Looking for some help with an Aico ei168rc smoke alarm – there’s 3 of them that are downstairs and all of them are letting out 3 beeps intermittently. They are mains wired and are fitted in a holiday cottage. The green light is steady but there is no flashing red light as per manual but no mention of this in the troubleshooting manual section. Anyone any ideas? It’s driving my aunt and uncle bonkers at the house!!

The internal backup battery is running low, perhaps? They’ve probably got a 12v battery inside since a smoke alarm that doesn’t work with the power off isn’t really much use.

Low backup battery?

low battery as said

Manual says it has built in lithium rechargeable cells with up to 30 days back up so not sure if it could be that?

is the smoke alarm mains actually on tho, could be running on battery back up ? How long have they been installed batteries dont last forever. Its one of our most common call outs. Faulty alarms.

I had that in a holiday rental it drove us mad. Middle of the night I tampered with it to shut it up and it set the alarm off. Best call owner out before they go to bed.

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Aye green light is on and unfortunately I am the owner of the house. Looking at instructions there could be a problem with the chamber and to hoover it out so asked them to try that. If the chamber was a problem on one of them would all the alarms that are radio connected beep?

Just smoke alarm or is it CO integrated in it also?

Either way, other option is they may be chirping to indicate they have previously gone off. Some CO alarms I think do this if there’s been a low level detected at some point? Thinking about it, CO alarms I believe do an intermittent set of beeps or chirps anyway as their alarm.

Or more likely it’s power. Low bat, knackered batteries or mains is not working.

Other is a fault, but less likely with all the alarms doing the same. End of life alert perhaps, if they’re all from same batch.

CO alarm should not be on ceiling

bruneep – Member 
CO alarm should not be on ceiling

Good point. Something I’d not realised when I first got one (RTFM failure). Got paranoid about CO after friend’s family nearly died, so got several now all in the correct location.

Carbon monoxide lighter than O2 and same as N2, so the ceiling is a perfectly reasonable place to put one.

Without thermal room currents by the time it gets to the alarm you’ll be dead, hence why it should be placed just below head height.

Seen the aftermath of this.

I think they can be on ceiling but has to be a fair distance from walls and light fittings, which makes them difficult to place on a ceiling in small rooms or hallways (though should be in a room with the gas appliance and also where people sleep). Ideal though is on a wall at head height with a fair distance from ceiling and cupboards, I believe.

Makes you wonder about combined smoke and CO detectors though which are popular as it’s one device to deal with. Most will just slap them where smoke detectors go, probably in a hallway ceiling which is no good at all for CO.

Check the fuse in the battery charging circuit as well…mains power being restored can blow these, mains light on but running off the now depleted batteries

Back up batteries are more than likely exhausted. Replacements are typically the rectangular 9v jobbies, if yours are the lithium variety then I’m not sure if they are replaceable, so chuck the original alarms and fit new ones

As others have said its probably the batteries. Mine did the same a couple of months ago

Had the same problem, it was the ibackup battery.

Back up batteries are more than likely exhausted. Replacements are typically the rectangular 9v jobbies, if yours are the lithium variety then I’m not sure if they are replaceable, so chuck the original alarms and fit new ones

This ^
IIRC even mains smoke detectors are supposed to be replaced every 10 years.

http://www.safelincs.co.uk/why-should-smoke-alarms-be-replaced-after-ten-years/

I’ve got three in a rental house and just one of them has a rechargeable battery in, the other 2 have normal square batteries.
The unit may also need replacing, it should have a date inside.
Could also just need a clean out as dust on the optical sensor could cause a warning beep, I think…

ads678 – Member 
Could also just need a clean out as dust on the optical sensor

Most use a radioactive source and sensor I believe.

Turns out it was the separate CO alarm going off…uncle and aunt having a senior moment – thanks for all the help though!

Turns out it was the separate CO alarm going off…uncle and aunt having a senior moment – thanks for all the help though!

Signs and symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning may include:
Dull headache.
Weakness.
Dizziness.
Nausea or vomiting.
Shortness of breath.
Confusion.
Blurred vision.
Loss of consciousness.

and why was it going off low battery, where is it positioned?

Could be an end of life chirp

http://www.kidde.com/home-safety/en/us/co-safety/about-carbon-monoxide-alarms/

But is it actually warning about CO?

If it beeps, pause, beeps, pause constantly, then take immediate action!

Intermittent chirp is a fault, low battery or end of life.