Can You Unplug A Hardwired Smoke Detector

This video is about can you unplug a hardwired smoke detector to change the battery of for whatever reason. Note you should never leave it unplugged for your safety. Shut power off before attempting.
More on replacement smoke detectors
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These videos are created as educational and entertainment videos on this channel. In no case are we suggesting that you do your own electrical work without a proper license to do so. Please consult your local licensed tradesperson. Conquerall Electrical Ltd is liable for incorrect information, assumes no liability for damage or injury. Check with the inspection authority and building codes in your local area. Conquerall Electrical Ltd will not be held liable for any accidental damage, negligent or injury resulting from equipment, information, electrical, tools, fire, recommended products or any items contained in this video.

[@minceyzenia]

Beeping would not stop while I was trying to sleep. Unplugged and threw it in my basement. Will revisit when I have a fire.

[@saramatthews7159]

Lol

[@Kela552]

😂

[@ChericeLPrice]

😂😂😂

[@TheSimpleWaywithDelila]

🤣🤣

[@petrakauppinen1880]

😅😅

[@Vivuvuvj]

Fire alarms seem to alert to anything but a fire very interesting product

[@kawaiikittle2907]

You are a sleep saver. Stupid thing kept loud beeping randomly. Replaced batteries and even shut off all power and drained it of energy to reset it and still went off for no reason. Sometimes it was 3 loud beeps or 2 just randomly. Need to replace it but didn't want it to keep beeping until I got a new one. I spent hours trying to troubleshoot it. Waking me up at midnight was the final straw, the sound of it dying as I unhooked it was satisfying

[@smakcanada]

Thank you! I changed batteries in all 5 units: smoke and Co. I turned off power and drained any residual power (I won’t tell you how long it took to find the breaker), I cleaned the beeping unit with a can of whatever that pressurized stuff is you use to clean dust out of computers and sewing machines), I took the batteries out and tested each of them: all good, AND STILL THE THING WOULDN’T STOP BEEPING. I live in a ‘new’ house. Alarms are 6 years old. Supposed to last till 2026 - 4 years from now. So, at 11:30 pm I finally started searching KZbin and found your video. By 11:45 peace ruled! Thank you!

[@heathred4526]

I live in an apartment and the circuit breaker is outside (it’s 4am), so this video saved me in a pinch when my alarm started beeping intermittently in the middle of the night. Thank you

[@user-iy6rm6pm4j]

OMG! Silence is the most beautiful sound in life! I always keep a spare battery-powered detector so I'm safe until the super can replace the hard-wired one.

[@oguyo7458]

I’ve been up until 1:18 at night trying to figure this thing out. Thank you so much for this video 🙏 Now I can finally sleep

[@summerblairh]

Thank you so much!! My connector would not move when I tried pulling. Pliers saved me!!!

[@amazingsupergirl7125]

Finally a video of my exact detector showing the unplug and replug. Thank u!

[@helenlyman7142]

Very clear. Very helpful. Thank you! Hallway smoke detector began beeping Sunday afternoon and wouldn't stop as it used to. Hush button didn't work. Tested battery: Good. I thought I could solve the problem with your tips and pictures, but now it was dark and I couldn't see to unplug it. Bottom line: Got up Monday morning, waited for daylight, threw the switchbox lights off and removed the detector as video directed. Problem solved. Editorial: I lost sleep, got up cranky, incessant beeping still on. I got bad memories of smoke detector beeping and screaming for no reason. There is a second functioning detector in the bedroom. I don't see good reason to replace hallway detector. House is a 1000-sf single-story, no smokers, no children, two doors for escape, resident mobile with good hearing.

[@mindfulbynature3418]

You can/should use non-hard-wired smoke detectors, AND very importantly, carbon monoxide detectors as well. That way you'll still be safe but be able to easily stop the beeping if you need to.

