Smoke Detectors that Sound at Night

By Dave Rongey Summary: There is an easy fix for most false alarms from smoke detectors that occur during the night time, and it doesn't take an electrician to do this.

How to Fix False Smoke Detector Alarms

Electrical Smoke-detectors Question:

I have an electrical smoke alarm and it'll sound off in the wee hours of the a.m.

It doesn't happen every night, but it happened this morning.

What's wrong with it?

Thanks- Lois.

Hi Lois - Great Question!
Oh yes - the mystery of phantom Smoke Alarms in the wee hours of the night!
Here is what I have found to be the cause so many times: A smoke detector naturally produces a little heat, and spiders and insects like to gather around this warm area to the point that spiders will build webs which will interfere with the internal smoke detection device. So to eliminate this problem it's a good idea to use an extended feather duster and clean around the smoke detector

This is not the case all the time - and smoke detectors do go bad after a period of time due to dust etc. If this continues I would recommend replacing the unit with a new one.
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