Something has just made a beep noise

[lankeela]

twice in about five minutes - does a smoke alarm beep when the battery is running down?
Its only just one short beep - not the continuous beep beep beep it does when I'm coooking(!)

[sandyRoe]

Yes. You should change the batteries in the morning.

[craft1948]

Yes it's the smoke alarm...............

[scotman]

most alarms beep approx once per minute for low battery.

[lankeela]

Thanks, will it keep doing it all night? Obviously I don't want to take the battery out tonight as you can bet your bottom dollar that it would be the night the house caught fire!

[welshlibranr]

yes lankeela, you need to change the batteries!...........otherwise they will sound loudly soon until you do!............believe me, I have had this experience!.............not nice!.............

[scotman]

I expect that the low battery warning occurs well before the alarm stops working. I would not worry about it.

[sherrardk]

I couldn't stand it beeping all night - if you haven't got any spares, couldn't you take them out of something else?

[lankeela]

Its making the dogs howl now!

[lankeela]

Just had a look - its a funny square shape, haven't seen one like that since I had my trusty trannie when I was about thirteen!

[boxtops]

Ha yes, those ones are quite expensive, unlike good old AA batteries. It might get bored and stop, but chances are, it won't.... you might have to take it out, and risk it, but don't take this as good advice!

[mike11111]

Change it now if you have a replacement, otherwise it will drive you bananas all night long.

[deggers316]

buy a new one there cheap enough (buy a twin pack)

[Buenchico]

While there will obviously be a slight element of risk, you've really got no choice other than to take the battery out of the smoke detector. (If you're really worried, and you don't mind paying premium prices, any decent late night garage should be able to sell you a new PP3 battery). I can guarantee that you won't get any sleep if you don't. (I write from experience of trying to ignore the 'beep'. It just can't be done!).

[scotman]

Square shape? Sounds like a PP3 9V battery. Standard in domestic alarms.

[welshlibranr]

lankeela are they mains fire alarms, if so, they work off the main electrical supply, but have a back up battery, in case of a power cut!.......if the back up batteries have run out they will beep until you change them, or just disconnect them!......been there!.........horrendous!........

[Buenchico]

'Pound shops' and 'discount stores' sell PP3 batteries at sensible prices. (NB: Make sure the packaging says 'Alkaline', not just 'heavy duty' or 'long life'). Otherwise you could end up paying £3 or £4.

[sherrardk]

I think lankeela's biggest problem is how to stop it beeping NOW!

[scotman]

Not that it matters but I will bore you with it anyway.

My smoke detector started beeping regularly recently. Once I had identified that it was the alarm I figured out that it was indicating a low battery.
I removed the battery and replaced with new PP3.
For my own information I put a meter on the old battery and found that it was at 8.6V. I think that this is a quite small drop to trigger the 'low voltage' setting. This is why I think that most alarms work past the low voltage setting.

[lankeela]

No garages open round here, so I'll have to risk taking it out. Think the dogs would alert me any way and I haven't been cooking tonight so should be ok. Can't remember when it was last changed, I do press it every so often though to see if it still works. If the batteries come in two's I might have one somewhere... I'll look in that drawer that has all the things you might need one day......

[Postdog]

oh...........I was gonna suggest a message on the answerphone