[@hollykeller1545]

You saved our butts - our hearing at least! We had 7 hardwired smoke alarms go off together tonight - the noise was maddening! I pulled up your video via Google and right away Hubby knew what to do - 7 times! We also have 3 battery operated fire alarms and they did not go off. No signs of smoke or fire. Geeze that was torture. Anyway, thanks‼️

[@sharonshom8546]

It's 12:30am and damn smoke detector kept beeping even after changing battery 2 times and buying fresh pack! Luckily found conquerall electrical channel. UNPLUGGED! Thank you!! :)

[@watteau6646]

Thank you for demystifying these terrifying apparatuses!

[@jesusdiaz5008]

Excellent, very informative and straight to the point. Thanks a bunch! God bless.

[@reneluna249]

If these are plugged in why do they need a damn battery for

[@EonTheBeast05]

Incase a fire knocks out the power if it’s an electrical fire

[@libnatty1862]

Thanks a bunch! My is over a bunk bed and got up there after testing all of the smoke detectors in the house. Come to find out the battery compartment on the side was open. Thank God it was a simple fix. Kids probably were playing with it. Guess i need to change the location of the bunkbed.

[@Neddy0911]

This saved me, I could not figure out how to get it unplugged from the ceiling. Thank you!!!

[@hellochels5077]

Thank you!!! This was so useful. I changed the batteries in mine but it wouldn't stop beeping so I had to unplug it. Shocked me when I did and it started beeping continously at me until I took the batteries out! 😅

[@Inespascale]

I just did the same thing would not stop beeping after pressing so hard the reset button I eventually broke it I removed the battery still beeping so I had to unscrew the yellow cap that covers the cable and bam sparks so hard that I almost felt from the table that I was standing on and eventually the power went off... luckily I was able to restart the power back other wise I couldn't have gone to sleep mind you it is midnight and my place so hot and I was sweating so hard from the struggle with trying to stop it from beeping AC on now thank God I can sleep in peace 😅

[@deannatsang]

This was SUPER helpful - so easy to unplug. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!! I appreciate you so much!!!!!!! 😃😃😃 I had 2 "new" batteries in the closet but have had them for awhile (not sure how long) - so maybe they expired because neither one of them would shut the alarm up. That beeping is the most annoying sound EVER. Now I need to go buy a new battery from the store. My bunny and I are sooooooo grateful for the silence in the meantime. THANKS AGAIN, you are my hero lol 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@barbodell]

Awesome! Exactly what I needed to know! I subscribed because of this video.

[@mirandarussell1151]

Thank you so much! It’s currently 2:30am and I couldn’t figure out how to shut up the chirping.

[@PJump]

ty saved me from a lot on noisy headaches.

[@larrylinder624]

You are awesome. My electrical knowledge can be summarized on the back of a small business card, but I easily understood your demonstration of how to disconnect a hardwired smoke detector. Thank you so much. (my older daughter ,whose bedroom is adjacent to the room with the beeping detector, is autistic AND has super hearing, woke me up at 6 a.m. to complain about the noise.) Your advice possibly prevented a domestic violence incident, lol.

[@sharonbrookes]

Great video, thanks. One of my smoke detectors is 16' high so impossible for me to change the battery or test the unit. If I unplug the connector at the back, as in the video, can I leave that connector in the wall and put a wall plate over the hole, and move the smoke detector to a different wall that I can reach?

[@dreapets5]

Unplugging of battery from back of smoke detector was was very helpful at 3:30 am 👏

[@MarcoJaramillo]

Thanks. My alarm was driving me crazy

[@bacon81]

Thanks for the great video 👍🏽

[@ralph3538]

Just moved into a house that’s gas. Old owners must have used plug in co2 detectors because I’m only seeing wired smoke detectors in Ceiling. We were given mounted battery co2/smoke detectors as a gift. Can I tuck wire harness and everything back in ceiling and just replace mounting bracket and cover that with non wired co2/ smoke detectors?

[@MrPeeveeto]

Thank you for the video. After you remove the smoke detector (and won't be replacing it for now) is it safe to tuck the plug/connector and wires back up into the ceiling so we can put the nonworking detector back on without connecting it?

