Hey all,

This is only tangentially related to HA, but it seems like this crowd might have answers. HA integration would be nice but is not required

We moved into a new house about 3 years ago and have been plagued by nuisance alarms ever since. They happen most often in the middle of the night, but aren’t uncommon in the daytime.

I have:

  • Replaced all the old hardwired detectors with new battery-only ones thinking it might be caused by EMI.
  • Ruled out insects crawling into the detectors.
  • Sealed the electrical boxes thinking it might be dust from the attic.
  • Installed an excellent filter system in the HVAC.
  • Cleaned out all of the detectors with canned air.

Other random info:

  • Only the ones on the second floor go off. There are five upstairs and two downstairs.
  • I’m pretty sure one (and only one) of the false alarms was caused by humidity from a shower.
  • Seems like they’re happening less often since I installed a new HVAC system, but that could be due to less dust or due to smaller temperature swings (less of a setback at night).

I think at this point I want to get some fancy multi-criteria alarms, ones that are specifically for reducing your nuisance alarm rate. Also for increased capability, though - one of my coworkers just narrowly escaped a housefire with his wife and dog. Their fire alarms failed to go off and he was only woken by the sound of the flames.

Any suggestions for multi-criteria alarms that work with hardwired 120VAC, preferably with hardwired interconnection?

  • @quaddoEnglish
    2•10 months ago

    A similar suggestion to the other poster:

    Try relocating one of the troublesome units to someplace nearby but not mounted to the ceiling. The top of a bedroom dresser, the floor, a bathroom countertop, the top step of the stairs, halfway down the stairs, hanging from a wall (picture hook)… just get creative.

    And since you haven’t mentioned it, I presume these are all smoke detectors? Do you have any heat detectors or carbon monoxide detectors installed?