Looking for feedback. I have 4 fire alarms that are all wired to go off together when sensing smoke etc. The one on the main floor has a broken plate so it does not stay attached to the ceiling but hangs down. I found this out as the battery sounded so I went to change it and the previous tenants had glued it up as the little prongs are all broken. Can I simply replace that one with a new one using the existing wiring. I think I can but I have not ever really dealt with replacing just one before. Thanks.
Thanks Orison as I could not see why I could not only change one. I went to a store today and the clerk said I had to change all four. It did not make sense as the wiring is exactly the same on new ones. Only the prongs are damaged.
over here we prefer to call them cooking alarms beep beep beep your steak is done the people upstairs are old
Mine goes off if I have all the burners on and the oven at over 400. Even with the range hood fan on it still sometimes goes off. It is rather irritating at times. BTW I am not old. I open the living room window and that helps, sometimes. I think that is why the prongs got broken as they probably took the battery out a lot......
As long as you can wire up the existing wiring to it, I don't see why you couldn't just change one. My smoke alarms are stand alone units, and I don't even know if they work. But I have dogs who will let me know. If it were me I would buy one, wire it in and then set it off with a burning paper towel or something. See if the other ones go off as well. Then try it by setting one of the other ones off. If they all work you are good to go.
That is what I am going to do. I can not see where they would all have to be replaced. I even looked and there were none being sold as needing to be wired in synch. The wiring is fine so I will buy a new unit and wire it to the existing wires. I will test it as you suggested as that is a good idea.
Will do that tomorrow when I take the thing down and go get a new one. I do not want to remove the dangling fixture until I have to. I may just pull it off the plate (number) and leave it hooked up until I get back as I do not want to not have an alarm working on the main floor. It looks right now like a cheap chandelier, without the light.
If it's hanging by the wiring I would take it down as soon as you can. That could cause wiring issues, bad connections at the other alarms or if there is a junction. Or chafing.
I changed the battery this morning as it was chirping and that is when I found out their creative fix. I will go in the morning and get a new one and change it right away. Good point though as it should not dangle even if it is pretty light.
All done! Bought a new one this morning and it is installed and working. They still all beep when needed. I knew I did it right when I had leftover bits in the package. Thanks Orison and Deviate.
Congrats Heather! Good job. Dude, check those asap. The insurance company may not pay if you have a fire and they find missing batteries and such during investigation, which they will conduct.
Ah, good point there. Of course the one in the living room is way up on the wall (vaulted ceilings). I need an 8ft ladder at least, which I don't have. I'll check soon, all the others worked when I hit the test button.