[@tracydecker-hn4sf]

Mines been going off for last three hours. No fire!!! Ever!! And its connected to 2 Others in a space of maybe 15 feet. Thank you. Maintenance won't fix it. So I'm dismantling the psychotic thing!

[@nancydrew5]

Thank you short straight to the point.

[@splitdragon3004]

If you live in a complex is it safe to unplug without turning off the circuit? Mine goes off randomly and my building won’t fix it so I need to change the battery myself

[@rgmgFetch]

Thanks dawg worked great

[@MeMe-in8tj]

I am replacing our bedroom's wired (wired along with 6 others thru-out the house) smoke detector with a better non-wired standalone detector. I am keeping the other 6 wired detectors. After I unplug the bedroom detector and take the battery out, will that trigger the other 6 remaining ones to make chirping sounds?

[@howiehagen8324]

After several weeks of thinking im going crazy i finally found a smoke alarm behind the drywall. It looks like the contractor finished the room, realized they needed ac, placed a vent below the first finished ceiling and finished it a second time, leaving a smoke detector behind. I finally accessed it and replaced the battery to stop the beeping but my question is whether i should lower the detector to the external drywall so that its functional and accessible or if i can completely remove it without affecting the other detectors. It is 120v hardwired and connected to the rest of the house.

[@magencornelius_]

ALL of my alarms are down because they ALL started going off one night. I live in Texas so it happened the week we had the week long deep freeze where everyone but Epcot was stranded. I have 8 alarms in my house but only one is different and looks like the one you have on hand. We tried replacing batteries and they all still go off. I replaced the entire alarm and gave it a new battery that did not come with the packaging. And at 4am it started going off again. Suggestions?

[@NeptuneWild369]

Thank you!

[@theupsidetv2007]

Thank you soooo much!! I subscribed.

[@karenmccants1439]

It's 4:00 am in the morning and the damn smoke alarm keeps going off--did not need a new battery, but I guess there's some kind of electrical issue causing it to go off every half hour...anyway, your video saved my sanity. Thanks 🙏🏽 Now I'm going to try to sleep. 😭😭

[@djunius]

Hey there...variation on this in another post: if I unplug the hard wire, can I leave unconnected and have the backup battery supply the power? If taken off hard wire, will the detector work independently so it doesn't set off the whole house? Thanks!

[@liarth]

Excelent video. How long the battery support the detector without AC power ? Thanks in advanced.

[@JackDaniels1301]

Very helpful

[@sagemodeshana2585]

It’s 4:30 am and the stupid thing won’t stop going off even after removed the battery. Just turned the power breaker off bc I couldn’t disconnect for some reason. I can finally get some sleep thank you

[@cuteface9693]

You are a sleep saver thanks a lot

[@indiakxoxo]

Thank you 😊

[@rezyl102]

Canadian wildfire smoke is setting mine off, and I’m in NC.

[@kacerislofton715]

Thank you so much. Definitely subscribed

[@n8ivjayhawk]

Thank you!!!!

[@Anglynn74]

Mine is on the ceiling in my apt, keeps beeping every 20 seconds & saying low battery. Tried putting new batteries in but same thing. It's a Kidde alarm with Kidde batteries. My ceilings are high took me a ladder to do it but I can't figure out how to silence it, put new batteries in but it still does it

[@smakcanada]

Btw the 6 year old beeper is a BRK Optipath 360, a $150. detector.

[@honoluluwindow2317]

Why is my wiring harness chirping with no smoke detector anywhere near it?

[@xxtwobitxx]

Mine just keeps beeping 3 times, I changed the battery so I'm guessing it's faulty. And the smoke detector itself is 7 years old. Can I unplug the connector and swap it with power on?

[@beecolon9669]

Thank you! The Internet is still great sometimes

[@b24k11]

What if the beeping is coming from behind the wires?

