Investor · Narragansett, RI · Member since 2013 · 8k+ posts · 4k+ votes
Ok so I am stumped. I have a tenant complaining of a periodic beep in a 5 unit building. I can hear it, other tenants hear it occasionally but she hears it night and day every 15 to 45 minutes for like 1 second. The building has a fire lite MS-4 fire alarm but neither the inspector or the manual report this as an alarm this unit makes and the panel is green lighted. The emergency lights don't have a beeper and we have stood in front of the Verizon Fios boxes, septic alarm, Battery CO alarm and it wasn't coming from them. It doesn't seem to be in her apartment and when you sit in the front hall it seems to be referred to the upstairs but when you go upstairs it seems to be below you. What else can beep like this? None of the other tenants complain so I don't think it is coming from their apartments and she says it hasn't happened before. We are relatively new owners and put in a call to the old owner but I am open to suggestions.
Does anything in the tenants, or a neighbouring, apartment have a UPS? Do the smoke detectors with your fire system have battery backup? Are there any {tenant supplied} battery operated or batter-backup smoke or CO detectors?
Yes, UPS is a Uninterruptible Power Supply. Typically found on computers and communication equipment - such as the Fios ONCs to which you referred earlier. Many behave in a manner similar to a smoke or CO detector and emit a periodic warning "beep" when the battery begins to fail - the frequency may increase as the point of failure approaches.
If any tenant has a UPS on their computer {or video/stereo equipment}, or if you have any cable or telephony equipment on-site, it may have a UPS attached to keep it operational when the electrical service has an outage.
Any chance there was ceiling work done (ie-drop ceiling installed or a second layer of ceiling panels) that actually closed in a detector? Sounds silly but you never know.
Reminds me of the neighbor at my old rental unit who insisted we had a faulty alarm beeping in the semi-attached house. Turns out they had an old alarm stuffed in their own kitchen cabinets. Worth a laugh for sure !
I actually had that happen to me. An old drop ceiling was closed off and the guy left an old smoke detector in there. Took us an hour to find where the beeping was coming from.
No drop ceilings, they are all plaster. I just had a plasterer in but it started before he got there and I don't think anyone closed anything in. It is the first floor tenant complaining but you have reminded me I haven't been in the attic lately. There wasn't anything there and it doesn't make sense but at this point I am checking everything.
Ok so notice it is December.... the saga of the beep continues.
I had the fire alarm company out twice--nothing wrong with the system, no beep, they go away... tenant says it is beeping again.
So I have a locksmith there one day and jokingly tell him let me know if you hear a beep. I come back and he says there is a beep behind the TV so I look and tenant has a Verizon box that I thought was in the basement. I call her and say its your Verizon box. So she calls me back can I take the battery out of the box that is what the Verizon Fios person says has to be done....now I don't work for Verizon and it is not my cable but I happen to be onsite one day the next week and she still doesn't have it out so I help her remove it because even though the beep is driving her crazy she has waited a week.... Ok so no beep for a bit
Then she says it is beeping again.. I am going to pull my hair out and I can't hear this beep.. So now mind you I changed the smoke alarm and battery too. Anyway today, my husband goes down to troubleshoot another issue and there are a bunch of people standing in the apartment and they hear the beep and collectively they decided it came from smoke alarm. I am going to replace the thing again and see where that gets us... All I can think is it is a plot to make me crazier then I already am...
@Sean Kuhn we did that but last time was a swap, funny thing was that the unit that came out did not beep at us. This time we will get a new unit for her apartment and I hear I should also used some compressed air on the unit in case there is dust.Anyway we will see.
I would replace all the smoke detectors and the CO detector. If that does not work, I would tell the tenant it is their problem. Someone may be pranking your tenant. Bing annoy-a-tron
So after a lot of back and forth with this tenant including getting the quiet enjoyment clause taped to the smoke alarm by her when she new the fire inspection was she has moved. I tried everything to find this beep, fire alarm inspections , changing smoke detectors etc. I worried about renting an apartment with a mystery beep.
So here is what happened...
Now you remember that Verizon Fios box. The Verizon people said all she had to do was take the battery out. I had periodically said I think it is the Verizon box you need to talk to them again but what do I know. Well a week before she is going to move I am in the apartments. I have timed the beep it is like every 20-30 minutes. I go stand in front of her Verizon box and say lets just unplug this and see what happens ( there is a lot less in front of it now), no beep, an hour later I come back have your heard any beeps she says no but my phone doesn't work. Well that is because the box is unplugged. Well I need my phone ok but I bet if you plug it in the beep is going to come back again. Welll she plugs it and guess what it starts beeping so she decides she can live with it for a week. In any case the first thing I did when she left was unplug the darn thing. Silence....
@Colleen F. I'm sure you'll look back on this story and laugh some day! At least you got it solved (albeit after about 6 months). Maybe this story will make you feel better: my mother and I were staying in a hotel room together once in Las Vegas. We got to our room and heard a beep every 2 minutes; we assumed it was a smoke alarm and called hotel maintenance. They sent a guy up, we all hovered around it, he tried taking the battery out, ... just like you, listening to everything that was electronic, but still heard a beep every 2 minutes. Finally the guy asks my mom if she has a cell phone, she says yes, it's in her pocket. She pulls it out, and right on schedule, it beeps! Turns out she had a voicemail and it was set to beep to notify her, but we hadn't heard the beep earlier because we were in the casino. She was so embarrassed! Apologized to the maintenance guy profusely.