We've had the smoke alarm go off at night. Our Westie goes CRAZY, clawing at the doors to get outside, away from that NOISE! No fun replacing the battery while standing on a ladder in my nightie (without fainting from the blocked blood flow to the brain when I look up). Then I have to put on coat and boots and go get the dog from the farthest corner of the yard.

You have no battery in your alarm? Big no-no!

When my cell phone on my nightstand rings early in the morning and I am sleeping soundly, I awke and hit my alarm.
A couple of years ago, I kept hearing a beep during the day and traced it to my dining room. I changed the battery in my smoke alarm and I still heard the beeping. I called the business number for the fire dept. and they sent a pick up truck with a couple of firefighters out. After them playing with the smoke alarm for a few minutes, one of them spotted a smoke alarm sitting on a cabinet. That was the one that was beeping. It was old and I had meant to throw it out. Turns out my alarms were old and needed to be replaced. They are only good for 10 years. The firefighters told me if I bought new alarms and could not install them myself they would be happy to come back and install them.
Sorry this post is so long.

Yes, years ago I heard something like that only thought that either mice or squirrels had gotten into the walls and I am going around pounding on the walls with by hand. Finally my DH suggested that he check the alarms and yep--needed a new battery. He kids me to this day when I hear noises and asks if the squirells need new batteries.

Yes I have and it drives me crazy till I find it. This house has so many smoke alarms I think at least 6. But there's other things that beep too and it can be really hard to tell where the beep is coming from. My husband for some reason forget his cell phone in his closet one night, of course the beeping started, very muted, but it was enough to wake me up. Not him! I was tearing up the place looking for the beep, he was sleeping peacefully. I finally tracked it to his closet and found his phone which by that time I was ready to beat him with the darn thing. Instead I went and plugged it in and went back to bed but naturally being all wound up, sleep was not happening.

He just couldn't understand why I was so peeved at him that morning!

I am laughing so hard at these stories.

I hate playing find the beep...and why does it always seem to start in the middle of the night...and why do all beeps sound exactly the same? I heard something beep the other day. It only beeped once so I have no idea what it was. So frustrating.

In a house where I used to live, one smoke detector was at the peak of a 17-foot high cathedral ceiling. I had the painters disconnect it because there's no way I would ever be able to change the battery. In my current house, there is one on the ceiling right by the oven. The heat from opening the oven (no smoke) sets it off. I have disconnected it. There are plenty of others in this house so I'm not worried about that one being inoperable.

By the way, did you know that smoke alarms can also start beeping because they are dusty?

I once heard a terrible racket comingfrom the kitchen. Armed with a broom handle I went to investigate.. "something is in the drawer!!" turned out to be a battery operated vegetble peeler that went berserk!!
I've traced a beep or too also

A battery operated vegetable peeler! Now I've heard everything. I had no idea there was such a thing.

I once heard a strange periodic 'ding' in the kicthen that I had never heard before. It took quite a while to trace it to my couple-months-old refrigerator. Apparently if you don't close the freezer drawer completely it will let you know. That is, if you know what to listen for! I usually advocate reading the instruction booklet on stuff early on, but didn't this time.

I think there are entirely too many things in our lives that beep, ding, and buzz. Leroy Anderston once wrote a piece of music about the typewriter, incorporating its sounds into the music. I'll bet a piece of music comprised of all these noises would be cool!

maxmom I remember that recording of the typewriter, and the ping when the carriage was moved after a it came to the end.one on pings and dings would be fun

One morning I woke up and headed to the bathroom, heard a rumbling noise coming from the bathtub. Someone had mistakenly turned on the whirlpool and it was running dry. I shut it off, no harm done. My husband has an old battery run watch that chimes every night at midnight. We know it's somewhere in his night stand, but we don't even look for it.

Some of you may think it was the fire alarm going off but it was my CELL PHONE beeping. There is a place to put a battery in that alarm, but there is not a connection for it? DH may have pulled it out when it went off years ago.

Joann -- My point was that your smoke alarm is *useless* without a battery.

I know we need to replace all our alarms because they are as old as the house (12). Newer models are more sensitive. Hmm...is that going to be a good thing? LOL

It is useless, but I have more in the house and I sure don't want that beeping going on. DS will be here tonight and I will have him check it.

Sorry JoAnn, I also was laughing!
Glad you found the BEEP!

I had that problem....couldn't figure out what was beeping. I kept going out in the garage and tripping the switch on different appliances, one at a time, but the beeping continued. It turned out to be the cell phone and it was beeping because it needed to be charged. Try charging the phone and see if that works.

I have a good story for you guys about this subject.

Dh and I live in a townhouse. One night in bed we heard the dreaded beep. The smoke detector in our bedroom is in a terrible spot to get to. DH has to stand on his dresser and then hoist himself up to a plant ledge. It's terrible!He searched around and didn't find the culprit. We finally realized...it was our next door neighbor's alarm chirping!! Our bedrooms are next to each other and it was quiet enough to hear!! Neighbor is a single mom. DH wanted to offer to help, but thought she'd be embarassed that we could hear it, and surely she would get to it asap. That thing must have beeped for DAYS!!