[@Fredengle]

so will you tell me it would definitely be dangerous if I cant cut the power to make an adjustment so if I were to try to screw in a new mounting base do you think it could be possible that its risky that I could touch a live wire ? I mean the box does have component that could be dangerous if not dengerized ? also maybe the other issue of this as a diy project is if you make a mistake it does not mean it would be easy to find a remedy ? I mean if something unexpected happens I guess one way of looking at it is you can be certain it will not be coverd by your insurance I mean I think we need a shower valve replaced should have been easy but they had to make an emergency adjustment something unexpectedly went wrong and it could not get an easy remedy maybe having an unexpected electrical problem could be dangerous I guess the way to say it is thing that should be easy could become difficult if something unexpected happens than it would be harder to fix?

[@farmerjoe8508]

Mine looks just like that, but wouldn’t budge while pulling. Ended up needing to use a flathead to hold down a clip while pulling, then the harness unclipped.

[@mlinecomposites1]

Yeah same I’m struggling to push down and pull out, it’s stuck

[@Viciouslady]

Thank you! I can finally sleep in my room!!!

[@sh2697]

can We just use the battery or it has to be hard wired

[@tao265]

I had my detectors go off tonight at midnight. Most likely because my heat came on. I unplugged two of them and the alarm did not stop! Is there an alarm up in the drywall? Help!

[@ginaginasharon]

I have done this a couple of times. I have one that is chirping and I can't pull it off - it doesn't budge! Is there a secret?

[@Phavahg]

Good video! I am replacing one that has gotten too old. When I took it off and took the battery out of it something inside the socket continues to beep once a minute. It's definitely not the smoke detector that's been taken away it's not even in the house anymore. What is making it beep? The circuit breaker is off.

[@hollywood5703]

👽

[@parisbest105]

Look

[@GobSmack-cv6vx]

i detached the smoke detector off the ceiling, but the chirping is coming off the base in the ceiling. Is that possible?

[@reflection_8_]

This was such an easy fix getting a new one tomorrow 😂😂😂

[@1neomonkey]

Thanks Hawkeye.

[@ethanluttrell]

Mine goes off every time we use the over, its about to get unplugged bc im not listening that every day and i need my oven

[@crewanderson7508]

Y’all have it easy , mine has this plastic connector part that has ridges in the slide to help lock it in and it is impossible to separate, can’t believe every vid on KZbin only has this connector that is shown in this vid

[@edwardguglich3792]

Why does it still beep after main is turned off

[@hollywood5703]

I have 7 detectors, 4 upstairs, 3 down. Six are hardwired, and I’m concerned if they all go off how do I know which one triggered them.

[@conquerallelectrical]

If they have battery back ups then replace all the batteries at the same time. If they do not take them down and and blow out any dust. If that doesn’t work then I think you will be into replacing them all unfortunately.

[@brandonbutchart5576]

My hardwird smoke alarm goes off for 10 seconds every time my power goes out what does that mean??

[@patriciacorreia7647]

Just unplugged the one in my babies room (it’s 1 AM here) tysm

[@heimrheljar]

How hard do you pull to unplug it? I feel like if I pull any harder I’m going to break it

[@summerblairh]

I had to use pliers because mine would not budge when I tried with my fingers!

[@robertserrato3596]

I've had a hard-wired smoke detector connected since the house was built in 1995. Didn't know these things had batteries. I'm sure the batteries have already gone out. I would rather just disconnect it and then put the unit back on and install a new one next to it that's not hardwired.

[@aztecwarrior9729]

How weird that you posted this video after I suffered and had to learn how replaced the unit. Then I posted a video about it because there was nothing on KZbin. You missed the part when it's a hassle to unplug it- not all alarms come off that easily.

[@deborahmoore804]

Thank you for the info. I was getting 5 beeps which means the end of life for my detector. Your video was very helpful

[@chrissmith7249]

Having this problem now. I’m trying to unplug it but it’s not coming out. Anybody else have this issue?

[@d.gerstmann4930]

Mine doesn't have that. Mine is locked into place. Can't access the wires the same way without a special tool.

