Cold Weather = Dead Batteries
Today’s theme was dead batteries. Sometime around midnight, one of the smoke detectors in our house started beeping. This was odd since Brian is very good about checking and replacing the batteries when we set the clocks (twice a year). We thought it must be because the front entryway was so cold due to temps in the single digits, and our entryway being uninsulated and also unheated. In a normal household, there are perhaps 2 or 3 detectors, so it’s pretty easy to narrow down which is beeping. We believe the previous homeowners were paranoid, because we have no fewer than 6 smoke detectors. The beeping became more frequent, so Brian finally pulled the battery in the one at the top of the entryway when I woke up this morning, because frankly the sound is meant to wake anyone fast asleep and was doing quite a good job. The beeping didn’t stop. Brian discovered that in addition to having a smoke detector at the top of the stairs, there is also a smoke detector on the first floor of the entryway. This is for what purpose? In case we have a fire when the law of physics are suspended, and smoke does not rise? sheesh.
This inauspicious start to the day became advanced annoyance when Brian’s car battery decided it was just too cold to drive. It moaned and groaned but did not turn over. Luckily Brian didn’t actually need to leave the house. I became one of the hordes of New Englanders who bought a new car battery at Sears today.
Posted: January 26th, 2007 under Home.
Comments: 3
Comments
Comment from Wayne
Time: January 29, 2007, 7:35 pm
If you let the smoke detector batteries warm up to room temperature (assume your room is not freezing), they should work fine. The cold is merely slowing down the rate of the redox reaction that is generating the voltage in the battery. I suggest spending your evenings with your batteries in your pockets. 😉
-Wayne “I didn’t spend five years in evil graduate school to be called Mr. Evil” Pitcher
Comment from Corinne
Time: February 3, 2007, 1:20 pm
Your post about the CO and the furnace is crazy! It is one of those things you never think will happen! I’m so glad you had a detector.
Back at the place we were renting out here before we bought, we returned home from vacation really late at night and went to bed. But then there was this chirping. So, we took the battery out of the smoke detector and went back to bed. Still chirping. Then we had a long discussion – how was it possible to chirp without a battery? The detector must have some HUGE capacitor in it or something. It just didn’t make sense! Regardless, we unscrewed the detector from the wall, and threw the smoke detector outside and went back to bed. More chirping. It turned out to be the CO detector with a low battery. We felt pretty silly.
Comment from Corinne
Time: February 3, 2007, 1:25 pm
By the way, if you didn’t catch the Halloween episode (10/27/06) of This American Life, there is a great CO story in it. I think it is the first story in that show.
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/
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