Life saver, sleep killer...
It started about a month or two ago. It was a hot day and my appartment got warmed up quite a bit. And since my airconditioning is just making more noise than cold air I thougth I leave some extra windows open at night.
My hallway is downstairs and has a window next to the door, so in order for the aircirculation I thought let me open up a window there so the cooler night air will flow through my appartment and cool things down a bit.
Not a bad thought, right? Well wrong. The cooler air from outside contained something else than a lower temperature.... In the middle of the night I hear this penetrating beep every 30 seconds or so. Of course I wake up. Strange sounds always wake me up. I am light sleeper. It turned out that it is my smoke alarm downstairs in the little hall that produces that sound. So OK, I know there is a lot of traffic in my area, and I guess the polution from it is so much I can't have the window open there.
So next day I change plans and instead of having the window downstairs open I open the windows in my bed room and let a draft through my whole apartment cool it down at night. Well this was even worse. Now the smoke detector in my bedroom start to beep, and that above your bed is absolutely not a pleasure. So I curse and shut the windows in my bedroom and luckily the alarm goes off and I can sleep again.
Weeks pass by, everything seems fine. The smoke detectors don't smell what I don't smell either and they are quiet as they should.
Then a few nights ago, even while I didn't open the window in the hallway anymore... I wake up at around 3 in the morning. The smoke alarm senses an increased level of carbon monoxide again and starts with it's twice per minute beep. Night destroyed. What do I do now? Window is closed, so only got one window open upstairs. That can't be the cause, can it? But it continues for hours and hours until the morning after I had left the home and came back.
Next night.. same story. Again at around 3 a.m. beep .. silence .. beep .. silence .. beep and so on. And it went on night after night, and I got somewhat used to it. I closed the doors so I wouldnt hear it's penetrating sound too much. And I got to sleep again. (Ignoring what I was breathing, but at least sleeping). I even figured out that when I press the test smoke alarm button in the morning, it would after it's super loud sound be quiet for the whole day.
Then there was this night. 12:30 a.m. I was just in bed for a little while and it woke me up.. again.. Oh no, I thought, this is getting worse. A beeping sound from 12:30 till 8:30 that is eight full hours of beeping. That is too much.
If these smoke alarms were old, I would just have removed the batteries, but no in this appartment it is connected to the electrical net, and since I rent this place I cannot just remove the alarm all together. I had to come up with something else.
So weaponed with a little stool, some cloth and masking tape I went downstairs to silence this sleep killer as much as I can. I thought the cloth would at least absorb most of the sound and then with doors closed I should be able to get some sleep.
Well I did a good job. Not only did I manage to let much less sound come out of the alarm, but I acchieved an incredible side effect. The cloth works like a gas mask, no more bad air reaches the smoke alarm and it got quiet all by it self. And now after I am done with this post I should be able to get some good sleep.
Good night every one!
My hallway is downstairs and has a window next to the door, so in order for the aircirculation I thought let me open up a window there so the cooler night air will flow through my appartment and cool things down a bit.
Not a bad thought, right? Well wrong. The cooler air from outside contained something else than a lower temperature.... In the middle of the night I hear this penetrating beep every 30 seconds or so. Of course I wake up. Strange sounds always wake me up. I am light sleeper. It turned out that it is my smoke alarm downstairs in the little hall that produces that sound. So OK, I know there is a lot of traffic in my area, and I guess the polution from it is so much I can't have the window open there.
So next day I change plans and instead of having the window downstairs open I open the windows in my bed room and let a draft through my whole apartment cool it down at night. Well this was even worse. Now the smoke detector in my bedroom start to beep, and that above your bed is absolutely not a pleasure. So I curse and shut the windows in my bedroom and luckily the alarm goes off and I can sleep again.
Weeks pass by, everything seems fine. The smoke detectors don't smell what I don't smell either and they are quiet as they should.
Then a few nights ago, even while I didn't open the window in the hallway anymore... I wake up at around 3 in the morning. The smoke alarm senses an increased level of carbon monoxide again and starts with it's twice per minute beep. Night destroyed. What do I do now? Window is closed, so only got one window open upstairs. That can't be the cause, can it? But it continues for hours and hours until the morning after I had left the home and came back.
Next night.. same story. Again at around 3 a.m. beep .. silence .. beep .. silence .. beep and so on. And it went on night after night, and I got somewhat used to it. I closed the doors so I wouldnt hear it's penetrating sound too much. And I got to sleep again. (Ignoring what I was breathing, but at least sleeping). I even figured out that when I press the test smoke alarm button in the morning, it would after it's super loud sound be quiet for the whole day.
Then there was this night. 12:30 a.m. I was just in bed for a little while and it woke me up.. again.. Oh no, I thought, this is getting worse. A beeping sound from 12:30 till 8:30 that is eight full hours of beeping. That is too much.
If these smoke alarms were old, I would just have removed the batteries, but no in this appartment it is connected to the electrical net, and since I rent this place I cannot just remove the alarm all together. I had to come up with something else.
So weaponed with a little stool, some cloth and masking tape I went downstairs to silence this sleep killer as much as I can. I thought the cloth would at least absorb most of the sound and then with doors closed I should be able to get some sleep.Well I did a good job. Not only did I manage to let much less sound come out of the alarm, but I acchieved an incredible side effect. The cloth works like a gas mask, no more bad air reaches the smoke alarm and it got quiet all by it self. And now after I am done with this post I should be able to get some good sleep.
Good night every one!
posted by /T/ @ 1:23 AM
6 comments
6 Comments:
/T/ re Frontdoors not sure if you know or not but if you go to Settings and under Formatting. Under 'Show' you can type up to 999 days wich would enable you to show alot more doors on screen without someone having to go to the sidebar...so in this case they would be able to view the doors up for selection that have now slid of the page...
just a thought
thx noticed you posted my door. Nice comment on it.
enjoy your weekend.
Michelle
Er... the voice of caution here. You know what you have done by blocking off these smoke alarms... so what is causing them to go off? Surely the manufacturers and the land lord are on the case? Best wishes.
Sounds a bit dangerouse, i would try to come up wtih something else
Thanks all for your concern. I know it is kind of unsafe, but with a sprinkler system through out the whole appartment and another 2 smoke alarms in and close to my bedroom, I should still be safe.
By the way, it looked too messy and I made it look much nicer. (still covered though)
Funny story. There is probably some garantee on this alarm system. I should contact the landlord as it's his job so insure that everything functions.
By the way "Bricolo" is just a variation on the verb "Bricoler" which is the French word for home repair work and stuff.
Greetings from Marseille
Oddly enough that's what my alarm does when the batteries get low. It won't beep all day but around two thirty in the morning *beep* followed by (bleep) from my mouth. It'll stop in the morning when I get up to find out which one it is if it's not in my room. I'll then decide that it was my downstairs neighbors and forget about it. Until two thirty in the morning that is.
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