[@makiabraa9285]

Same

[@mariomunoz8107]

No

[@KekeDaPlum]

Same

[@hollywood5703]

Crazy! I’d make it a priority to have an electrician wire it correctly and get a NEW one.

[@zacharyschaub6]

I unplugged it

[@laurenelizabethlewis2313]

thank you so much 22 year old girl who lives alone😭 i would not have known to turn all the power off this probably saved me😂 im about to try to take it off so i will update!

[@user-ih4fd9sf8x]

What happened

[@melmelbry5754]

Mine wont twist off! It doesnt move at all

[@addii8464]

thank youuuu oh my god this damn thing goes off for no reason i swear 🤦🏼‍♀️

[@scottalbrecht6937]

Those things are hard to unplug!

[@marrks]

i’m having an impossible time plugging it back in after replacing the battery

[@user-rn5kg5py5i]

My still is beeping after disconnecting???? Help please!!! Battery out & disconnected! Still beeping!! My animals are freaked out & no sleep in house for 3 days…

[@boredweegie553]

switched it off at the mains and still.chirping

[@HarperIsHere]

I love you.

[@oldandy1645]

OUN'H HUR NUFFIN'!

[@salehmansour1]

Thanks. I unplug them only when cooking steak

[@lgpjae]

I try to unplug it from the wall and the whole house starts beeping like an alarm

[@mrsleannejh]

I am a single woman, and it’s late at night, my smoke detector has been intermittently chirping, and now it is chirping frequently. I took the battery out and it is still chirping. What’s up?

[@honoluluwindow2317]

I removed mine years ago. Now there’s a chirp coming from the ceiling, I have no idea how and no one has posted a similar issue yet?

[@carsonogenxcarson9234]

Mine won’t unplug no matter how hard I pull on it

[@rapitoguapito]

They couldnt have implemented a power source for a wired system🤦‍♂️

[@Avalonsarrt]

Can you come and change mine for me lol

[@guwop._5825]

It’s not even this easy

[@aero_nwa]

It’s too early for this

[@kristenkubasti8215]

mine doesn’t have a battery I also unplugged it and it’s still beeping?! how do I make it stop until I can replace it? 😭😭

[@honoluluwindow2317]

Hmmm silence.. exactly. No one knows smh

[@thebigkapowski]

You need to drain the residual electricity in the alarm. Once it's unplugged and the battery is out, press and hold the test button until it is silent. There is another video I just watched on this. The alarms hold some residual for awhile, which can cause it to still beep.

[@MarcoMercado-ps1yl]

Try a sledgehammer

[@Noseynancy]

This didn’t work for me. I can’t get the damn wires off!!!$

[@tranpham3106]

Even if I unplug it still go off beep every 5 mins I can't sleep at night bc of this

[@conquerallelectrical]

It should have a nine volt battery that needs to be removed. If that still doesn’t work then it will need to be replaced.

[@KatWoodland]

That happened to me and I put mine in the freezer. it had a lithium battery and I couldn’t figure out how to open the damn thing. I finally had to throw it onto a cement floor and it popped open so I could take out the battery. The loud shrilling almost deafened me.

[@KatWoodland]

@@conquerallelectrical I should have become an electrician. I changed the battery but the thing still chirps and I’m dog sitting and I don’t on the house. your video is great because it’s the exact same model as the people. I didn’t know you could just pull out the wires; I didn’t wanna break anything.

[@honoluluwindow2317]

@@conquerallelectricalI took out three detectors about two years ago, put them in the trash. Now I get chirping from inside the ceiling somewhere. I have no idea why since there’s no detector in that room.

[@honoluluwindow2317]

My son found an old one in the closet SMDH

[@hrhbear]

if a smoke detector is hard wired why does it need a battery?

[@Airbus_A.320]

Bro really needs a three minute video just to show how to unplug a smoke alarm

[@rubberchicken5670]

Disconnect all of them. Smoke detectors are overrated.