View Full Version : Is this chirping from the electrical wiring?
bflous
Oct 20, 2012, 07:09 AM
We started noticing chirping (3 chirps) in our family room 2 weeks ago. We thought a bird in the fireplace. Then we realized it never stopped chirping day or night. We clocked it --every 2.5minutes. Then we mapped it--it went totally around the room --particularly near electrical outlets. The room has huge floor-to-ceiling windows and 3 doorways and a fireplace. The chirping is NOT heard in any other room. We unplugged all the electronics in the room overnight--chirping kept up every 2.5 minutes through the night. We shut the circuit breaker to that room several hours--still the chirping every 2.5 minutes. We had an exterminator exam the house and the room--no critters. Now the chirping seems to go diagonally from one corner of the room to the other. We have aluminum wiring in the house and had a new circuit box put in several years ago. We have lived in the house 30 years and have checked all the smoke detectors.
Any ideas as to what to do next, I would appreciate--I am concerned about safety.
creahands
Oct 20, 2012, 07:27 AM
Do u have an alarm system? If so check the panel for an open door or window.
Chuck
Stratmando
Oct 20, 2012, 07:29 AM
I would guess it to be from an unfound Smoke Detector, or another Electronic Device with a low Battery.
Or a Reminder notifier, like the beep after dryer, stove, microwave is ready, but not necessarily those.
bflous
Oct 20, 2012, 08:53 AM
[QUOTE=creahands;3302725]Do u have an alarm system? If so check the panel for an open door or window.
Thanks, but we have no alarm system. We are starting our third week with this chirping consistently every 2.5 minutes.
bflous
Oct 20, 2012, 08:59 AM
I would guess it to be from an unfound Smoke Detector, or another Electronic Device with a low Battery.
Or a Reminder notifier, like the beep after dryer, stove, microwave is ready, but not neccessarily those.
These are reasonable suggestions; but we we hear the chirping only in the family room and have checked all those devices.
ma0641
Oct 21, 2012, 05:20 PM
these are reasonable suggestions; but we we hear the chirping only in the family room and have checked all those devices.
Got to be a battery device. CO detector, smoke or alarm.
shuntripper
Oct 27, 2012, 11:04 AM
Look inside your HVAC return air register, behind the filter. Or in your whole house fan.
Sometimes people install smoke detectors inside of ducts,
Do you have a UPS for a computer in the house? Those chirp too when powered down.
bflous
Oct 30, 2012, 06:15 PM
We finally discovered the source of the chirping--you all will never believe this. Thank you all for your suggestions we looked everywhere.
It was the mini key finder on a set of car keys that we always keep on the coffee table in the family room. We discovered this when we got in the car and heard the same chirp but very low chirping. At first we thought it was part of the car alert system because it was not loud. Then it followed us into a store, then we purposely put the keys on a table in a restaurant. That is when it got loud. We replaced the battery and the chirping stopped.
Stratmando
Oct 31, 2012, 05:55 AM
Good deal.
How does that key finder work, A Whistle, a clap?