Today, I’ve been MIA because things have been pretty crazy around here for the past week. Eleven months ago, I paid $900 to get 8 hardwired smoke detectors or smoke/CO detector combo units replaced in my house. Last Thursday early morning, at 2:31 am, the fire alarms went off and starting blaring and calling Fire Fire!. I almost had a heart attack. There are 5 alarms upstairs in my house as well as two on the first floor and 3 in the basement/garage so the sound is absolutely deafening! Thank goodness, no fire, but it took 25 minutes for the alarms to shut off. I finally felt asleep again around 4:30am, and I was awakened at 7:30am by the alarms going off again. This time, the alarms continued for 45 minutes.
I called the company that installed them and the boss came over to see what was happening later that morning. He told me they would replace the combo unit in the upstairs hallway that I saw was flashing red as well as the one in my bedroom just in case. An assistant electrician came back a few hours later and replaced those units as well as changed all the batteries. I thought the problem was solved. But after I showered, washed my hair and got into my pjs, the alarms went off again at 11pm. I couldn’t believe it! I dragged a ladder up to the second floor from the basement, climbed up and tried to unscrew the unit to see if that would shut off the alarms. No go. I couldn’t get that baby to budge!
I called Jeff to see if he had any advice for me. He lives an hour away and was already in bed, so he wasn’t eager to have to come over. He suggested I call the police. Reluctantly, I did, and I was told the Fire Department had to come and deal with it. While I was waiting for them to arrive, the alarms shut themselves off. A police officer arrived first, followed by one of the firefighters. Even though the alarms were off, I asked the firefighter to remove the new unit that I thought was the one that had the problem. He climbed up the ladder that I had brought upstairs, and he couldn’t disconnect it either. After 10 minutes of trying, he figured out there’s a little stiff plastic piece that you have to press in before you can turn the unit to disconnect it. Ugh. At that point, I thought the problem was solved, and I went to bed.
On Friday, I went to Jeff’s for the weekend because his daughter’s were visiting from North Carolina and Georgia.
On Monday, I went home. All was quiet when I arrived in the afternoon. But at 10:41pm, all hell broke loose again. The alarms started going off, and this time, I panicked. I called Jeff and I decided to drive back to his house to spend the night. I didn’t want to wait to see if the alarms would shut themselves off. Plus the one I thought was the problem was not even connected! This time, I noticed the combo units on the first floor hallway and in the basement were both flashing red. I also noticed for the first time when I went to get my car out of the garage that I had two more 16 year old smoke detectors that had never been changed down there.
I pulled the car out, closed the garage door, started to leave, when I noticed I left the lights on in the house. I decided to go in through the front door because it seemed faster. Upon opening the door, the burglar alarm that I thought hadn’t set, went off too! Now 10 fire alarms and one extremely loud burglar alarm were going off in my house. I thought the house and my head were both going to explode right then and there! I put in the code to shut off the burglar alarm, but the fire alarms were still going. Then Alarm Central called to make sure there was no burglar. The dispatcher asked for my passcode, and I was so stressed out, I couldn’t remember it and I told her I couldn’t go back into the house to find it because of the noise. I even let her hear the noise from the fire alarms over the phone, and I tried to prove to her that I was the homeowner. I thought I convinced her, but I guess I didn’t because she called the police anyway and they came after I left.
The next morning, I called the electrician again and told the woman who answered the phone to have the boss call me. He did, and he agreed to come back the next day. I drove home and discovered the alarms were still going 15 hours later. I could hear them from outside the house, it was so loud. I called the electrician again, and he agreed to come right away while the alarms were blaring. This time, he removed the alarms one at a time to try to discover which one would shut off the alarm. It was the combo unit on the first floor near the front door. He removed it, and the alarm shut off. Whew.
I spent last night at a friend’s house because I needed to get a good night’s sleep. The apprentice electrician came back today and installed two new units in the garage. He told me the boss had put in a new combo unit in the first floor hallway the day before. I hope he’s right! Tonight, I am going to try to sleep in my own house, and I am praying that I’m not awakened by the fire alarms going off again in the middle of the night! Wish me luck. It’s been a nightmare, and I can only imagine what the bill is going to be for this fiasco!
On a happier note, the winners of the #peaceandlovejewelry giveaway were:
- Vivienne S. who won the cool retro Invicta Lupah Watch with 7 straps
- Brandon S. who won the adorable slide bracelet with white topaz.
Congrats to the winners! And thanks to all who entered, commented, followed, and subscribed to NSDB. I really appreciate it! If you weren’t a winner in this giveaway, please enter my new giveaway, Paula’s Choice RESIST Omega+ Complex facial serum (here)!
What a nightmare! Stick with battery operated lol.
LOL! I’ve got too much money sunk in at this point 😉
Oh no…..I can’t even imagine all that noise! It would definitely cause me to have a migraine. Congratulations to Vivienne and Brandon on their awesome prizes.
It’s been awful, Sandy. I’ve been so stressed out about it. But last night, it was quiet at my house and I got a decent night’s sleep, yay!
Oh my stars! That sounds HORRIBLE! I hope it’s all fixed now!
Thank you, Gabrielle! It has definitely been stressful. Made it through last night without incident. Hope tonight will be quiet as well xo
Here’s hoping for a silent night of peaceful sleep for you. Congrats to the winners!
Thank you, Cindi! Last night, there was a huge thunderstorm right above my house that went from about 1:30-2:30 or so. I was afraid it might set off the alarms (it didn’t), so I didn’t fall asleep till 3:45am. I’m going to bed at 11pm tonight. Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!