kyra_ojosverdes | (no subject)

To the person who thought "Whoa, we should totally wire all the smoke detectors in the house together... and hey, when the battery gets low on one of the smoke detectors we should have all of them chirp at an interval guaranteed to be just long enough that the people will think 'no, I can totally get back to sleep before it chirps again and change the damn battery in the morning'": the first idea was good. For the second, I'll need your physical address.

To the person who decided it'd be really great to place three of the apartment's six detectors within one foot square, a fourth two feet away, and the main "Oh, one of the alarms is sounding or chirping, let's echo it to make sure you hear" alarm thingy three feet in the opposite direction: I need your phone number. The next time one of them starts chirping for a new battery in the middle of the blasted night, I'm calling you to figure out which one is chirping loudest and change its damn battery.

To the property management company: would it be too much, when you do the annual inspection that stresses me all to hell and make sure I don't have any burned-out lightbulbs, to change all the batteries in the smoke detectors? That'd be cool, folks. I'd like that.

Groggily,
Me

Hell, at least I had 9-volt batteries on hand. I couldn't identify which of the three was chirping, but apparently it was one of the two whose batteries I replaced.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

When my parents moved into their new place, they had that problem too. Unfortunately, the living room had one of these popular vaulted ceiling things, and the problem detector was at the top. That was a fun repair job.

I want to know how they rigged it so the chirping ALWAYS starts in the middle of the night...and never during the day.

Ouch. I feel your pain. I also have 12-foot ceilings, so replacing the batteries involves hauling the Big Damned Ladder in from outside.

Which, come to think of it, I need to do before it gets too dark tonight, 'cause the one in my bedroom has begun its annual sporadic chirping ...

God. I'm feeling grateful that mine are on ceilings of normal height, so I could just drag my computer chair over. And that I had the batteries on hand. There was no way I could sleep through the chirping... the cluster of three is right at the door of the bedroom where I sleep. If I hadn't had batteries I'd have made a 2:00 a.m. run to the gas station... and been really, really cranky about it.

Heh. I've been known to grab a broom and knock the battery cover open to shut the damned thing up until morning, when I'm more ladder-worthy.

That doesn't work with ours... and I'm told that even ripping the thing out of the ceiling, ill-advised as that is in a rental unit, won't shut it up because all the smoke detectors are wired together.

I understand the utility of wired-in systems, but there are moments - especially in the middle of the night, but also when, say, I get a little too enthusiastic trying a new cooking technique and wind up with a kitchen full of smoke - when I'm glad my own dectectors are the more primitive kind.

Yeah, we have LOTS of those happy cooking moments when a little bit spills onto the burner... and that piercing alarm goes off all through the house because it's echoed by the upstairs main unit. (Hate. Loud. Noises. Hate.)

*sends you virtual earplugs*

*grin* You get the grand prize for most practical virtual gift ever.

Wow... Sorry to hear that, hon. And after someone kept you up late, too! But at least you now have an ample supply of gold stars.

"And after someone kept you up late, too!"

Staying up late is just begging for something to happen to further prevent sleep.

... and then the school called, because Mark had thrown up. He's lying on the floor next to me now. Happy Monday!

chirping fire alarms are possibly the only modern equivalent to chinese water torture.

It's like trying to get to sleep before your sleeping partner starts snoring... "go to sleep go to sleep go to sleep go to sleep DAMMIT!" ... only worse.

I love your user icon - where did you get that?

i have no idea...i didn't make it, but check my icon page to see if any crediting is required if you want to steal it...if there's nothing in the comment field, no need to credit...