smoke alarm question

G

Gary007

Joined
May 17, 2002
Messages
1,452
Bought a mobile home a few months back, thought I would change the batteries in the smoke alarm. I discovered that this thing is wired into the home. Why is this? Is it hooked up to the fire dept??

42458171.jpg


42458175.jpg
 
Your unit is what they call a hard wired smoke detector. Most likely there is a control panel somewhere in the home (probably near front door). This panel is monitored by a central station alarm. The panel is wired to you phone line which is hooked up to the CSA. If a detector goes off it will notify the CSA who will in turn notify the fire dept. If you do not have a control panel it is just a hard wired unit that works as a normal unit only it doesn't need batteries as it runs off AC current. Did the previous owners tell you anything about it when you bought it?
 
interesting.... we don't seem to have a control panel anywhere, and I found batteries in it.
Nope, previous owners said nothing...


K.V. Collucci said:
Your unit is what they call a hard wired smoke detector. Most likely there is a control panel somewhere in the home (probably near front door). This panel is monitored by a central station alarm. The panel is wired to you phone line which is hooked up to the CSA. If a detector goes off it will notify the CSA who will in turn notify the fire dept. If you do not have a control panel it is just a hard wired unit that works as a normal unit only it doesn't need batteries as it runs off AC current. Did the previous owners tell you anything about it when you bought it?
Click to expand...
 
The batteries back up the hard wired power source so, if the electricity goes out in a storm for example it will still sound off if detects a fire.
 
There may not be a fancy control panel, but that detector is interconnected to the other detectors in the house by the yellow wire. So, if one goes off, they all go off. Building codes have required this in new construction since the mid 90s.

That detector is powered off of the 120VAC. It may or may not have a battery as a backup. If it does, change it every New Years just as a precaution. Batteries are cheap, house fires aren't. The 120V is the black and white wires. Sometimes, there's a green wire for ground. Your unit doesn't extend that to the unit itself. If there is no battery, then replace the detector. Detectors are cheap, house fires are not. Generally speaking, they all have to be the same brand in order for the interconnect feature to work. If you're gonna replace your detectors, consider getting dual-mode units that have both Ionized and Photoelectric detection. Also consider getting units that have carbon monoxide detetection build in too. CO detectors are cheap, death is not. (Funeral costs alone will buy a hundred CO detectors.)
 
I should have clarified about the batteries. It will have a backup battery but it doesn't run off of it unless there is an outage.
 
My mobile home I moved out of last year was the same way. No control panel, but hardwired to the house. The battery is for backup, in case the power goes out. I like the idea of hardwiring... In case the battery dies and you don't know it, you're still protected (our mobile has been vacant since we moved last year...)
 
Looks like a standard 120V smoke detector w/stand alone pizo. When activated the smoke detector will Emmit a buzzing sound and will stop when the smoke is cleared from the device. Generally these detectors are photoelectric. To do an annual test of these. You can purchase canned smoke for proper testing and canned air to clean it out afterwords. The only way these can be monitored is if they had a detection circuit on the detector and all you have is power going to it. Also, you would have a monitoring contract that you would be aware of and a communicator sometimes connected panel.
 
my home i just moved out of had this same thing no control panle and it was hard wired....one day i was sitting and watching tv and a heard a loud BEEP...i was the WTF and ran around the house swearing holding a sword....threating if one of my friends was there i would attack......then again......and again...well you get the point at one point i noticed the smoke detector and then hear the sounds again......my dad ask what we should do i said look at it from a diffrent point of view......my dad hit it with a baseball bat...i ment get a latter but it stoped the beeping.....it turn out to be telling us to change the battery.....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top