Why smoke alarms fail in the middle of
the night
Q: Why do smoke alarm batteries always fail in the middle of the night?
A: "I am not aware of any significant reason why smoke detector batteries should fail in the
middle of the night," says Bob Milanese, Director, Technical Support, Duracell Batteries. More
likely, he speculates, in the noisier daytime, we don't notice the periodic chirp that beeps every
minute.
Maybe so, but that "chirp" is enough to wake the dead when heard in the middle of the night.
A remote possibility, says Milanese, is a battery about to fail anyway will fail when the room
temperature drops at night. Battery performance drops somewhat with falling temperature.
Milanese and others I consulted remind us not to wait for the chirp, instead to change alarm
batteries on a semiannually event such as when resetting the clocks. That way we'll get
maximum reliability from the smoke detector.
Further Surfing:
Fun & Learning: Battery Science, Duracell Batteries
Smoke Alarms: what you need to know, Fire safety & education, U.S. Fire Administration,
September 1998
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