Just before heading to bed my smoke detector gave out a couple of loud bleeps. Whatever it had detected wasn’t putting out all that much smoke. In fact, I couldn’t really smell anything myself.
The thing about smoke detectors is that you have to trust them. This one had a new battery only days old so I was pretty sure it wasn’t a problem with the detector. One thing for sure, I wasn’t going to go to bed until I found out what the problem was.
It took a while but eventually I found the culprit. A table lamp was malfunctioning. The bulb was still putting out the normal amount of light but the base of the lamp was too hot to touch. That ain’t normal, especially with energy efficient lights.
The lamp was shut down and unplugged. Windows were opened to air out the house. Only after an hour or so did I truly feel it was safe to go to bed.
Smoke detectors and especially carbon monoxide detectors are things you have to take seriously. For me they are in the same category as a compass. You have to trust the tool -not your hunches.
-Sixbears
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