Replace the alarm batteries
A low battery chirps; a dead one is silent.
Who: You can do it yourself. 9-volt and AA batteries, and the backup battery in a hardwired alarm.
How often: Yearly, or when it chirps; not on sealed 10-year alarms. For: the smoke / co alarm.
Which do you have?
- If yours is a sealed 10-year alarm. There is no battery to change: replace the whole alarm when it signals end of life.
Safety first
- Hardwired: turn the breaker off before removing it from the bracket.
- Never “borrow” an alarm’s battery; removing it can be deadly.
What you need
- The battery type printed on the alarm (Kidde lists approved brands).
- A step stool.
- A small screwdriver, for a tamper tab.
The part, and finding the right one
- Batteries (smoke / co alarm). Replace yearly or when it chirps, unless the alarm has a sealed 10-year battery. A chirp every 30-60 seconds means low. The battery type (often 9-volt or AA) is on the alarm or behind its cover.
On a home’s record, each piece of equipment’s page links its manual and a search for its parts by brand and model. All filters and parts
How to do it
- Which kind is it: a disposable 9-volt, a nonreplaceable 10-year battery, or hardwired with a backup battery (changed yearly)?
- Hardwired: breaker off.
- Twist the alarm off its plate toward the Off arrow; if there is a tamper tab, push it in with the screwdriver first.
- Hardwired: squeeze the prongs and pull the wire harness out.
- Open the door and swap the battery, matching + and -; press the red reminder finger down first.
- Press Test on the battery alone before it goes back up.
- Reconnect the harness, twist it on, breaker on, and test again. One chirp at power-up is normal.
- Still chirping: reset it. Breaker off, remove it, disconnect it, battery out, hold Test for 15 seconds (another Kidde page says 5; your manual decides), then reconnect.
Needs attention
- Chirping after a new battery and a reset: end of life.
- A battery that lasts a month: the alarm has no AC power.
Get help if
- No AC power with the breaker fine, or chirps at the same time each day: an electrician.
Keep track of it
Add your home to My homes: each piece of equipment gets this on its own schedule, with “Mark done” and reminders you can turn on.
Sources
Your owner’s manual comes first: where it says something different for your model, follow it.
Still stuck?
Email us at hello@tradewrench.com. Tell us which page you were on and what you were trying to do.