We have all been round to our friends’ or relatives’ houses and seen two bits of wire dangling from the ceiling – a tell-tale sign that a nuisance fire alarm has been fervently ripped out. Indeed, it might be your own fire alarm that has suffered this grizzly fate! While it can be absolutely infuriating to be kept up all night by the fire alarm’s intermittent, high-pitched bleeping (we know the feeling – just as you drift back to sleep, there it goes again!), you definitely should not disconnect it entirely. Doing so could put your family in danger, as, if a fire were to start in your home, there would be no alarm in place to warn you about it.
There might be a simple fix
Depending on whether your fire alarm (or smoke detector, as they are also known) is wired or wireless, there are different first steps you can take to stop the bleeping. If you have a hard-wired fire alarm that is chirping, you can try pressing and holding the ‘reset’ button on the casing. If this doesn’t work, the battery might be dead, so you should replace it. If the fire alarm continues to bleep, you should contact an electrician immediately to help you repair or replace it. For wireless fire alarms, the systems are more complex, so it is advisable to go ahead and seek advice from a registered electrician like MD Bespoke Solutions.
If you’re looking for an electrician to carry out house rewiring in Wimbledon then give us a call today.
Here are some other common reasons why your fire alarm is bleeping:
- Dust and dirt has built up around the system, stopping it from working properly
- The room is fluctuating in temperature, causing the alarm to sound
- The fire alarm is too old (they generally last for eight to ten years)
If you are worried about the effectiveness of your fire alarm, and think it might be past its best, you can always test it. To do, simply push the ‘test’ button. If the alarm sounds, great – it is still working (you might need to press the ‘test’ button again to turn the alarm off, if it doesn’t stop sounding after a few seconds). If not, you should get it replaced immediately.
Always enlist the help of a professional
As with all electrical installation or repair work, hiring a professional electrician is the only way to make sure your fire alarm is fixed safely. Attempting to do a bit of DIY repair work on your fire alarm is not advisable, as you could put yourself at risk of an electric shock, or fail to fix the system and thus leave your family vulnerable to undetected fire.
If you have noticed a fault with your fire alarm, contact us at MD Bespoke Solutions today. Our team of NICEIC-approved, Part P-registered electricians will fix it safely.
