semiatic

Smoke or CO alarm beeping, chirping or flashing? What it means, by brand

63 signals from 7 makers’ own manuals. One chirp a minute is a low battery on one make and a failed sensor on another, so pick what you see or hear.

A loud, continuous alarm is not a fault. All 7 makers give the same first step: get out, and call the fire service. Each maker’s own words.

Find it by what you see or hear

63 signals.

If it sounds: each maker’s own words

The first step each maker gives for a sounding smoke alarm, in its own words. Each brand page has the whole instruction, and the carbon monoxide one:

The same chirp, different meanings

Chirp patterns that at least two makers use for different things. This is why no single chart of beeps is right for every alarm.

You hearWhat it means, by brand
One chirp, about every 20–45 seconds
  • Kidde: low battery (One chirp every 30 to 40 seconds)
  • Kidde: hush or silence mode (Chirp every 30 to 40 seconds for about seven minutes after you pressed Hush)
  • Kidde: end of life (Chirp every 30 seconds on a sealed-battery alarm)
  • Kidde: end of life (CO alarm chirping every 30 seconds)
  • FireAngel: low battery (One beep and one flash every 40 seconds)
  • Aico: low battery (One beep about every 32 seconds with a red or yellow flash at the same time)
  • Ei Electronics: low battery (One beep with a red flash every 40 seconds (140e series))
One chirp, about every 48–60 seconds
  • Kidde: low battery (CO alarm chirping once every 60 seconds)
  • Aico: low battery (Regular single beep about once a minute (mains alarm))
  • Google Nest Protect: low battery (One chirp every 60 seconds, “The batteries are very low”)
  • Google Nest Protect: fault (One chirp every 60 seconds, “The sensors have failed… Replace Nest Protect now”)
  • X-Sense: low battery (One beep and one red flash every 60 seconds)
  • Ei Electronics: low battery (One chirp and one yellow flash every 48 seconds)
Three chirps, about every 48–60 seconds
  • First Alert: fault (Three chirps every minute, three green flashes)
  • FireAngel: end of life (Three rapid beeps and three yellow flashes every 60 seconds (FA6829S))
  • Ei Electronics: end of life (Three beeps and three yellow flashes every 48 seconds)
Two chirps, about every 48–60 seconds
  • Google Nest Protect: end of life (Two chirps every 60 seconds, “Nest Protect has expired”)
  • Ei Electronics: fault (Two chirps and two yellow flashes every 48 seconds)

By brand

What these pages cannot do

Left out, and why

Every brand on the list had at least 5 states documented on its own site, and none refused the fetch. These parts were left out:

Sources

Each brand’s own manuals and support pages only, read on the date shown.

Kidde

First Alert

FireAngel

Aico

Google Nest Protect

X-Sense

Ei Electronics