Chirping noise every 32 seconds. FML

RMJ

Our house is now 4 years old and we have been the only inhabitants. Night before last the wife noticed a chirping sound upstairs. First thought was smoke detectors, which are mains powered with back up battery. So I removed the detectors and batteries with the circuit off at the breaker. There is still a Fucking chirping noise!! I've tried following it round the house and it seems to be loudest in the en suite bathroom. In fact it sounds like it's coming from a ceiling fan. As a last resort I turned off the master switch at the breaker...praying for silence. Nope...Still Fucking chirping!!! I've put my head in the attic and can heat it bit it's quieter up there. Could be under insulation but don't really know where to start.

What is fuckery can it be?! I won't be able to sleep with it going on. Thankfully it's much quieter in kids rooms. 

Any help welcomed!!

octatonic

Bird?

spark240

You wouldn’t have a quartz watch anywhere with alarm or low battery beeper?

otherwise It does sound like a smoke alarm job...

RMJ

octatonic said:

Bird?

It's every 32 seconds without fail. I've sat and timed the bastard. Can't be natural surely?

spark240 said:

You wouldn’t have a quartz watch anywhere with alarm or low battery beeper?

otherwise It does sound like a smoke alarm job...

Not that I can think of. How can it be the smoke alarm if I have disabled them and removed batteries. And shut power down to the house?

Paul_C

Google says: Try pressing "test" on the smoke detectors, some can still beep with power off and batteries out.

Try looking in drawers before ripping out the walls though - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-19921055

Paul_C

"something beeping every 30 seconds" seems to be pretty much always a smoke alarm judging by Google results

RMJ

Paul_C said:

Google says: Try pressing "test" on the smoke detectors, some can still beep with power off and batteries out.

Try looking in drawers before ripping out the walls though - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-19921055

I've had the detectors off and batteries out. I put them in a drawer downstairs while I went back upstairs. The chirping was still happening upstairs. It's not the detectors themselves...I'm positive of that. Could it be the circuit has some kind of residual charge causing the chirp even with power off to the house?

Either that or some builder twat has hidden one somewhere. We did make a lot of complaints when they were building XD

I did see that article! 

RMJ

Paul_C said:

"something beeping every 30 seconds" seems to be pretty much always a smoke alarm judging by Google results

Yep. I've done everything that everyone has recommended on those articles. 

octatonic

My Dad had this- it took him ages (as in about two days) to realise that it was a warning from his pacemaker (they do this when they are failing) but no one had told him about this.

He was literally about to start ripping walls apart, which could well have triggered a cardiac event and the pacemaker would have failed to save him.
He's fine now, thanks for asking.

francer

Could it be coming from a neighbouring property?

p90fool

I had something similar, it was a watch I'd forgotten about, buried in a pile of boxes in my garage. 

Jalapeno

It's a dying battery smoke alarm somewhere

RMJ

Jalapeno said:

It's a dying battery smoke alarm somewhere

How long do they take to die?!?!

RMJ

francer said:

Could it be coming from a neighbouring property?

Detatched

boogieman

RMJ said:

Jalapeno said:

It's a dying battery smoke alarm somewhere

How long do they take to die?!?!

Weeks. They start chirping when the voltage drops but it can take ages until the batteries completely die. 

Jalapeno

They take forever ....

We had an annoying chirping noise - turned out to be a dying smoke alarm in detached neighbour's loft inside a suitcase ! (They forgot it was in there when they moved in).

boogieman

You said you knocked off the breaker but have you tried turning off the main switch? If it carries on then it has to be summat with a battery in it. 

RMJ

boogieman said:

You said you knocked off the breaker but have you tried turning off the main switch? If it carries on then it has to be summat with a battery in it. 

Not tried that yet...good idea

gavin_axecaster

Could be a carbon-monoxide detector? Do you have a heater/boiler in/near the bathroom?

equalsql

Do you have a home alarm system? If so it could be a low battery indicator.

RMJ

gavin_axecaster said:

Could be a carbon-monoxide detector? Do you have a heater/boiler in/near the bathroom?

Yes but downstairs and well away from where the noise is strongest.

 equalsql said:

Do you have a home alarm system? If so it could be a low battery indicator.

Nope