replacing smoke alarms?

my smoke alarm keeps going off. It happens like every 5-10min and no these are not juss little beeps that its making for me to change the battery. I need to know how to disconnect, so that i can replace my hard wired smoke alarm of course its battery backup. So do i just take the battery out, twist the smoke alarm and just cuz the wires and thats that?

Public Comments

1. You should hire an electrician to replace dis-functioning, hard-wired smoke alarms. The thing is that by the time you need to replace or repair the alarm, the available technology is better and cheaper. Personally, I don't have money for an electrician, so I disconnected my hard-wire one and replaced it with two battery operated ones that are a combination of smoke/fire/carbon monoxide. The total cost for this more up-to-date technology was $86. Well worth the peace of mind!
2. Before you attempt to cut wires -- be absolutely sure the power is turned off to the unit. Turn off that room's power at the breaker box, and then use a tester to be sure that there is no electricity live in the wires. After you disconnect the wires, put a wire nut (twist on cap with a spring in it) on the end. This will keep the loose ends from making an electrical connection or causing a fire. Then, replace the smoke detector right away. Every day, people lose their lives because a smoke detector was removed or disconnected.
3. Nope. Don't even think about doing that. Replace the defective unit with a new one. Call an electrician if you can't figure out how to do it. Many calls I get for this problem is a loose wire harness inside the unit. Or a bad unit.