Aico. They cleaned it and sent it back under 5 yr guarantee. They stated they cleaned it as a gesture of goodwill as it was due to contaminants in the chamber which are not covered under the guarantee. The positioning of this particular alarm meant it was exposed to very very little airborne contaminants so was a bit miffed with their cop out excuse. Saying that I like Aico and will use them again.

They specify Ever Ready or Duracell batts only. The user guide is quite thorough for fault finding. It's available from their website.

Hope that helps.

 

[oldtimer]

Yep I use nothing but Aico plus the battery only lasts 2-3 years hence why I changed it but I have seen a pile of them wall mounted and if the house is dusty then this is going to happen although the instructions do say to hoover out the unit every so often.