Became a running joke. We knew the exact seconds between beeps. Strangely it didn't keep us up, guess we were really tired each night! And turned the fan on high to drown it out.

JoAnn, glad you solved your problem. I dislike BEEPS too. I hear one here, at my still new to me house. I really should note down the time, and try harder to follow it.

My new smoke alarm went off, when I first turned the heat on this fall.

Now, I thought, rats, where would I move it to, if it comes on every time the heater comes on... and I left the it on the shelf for a few days.

I know, I know, that wasn't the safest thing to do. But in the end, I put it back up, and it hasn't gone off again since.

Moni

My smoke alarm used to go off (for real) every time I used the broiler in my stove. My kids used to laugh, they say I'm the world's worst cook.

I had the beep thing a few months ago and searched the entire first floor. It was coming from the kitchen and after awhile I opened the drawer and it was a battery operated timer which had been set off by husband putting something in the drawer.

"You have no battery in your alarm? Big no-no!"

"My point was that your smoke alarm is *useless* without a battery."

Our smoke alarms are all hardwired into the electrical of the house. No batteries. We don't have to worry about replacing batteries, and unless the electricity goes out completely, we're covered.

A few years ago, I had a mysterious night sound. I was sound asleep when a tremedous clap of thunder shook me awake. I sat up on the edge of my bed and then I heard a strange low sound. It was coming from downstairs. My bleary head seem to think it was a bird. A bird? How? Why? Didn't make sense. I crept down the stairs and with each step, the sound increased a bit. It sounded like a tropical bird in my living room - was I dreaming, sleepwalking? What on earth would I find facing me if I did finish my descent and step into the living room?

As I neared the bottom of the stairs, I bent over and peeked through the doorway into the living room and I saw a glowing, sinister, red light! And now the sound was definitely a bird and growing louder!

LOL! My stereo radio was on at half power. It was tuned to an easy listening station and at that very moment, they had chosen to play (don't recall the title) a number that begins with jungle sounds and exotic bird calls. After this introduction, orchestra music begins. We had taken a lightening hit on a spruce tree not more than 15 feet from the house. Stray currents had shorted the power switch to the stereo and enough current was flowing over the carbon trail burned on the switch to operate the stereo. I pulled the plug and inspected for fire. The plug was a little warm, but the danger had passed. Repairs could wait. It was close, but no fire. I went back to bed perhaps to sleep, but sleep would not come until my jangled nerves stoped telegraphing panic impulses.

Our alarms are hard wired, PLUS battery back-ups. Doesn't matter -- they are still too old (12) and need to be replaced with the newer, more-sensitive-to-smoke alarms. Another thing for the to-do list! Another *expense* to buy and have installed!

My 24 year old daughter who still lives at home, sometimes forgets to shut off her alarm clock. Problem is, her bedroom is in the attic. When I hear the alarm, I have to climb the stairs to the attic. Very hard on my old arthritic knees. Plus I'm afraid of falling on the stairs, they are rickety! We offered her a bedroom on the second floor, but she doesn't want it.

In the mid-90s I worked at a shelter. We had about two dozen smoke detectors int he building. It took days to figure out which battery was beeping- drove me crazy.

We lived a few month in a townhouse back in GA before moving to WV. We got a new neighbor and the first night I had to go over and tell her to now use her Nokia phone on the back porch. We were trying to sleep and the beeping was driving us mad- even my partially deaf DH! She gave me a weird look but apologized. A few days later, we heard it again during the late afternoon, went on the porch and realized that her parrot made a perfect copy of the Nokia chirp. I felt bad for being so made and the new neighbor but also sorry that she had to live with a bird that thought that annoying sound was a fun sound to make. Good thing I like animals or that critter might have been offered an avocado!

I had the side door open when it was so cool outside to get fresh air in. That door opens to the driveway. I am sitting in my office where the open door is and I keep hearing the most peculiar bird or frog or something, it always would be three of the chirp/beeps /ribits in a row specific timing. I think what kind of critter is that. This went on for days, I told my husband and we both went around the side yard trying to locate the strange beast.
My cleaning lady was over and said where is the chirping bird in the driveway?
We thought we were all going nuts.
Then one day I was out sitting in the truck waiting for my husband and I realized I could really hear the chirping clearly but it was not coming from the truck. When my husband came out I told him to come over there and listen, sure enough we were close to it!
We both start creeping around ears peeled I hope no one was watching!

Then in a eureka moment we both shouted out it's in the RV!!! The RV is parked on the far side of the driveway from the side door.
We get the keys then go on the search in the RV which led us to the carbon monoxide detector in the bedroom. Apparently the batteries needed replacing.

So glad to have that one solved!