Our smoke detectors in our home go off in the middle of the night for no reason. It starts w/ one and then before you know it all of them are going off. We have tried to vacumn them but they still go off at least once a month. They are only 4 years old.

Dust collects deep in the chamber of detectors, and can be difficult to clean. Best to replace all of them, they are not too expensive.

At least if you know which one starts, it may be in a dusty area and get dirtier than the others.

They are probably all interconnected, so one goes off they all do.

An area that has a lot of moisture , like a basement, may also cause nusinance alarms.

There are three wires connected to each detector. The black and white are power. Undo the pigtail to the third wire and the smoke detectors operate independently. Then you can isolate and replace the culprit!

Some smokes will have LED to indicate culprit.

On some models if the battery gets low the alarm will "chirp" - are the batteries fresh in all detectors?

Had the same problem, went off at 2 am.. identified the problem one and changed only to have the same thing occur with another one 3-4 weeks latter changed them all and upgraded some to carbon monoxide/ smoke.. these were electric dectors tied together. As long as you are at it make sure you have a couple of the battery types if yours aren't battery backup just in case the electric is out or put out by afire.. Better to be safe then sorry!!

Where I live They want Electric, with Battery Backup, Interconnected, And wireless Interconnected are acceptable. They Need Power, have battery backup, but interconnecting, is wireless.

I want to ask a question

Yeah

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Originally Posted by ps3001984

I want to ask a question

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Yes?

I have he same problem. Had them rewired. Brand new ones. New batteries. Surge protector. Paid an electrician. Still go off every 3-4 weeks once in the middle of the night. Any ideas?

It is the temperature that is setting it off. I have a hard wired system. If The a/c is on for a long time, it triggers the alarm. Here is why. The house gets pumped with cool air. The cool air in the house gets higher until it reaches the ceiling. Hard wired detectors are open to the ceiling. The house is cooler than the space between the floor. About 50 to 70 degrees cooler. Condensation starts to happen over the sensors. Which triggers the alarms. If you turn off the a/c when it began, the air quickly, after about 2-4 minute, starts to warm up. This makes the temperature difference in the house and the space between the floor about 30-40 degrees. At this point, the cool air drops towards the ground and the warn air from the space between the floor starts funneling in the house, stopping the condensation. This also can happen in reverse. If the air is cooler in the space between the floor and the house is much warmer, condensation begin to happen. To stop this, if you are the home owner, just put insulation around the detector,(in the space above the detector to stop the air from flowing in and out via the small holes leading to space between the floors). You may of may not need help installing the insulation.

Evelyn, are you selling alarms?
Strategic Electric & Security has been doing that for years, besides Fire and Burglar Alarms, I believe they also design electronics for use by the Government in remote locations, In the 90's they were installing every type of electronics used by Government Agencies(Vehicles/Boats, whatever)They have been Integrating Electrical and Electronics systems for years using the latest in technology, including but not limited to: Infrared/Microwave/Ultrasonic/Volumetric/Fiber Optic, If its out their, they have likely Tested and used it.

Fire and burglar systems seem to crawl along. Code is more likely to change than Smoke and Fire Detectors.
They will constantly try to improve Performance, reduce false alarms and reduce Manufacturing cost. They are currently pretty Effective.

Do not disconnect the third wire, it serves an important function. If you do not have detectors connected and a fire starts in a remote area, you may not hear it until it it too late. Codes today require interconnected detectors.