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I’ve been learning a lot of new things since I took the leap and quit my job – how to cook fish, how to change the air filter, make curtain rods, refinish wood furniture, spray paint things, make necklaces, etc, etc.
So when the smoke detector in our master bedroom started chirping in the middle of the night last night, I looked at it as another opportunity to learn something new!
This time the lesson would be in replacing smoke detector batteries.
I dragged our old wooden ladder (ie our lightest ladder) up the stairs from the garage and set it up directly below the dying smoke detector, which happens to be at the height of our highest vaulted ceiling.
Hanging on for dear life at the top of the ladder, it took one hard twist toward the “off” arrow and I got it hanging down from the ceiling. Things were off to a good start!
The next part was a little trickier because I had to figure out how to remove the detector from the wires hanging from the ceiling without a very good view. I was on the top step of the ladder and couldn’t go any higher. With a little bit of luck, I discovered that I just needed to squeeze the sides of the wire plug and it popped off.
I popped a new 9v battery in, plugged it back into the ceiling, ran a successful test by holding down the test button, then hit the “hush” button. So far so good! The thing was no longer chirping. I did a happy dance! I thought I was in the clear.
Right when I was about to carry the ladder back downstairs, there was the chirp again. Noooo! My first thought was that the new battery that I put in was maybe not actually new.
Then another stroke of luck – I noticed the instructions on the back said “push the test button to reset the alarm memory.”
That was the final and very necessary step to replace the dying battery in the smoke detector. After that, the chirping stopped for good (at least until it needs another battery)! ?
