Anyone remember that Seinfeld episode with the smoke alarm?

Anyway, last night about 3:30 am I woke up to hear my smoke detector chirping about every 2 minutes. It took about a half hour to figure out what it was :confused: I stumbled around in the dark threatening my kids toys with a slow painful death if they didn't shut up graemlins/angry.gif

So I crawl back in bed not wanting to risk setting the smoke alarm into a full alarm and waking up everyone else . . . shut the bedroom door . . . pillow over my head . . . counting camaros (instead of sheep) . . .

Another half hour later I've had it --- this thing is like the Chinese water torture :mad: so I get up rip it off the ceiling and chuck it into the front yard.

So I crawl back into bed feeling avenged when I hear it again. I swear it was stalking me . . . so I get up again only to realize that it wasn't the smoke detector after all :eek: it was the CO detector that was right next to it on the ceiling graemlins/clonk.gif

now my wife wants to know why our smoke detector is all wet and has grass clippings on it redface.gif she laughs her *** off at my story, so I figure I'd give you guys the same chance LOL

I hate it when that happens . . .

Originally posted by Eric68:
It took about a half hour to figure out what it was :confused: I stumbled around in the dark threatening my kids toys with a slow painful death if they didn't shut up graemlins/angry.gif LOL!!!! Been there! Done that!! Everything comes with batteries these days. I love the toys that decide to "talk" all by themselves for no apparent reason.

Better change the battery in the CO detector, or have your furnace checked!

Been there and done that. Wife and I got 2 new cell phones last December. Both of them exactly alike. Mine stays in my console most of the time for emergencies, but I brought it in the house the other day and it sat in the kitchen for a few days.

The other night about 3:00 a.m. I heard a loud chirp like the smoke alarm battery going dead. I thought to heck with it, I'll change it in the morning, but the darn thing was loud and kept bothering me so I got up and pulled the battery out of the smoke alarm.

Got back in bed and the darn thing went off again. Sat there in hallway waiting for something to chirp again and found out it was my cell phone's battery going dead.

graemlins/clonk.gif

BTDT with the smoke detector before!! Why doesn't the batt ever run low during daylight hours? :confused:

On a side note, CO detector is a carbon monxide detector, right? Mine is mounted about a foot or so off the floor and I just looked at it and that is the recomended place for it. Carbon monxide as I understand it is heavier than air and smoke is lighter than air. Smoke rises and carbon sinks, do I understand that correctly? If so a CO detector won't do much good on the ceiling...

Anyone better versed in this stuff out there? Where these things are located is a saftey issue. I'd like to hear more.

I definately hate that :D

Not too long ago, I awoke in the middle of the night hearing voices :eek: Freaked me out...it's 3:00 and I can hear someone talking on the other end of the house from my bedroom. I get up real quietly, and slip down the hallway. It's coming from our son's bedroom. I threw open the door and switched on the light, prepared for the worst...it was his looney tunes alarm clock that he had tried setting the time on and got it all messed up. Of course, neither him or the wife ever heard it.

Proper placement of a carbon monoxide detector is important. If you are installing only one carbon monoxide detector, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recommends it be located near the sleeping area, where it can wake you if you are asleep. Additional detectors on every level and in every bedroom of a home provides extra protection.

Homeowners should remember not to install carbon monoxide detectors directly above or beside fuel-burning appliances, as appliances may emit a small amount of carbon monoxide upon start-up. A detector should not be placed within fifteen feet of heating or cooking appliances or in or near very humid areas such as bathrooms.

When considering where to place a carbon monoxide detector, keep in mind that although carbon monoxide is roughly the same weight as air (carbon monoxide's specific gravity is 0.9657, as stated by the EPA; the National Resource Council lists the specific gravity of air as one), it may be contained in warm air coming from combustion appliances such as home heating equipment. If this is the case, carbon monoxide will rise with the warmer air.

