That gosh awful fire alarm!

[RomanAnthonysMama]

We live in a small trailer, and my husband loves to cook and bake. I do a little baking, but he mostly does the majority of it. Anywho, while baking, we've learned to keep all of the windows and doors open to air the place out. However, every time we cook or bake, the fire alarms STILL go off. It's so annoying! They're so obnoxiously loud. We usually take apart the ones we can when we know there is a chance they'll go off, but there are a couple that are plugged into the wall by the landlord, so we can't really disable them. Does anyone have any tips on how to make sure the alarms don't always go off while we are baking? It's super stressful to have to worry about an alarm going off on top of watching whatever you're baking!

 

[justusforus]

I had a smoke detector that did the same thing to me. The problem is hot air rises and usually they are up high. I took a fan plugged it in near the offending smoke alarm and locked the stream of air on it. It kept the air moving up there and I use this every time I bake or cook. It solved my problem and maybe it will help you. Good luck!

 

[zlemune]

Some modern alarms can be temporarily disabled (you really don't want to do it permanently!) so you might want to see if you can get the current ones replaced with that kind.

 

[biscuiteer]

I've had a few fire alarms go off while cooking. I usually just take the batteries out until I'm done cooking. They especially like to go off when someone is frying something, it seems.

 

[OhioTom76]

You can usually disable the landlords alarms as well. I've done that in apartments. You just unscrew them and unplug them from the wall mount temporarily. I personally hate those landlord installed fire alarms - especially the ones that are hard wired, since I have a feeling they use those to spy on tenants. One time I heard a speaker like voice coming from one of them in my apartment. It sounded like someone was talking on a walkie talkie or something.

A fan would probably be the best solution, as another poster on here noted. You could also possibly try taping some plastic over them temporarily to seal them off from the fumes.

 

[Cheerio]

I had one that kept beeping because it needed a new battery. Unfortunately, it started doing it in the middle of the night when I couldn't run out to buy a new one. I thought I would just remove the battery and it would stop. Wrong! It was also hardwired into the wall. I had to figure out how to unplug that (meanwhile, I was now wide awake) and I finally managed to disconnect the alarm. Or so I thought.... Apparently it has some sort of back up battery in it somewhere and even though detached from the wall, with the battery removed, it kept beeping. Argh! No matter where I put the stupid thing, I could hear it beeping. I finally took it outside and put it into the trunk of my car.

I wish I had an answer for you, RomanAnthony'sMama, but as you can see, I have not been able to solve my own alarming problems.

 

[andrew172]

When I was staying in student housing the fire alarm would go off whenever the oven had been on for more 20 minutes. It didn't even matter what was in it, or if it was burning, or if there was any smoke. It was a nightmare. So you can imagine the torment we went through when we came to cook the turkey for thanksgiving! It was awful, we ended up giving up and ordering pizza. What a waste of a good turkey. Oh well.

 

[andrew172]

One thing I could add in addition, which I don't know if I'd recommend for safety reasons is covering it up with a bucket or taping a plastic bag over it. Perhaps investing in a fan would be a good idea. I know that whenever I come to fry anything up, I always put the fan on or the kitchen starts filling up with smoke.

 

[Cheerio]

Andrew - It sounds like your alarm was reacting to the heat from the stove rather than any smoke. That's the problem with these things most of the time. They are mounted in the wrong place and then the person ends up disabling it completely. Sorry about your turkey dinner. I hope you have better luck with that this year!

 

[Christine Mlinek]

We live in a small trailer, and my husband loves to cook and bake. I do a little baking, but he mostly does the majority of it. Anywho, while baking, we've learned to keep all of the windows and doors open to air the place out. However, every time we cook or bake, the fire alarms STILL go off. It's so annoying! They're so obnoxiously loud. We usually take apart the ones we can when we know there is a chance they'll go off, but there are a couple that are plugged into the wall by the landlord, so we can't really disable them. Does anyone have any tips on how to make sure the alarms don't always go off while we are baking? It's super stressful to have to worry about an alarm going off on top of watching whatever you're baking!

