The Truth About Smoke Alarms
Smoke alarms don't stop beeping when they are doused with water. How do I know this you might ask. Well, I'll tell you.
See, my air-conditioning unit is in the attic of my apartment. About once a year the condensation pan under the air conditioner over flws and seeps water through my ceiling. My landlady then calls someone to check the air conditioner and fix the ceiling. Luckily it's never harmed anything that actually belongs to me.
So, today I'm sitting in my front room when I hear the smoke alarm start to beep...really loud (you know, like it does when the battery needs to be replaced). I grab a broom to try to poke it to make it stop sqealing. As I do this, water starts pouring down my arm. "Uh,oh." I think to myself. "No good can come of this."
The next few minutes involve me putting a pan under the drip, trying to call my landlady (no answer), trying to detatch the detector from the ceiling (balaning on the top of a step ladder all while water is dripping down my arm. I finally get the thing to stop squealing (just beeping occasionally) and nearly detatched. It's hanging from the ceiling by one small black wire. I call my Dad to ask, hypothetically, "if the smoke detector gets soaked in water and is hanging from the ceiling by one small black wire and I were to clip the wire, will I electrocute myself and die?" His response, "How did the detector get soaked with water." He doesn't understand hypothetical questions I guess.
We finally decide that since my wire clippers have rubber handles and the wire is small I'm probably gonna be okay. Dad stays on the line as I perform this little task. Well, I don't electrocute myself, but apparently, clipping the wire made the detector mad cause it starts squealing again until I can dig in the back and rip the battery out. Again, all the while it's dripping water on me.
So now the detector is sitting next to my sink and I have a hole in my hallway ceiling with water dripping out of it into a pan and splashing onto a beach towel. I still can't get hold of my landlady. Fun times.
See, my air-conditioning unit is in the attic of my apartment. About once a year the condensation pan under the air conditioner over flws and seeps water through my ceiling. My landlady then calls someone to check the air conditioner and fix the ceiling. Luckily it's never harmed anything that actually belongs to me.
So, today I'm sitting in my front room when I hear the smoke alarm start to beep...really loud (you know, like it does when the battery needs to be replaced). I grab a broom to try to poke it to make it stop sqealing. As I do this, water starts pouring down my arm. "Uh,oh." I think to myself. "No good can come of this."
The next few minutes involve me putting a pan under the drip, trying to call my landlady (no answer), trying to detatch the detector from the ceiling (balaning on the top of a step ladder all while water is dripping down my arm. I finally get the thing to stop squealing (just beeping occasionally) and nearly detatched. It's hanging from the ceiling by one small black wire. I call my Dad to ask, hypothetically, "if the smoke detector gets soaked in water and is hanging from the ceiling by one small black wire and I were to clip the wire, will I electrocute myself and die?" His response, "How did the detector get soaked with water." He doesn't understand hypothetical questions I guess.
We finally decide that since my wire clippers have rubber handles and the wire is small I'm probably gonna be okay. Dad stays on the line as I perform this little task. Well, I don't electrocute myself, but apparently, clipping the wire made the detector mad cause it starts squealing again until I can dig in the back and rip the battery out. Again, all the while it's dripping water on me.
So now the detector is sitting next to my sink and I have a hole in my hallway ceiling with water dripping out of it into a pan and splashing onto a beach towel. I still can't get hold of my landlady. Fun times.