What is causing my FireX smoke alarm to false alert (alarm goes off even though no smoke exists)?

Several issues that may cause your firex smoke alarms to chirp or beep could also make them start to go off if they detect smoke or something like that inside the smoke alarm chamber.

  1. Age of smoke alarm may very well be an issue. You ought to replace your firex smoke alarm when it is 8 – 10 years of age. The smoke alarm manufacturers date stamp can be located on the backside of your smoke alarm. Think about your smoke alarm as an appliance that is constantly sampling the air to determine if smoke particles are present in the air. Over time they start to get more sensitive as the detector is starting to wear out, hence random alarm calls for no reason.
  2. The smoke alarm could possibly be installed in an area at risk of annoying alarms.  These  areas include:
    * in close proximity to the kitchen, where by they could be subjected to smoke coming from cooking.
    * close to bathrooms and/or spots where they might be subjected to steam.
    * locations that happen to be really dusty, like attics or garage areas.
    * places which are in direct contact with airflow for instance close to a heating vent or air return.Look at the location of your smoke alarm; consider re-installing it a couple of ft away.Nuisance false alarms may also be due to external airborne pollutants.
  3. There might be dust and/or bugs inside the alarm chamber. Even with clean surroundings dust particles will accumulate in the alarms sample chamber. This may cause the smoke alarm to become hypersensitive and trigger it to begin alarming. Bugs may have the same effect plus the activity of any insects in and around the chamber can cause the smoke alarm to go off. If the smoke alarm is mainly going off at night it is often a battery trait causing your smoke alarm to go into low battery power chirp alert when air temperature falls. Almost all homes are coolest in between 2 am. and 6 a.m. That’s why your smoke alarm may give a low-battery chirp during the night, and after that quit once the home warms up a couple of degrees.

    How to Clean Your Firex Smoke Alarm:

    Take the smoke alarm off the wall or ceiling then hold your alarm on it’s side.  You’ll see a space between the back plate and the front cover. Using a vacuum cleaner and a crevice tool or even a can of pressurized air and thoroughly clean all over the gap area.  Pay close attention to the sensor chamber underneath the plastic slots on the cover.  The sensor chamber looks like a miniature tin can with slots down the sides.  This must be carefully cleaned as dust particles or insects might be stuck in the sensor.

    4) Cleaning solutions (especially ammonia), Latex paint, as well as dusty conditions related to construction may cause the smoke alarm to trigger an alarm. Get rid of the issue and clean your smoke alarm.

    5) Reset your smoke alarm.  Detach the alarm from the electric source (if hardwired) then take out the battery.  Depress the “test” button for about 10-15 secs.  This discharges any power making a weird chirp, this is going to reset your smoke alarm.  Re-install your smoke alarm after doing this reset procedure.

    How come the red led light blinks once every 40 seconds?

    Any flashing or blinking red led light every 40-45 is normal operation for a Firex smoke alarm.  It’s a battery test the smoke alarm carries out. Once the smoke alarm battery gets weak the alarm will chirp or beep roughly once a  minute plus the red LED is going to flash roughly 4x a minute.