We live in a mobile home, and the alarm near the kitchen always goes off as well. Only when the oven temp is high and the oven door opens. We usually put a towell draped over the alarm until the situation is cleared. Other times, we do the fan idea as well.

 

[MyDigitalpoint]

Some modern alarms can be temporarily disabled (you really don't want to do it permanently!) so you might want to see if you can get the current ones replaced with that kind.

True! I found that was worth the investment in new alarms to make possible switch them off than being battling with the nuisance of getting triggered false positive warnings.

 

[andrew172]

Andrew - It sounds like your alarm was reacting to the heat from the stove rather than any smoke. That's the problem with these things most of the time. They are mounted in the wrong place and then the person ends up disabling it completely. Sorry about your turkey dinner. I hope you have better luck with that this year!

Thanks for the advice, I suspected something similar, however the landlord strictly forbid moving or tampering with at all, which was a pain. Fortunately I'm buying my own home now and have no landlords to listen to- I can bake to my hearts content!

 

[charahome]

I am famous for setting of the alarm. Not because the alarm is faulty, but because the baker is. I forget to set the timer, go off to do something, and voila, beep, beep, beep, smoke, smoke, smoke.

Yes, faulty baker.

 

[andrew172]

I am famous for setting of the alarm. Not because the alarm is faulty, but because the baker is. I forget to set the timer, go off to do something, and voila, beep, beep, beep, smoke, smoke, smoke.

Yes, faulty baker.

I learned my lesson the hard way very young.... I would put bread under the grill to toast and go and watch cartoons while it toasted... 15 minutes later... "why is the smoke alarm going off????" *oh that's right- because the whole house is filling up with smoke*

 

[charahome]

I learned my lesson the hard way very young.... I would put bread under the grill to toast and go and watch cartoons while it toasted... 15 minutes later... "why is the smoke alarm going off????" *oh that's right- because the whole house is filling up with smoke*

I think that the human mind is capable of causing this momentary forgetfulness. How hard is it to remember that we are in the middle of something. Unfortunately, i get easily distracted and forget.

I try to remember to set the timer on the phone, but then I get an email or a message, i start reading, and totally forget to set that alarm too.
Oh well. Viva La Smoke. LOL

 

[TheViper]

Those type of alarms must be very sensitive to go off like that. I know that when I cook the alarms never go off. There could be smoke all in the house and it still won't go off. Maybe the alarms could be slightly faulty!

 

[andrew172]

Those type of alarms must be very sensitive to go off like that. I know that when I cook the alarms never go off. There could be smoke all in the house and it still won't go off. Maybe the alarms could be slightly faulty!

Some alarms are tripped by temperature rather than smoke... I can never tell the difference though... and honestly I think some just go off when they feel like it.

 

[True2marie]

My fire alarm is sensitive too. In order to work around the annoyance of it going off for while I cook, I turn on the fan above the range. This helps in diffusing smoke, and, as a result, setting off the fire alarm.

 

[dorannmwin]

Is there a way that you would be able to put a fan near the smoke alarm so that the smoke wouldn't get close to the alarms and thus they wouldn't go off?

That leads me to the question, is your husband accidentally burning things when he is baking? It just seems really odd to me that the smoke alarm would go off every time that he is baking. Does the oven need to have a really good, deep cleaning?

 

[shaybearlv]

I have a love/hate relationship with those sensitive smoke alarms. I often thought it was because there had been burnt food on the bottom of the oven even though I would clean it every time, it never failed that alarm next to my kitchen in my old house would go off no matter what I had in the oven. However, one day I decided to do self clean because I wanted what ever was on the bottom of the oven to be gone. Do you think the alarm went off while it was a million degrees in my house? NO!! Yet, the next time I baked…beep, beep, beep, beep. I gave up and took out the batteries!