For this reason, the makers of First Alert (R), the leading brand in carbon monoxide detector technology, suggests mounting the detector on the ceiling. This also puts the detector out of the way of potential interference, such as pets or curious children.

To avoid both damage to the unit and to reduce false alarms, do not install CO detectors:

In unheated basements, attics or garages
in areas of high humidity
Where they will be exposed to chemical solvents or cleaners, including hair spray, deodorant sprays, etc.
Near vents, flues or chimneys
Within 2 metres (6 ft.) of heating and cooking appliances
Near forced-or unforced-air ventilation openings
Within 2 metres (6 ft.) of corners or areas where natural air circulation is low
Where they can be damaged, such as an outlet in a high traffic area
Where directly exposed to the weather.

The standards organizations of Canada (CSA International) and the United States (Underwriter's Laboratory or UL) have co-ordinated the writing of CO standards and product testing. The standards as of January 2000 prohibit showing CO levels of less than 30 ppm on digital displays. The new standards also require the alarm to sound at higher levels of CO than with previous editions of the standard.The reasoning behind these changes is to reduce calls to fire stations, utilities and emergency response teams when the levels of CO are not life-threatening. This change will also reduce the number of calls to these agencies due to detector inaccuracy or the presence of other gases. Consequently, new alarms will not sound at CO concentrations up to 70 ppm. Note that these concentrations are significantly in excess of the health guidelines.

Detectors with a digital display and a history option can provide the true CO concentrations in a house. A low-level display would be useful for people with existing respiratory problems or for those who like to spot evolving problems, rather than having to wait for the situation to become serious. Low-level CO detection products are becoming commercially available. They will not be certified to CSA or UL standards, as these standards currently prohibit low level displays.

Carbon Monoxide Concentrations
CO concentration in parts per million (ppm) Effects
0-2 Normal conditions in and outside houses.
11 Maximum tolerable indoor concentration over an eigth-hour period.
25 Maximum allowable concentration for continuous exposure for healthy adults in any eight-hour period.
30 CO detectors must not sound alarm within 30 days.
70 CO detectors must sound alarm within one to four hours.
150 CO detectors must sound alarm within 10 to 50 minutes.
200 Slight headache, fatigue, dizziness and nausea after two to three hours. CO detector alarm must sound within 35 minutes.
400 CO detectors must sound alarm within four to 15 minutes.
800 Dizziness, nausea and convulsions within 45 minutes, death within two to three hours.
1600 Death within one hour.
13,000 Danger of death after one to three minutes.

Originally posted by Mark C:
This also puts the detector out of the way of potential interference, such as pets or curious children. . . . or out of reach of pissed off people trying to get some shut eye tongue.gif

Seriously though, that is some good info Mark. Thanks.

Thanks Mark, great info!!

I think I heard Weird Al Yankovic just lost both of his parents to CO poisioning! :eek:

David, you are right. Very sad story. The police found the flu on their chimney closed and a fire still burning in the fire place. I think they were quite elderly . . .

We had one right outside the kids bathroom door over at our old house that would go off after a shower!!!

I finally unwired it, (didn't use batteries), AND you never heard the static I got from the wife!!

But she just didn't understand that the SOB was going to go off regardless after every shower!!

AND I couldn't do ANYTHING about it!!!

I wired it back up before we moved..

We had two more in the house anyway...

pdq67

We have a brand new house...and per Washington code, all of the smoke alarms have to be wired together! So when the wife is cooking... the whole house starts beepin and blaring at us. We have to hit a reset button to make them shut up :rolleyes: One time Lily (wife) had one of those Tamagachi toys (The little keychain computer that acts like a child.you have to "feed it" and take care of it, or you lose the game) Anyway, the batteries were dying in that thing and it would beep, but it was in her purse, so it sounded far off. We were in the store and this dang thing would beep. It took us 2 days to find it in the bottom of her purse redface.gif I took a nice plump dead blow hammer to it :D

Dano