We take Oscar outside through the downstairs garage. First thing yesterday morning, I went out with him and there was a whining sound . . almost like an alarm of some kind. There’s a mechanical room off that garage and the inside a/c and heat unit is in there. The water heater and water softener are in there. I opened that door and the sound didn’t sound like it was coming from in there but it was hard to tell. I thought maybe it was a low salt alarm on the water softener but it wasn’t. I thought maybe it was something to do with the water heater but it didn’t seem to be. It was hard to tell what part of the garage the sound was coming from.
When Vince came down, I told him. He went out and couldn’t figure it out. He thought it was coming from a light fixture but that didn’t seem right because the light came on just fine and the sound was there even when the light was off but . . what do I know about that kind of stuff.
Vince thought maybe it was something we were hearing from upstairs. The kitchen and laundry room area are above the garage so we went up there and checked everything. Nothing.
It just whined all day. Thank goodness we couldn’t hear it inside the house.
Last night Vince got the ladder out and checked the light fixture he thought might be causing the sound but it wasn’t coming from there. I kept thinking it was coming from a box that hasn’t been unpacked but Vince kept thinking it was from something else.
Vince went to bed and the last time I went out with Oscar was about midnight. The alarm was still whining. I saw a screw on the floor and bent down to pick it up and when I did, I said “That sound is coming from something right here! I started moving boxes and as I got closer to the sound, I started opening boxes. The first one wasn’t it but the second one . . BINGO! It was an old carbon monoxide detector that I guess had just gone bad. I couldn’t figure out how to open it to get the batteries out. I woke Vince and said “Found it! But . . I can’t make it stop!” He got up and messed with it and asked me to take it upstairs and put it in the garage. I did. This morning when he got up, it was still going off and he still couldn’t figure out how to open it. He put it outside and hopefully, he’ll stick it in the trash.
I wasn’t worried about it really being a carbon monoxide problem because the gas we have in the house are two fireplaces and the oven and the alarm was nowhere near any of those (it was in the garage!) and alarms much closer to them were not going off.
It was such a mystery and we’d think we knew where it was coming from and we didn’t. Glad that’s solved!
Marie L. says
Maybe it is a low battery alarm. Some monitors have those.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
No. This is one that is supposed to last 10 years and you don’t change the battery on it. It’s one we’ve never used and it was manufactured three years ago. Vince called the company and they’re sending him a new one.
Marie L. says
Well, it was a thought.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
That was my first thought too but Vince told me no . . wasn’t the battery. I guess it probably was the battery but not something that should have gone bad.
BFromM says
The mysterious whining box!
Rebecca says
I hate unidentified noises! I can bear a lot more if I just know what it is, but probably not a whining alarm. Glad you found it.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Me too and I was so determined to find it. What’s funny is that I only heard it when I went out about 5:30 a.m. and then about midnight, I found it but when I went out this morning, I was expecting to hear it again and it seemed odd not hearing it.
Donna in KS says
I just recently worked at getting three clocks reset (darn daylight savings time) that are not in rooms that I’m in very often. But I thought ‘they just as well have the correct time’! The next morning, I awoke to a party going on in my house! That took a little hunting and couldn’t turn it off, so just turned the volume till I didn’t hear it. About 9 a.m., sitting in the kitchen finishing devotions, I hear such an intense blaring it would wake anybody, found the second culprit, in bed, midnight, almost asleep, and the third checked in. It still dings every night at midnight, but I don’t really hear it anymore! Darn DST and clock radios that I don’t know how to operate. But I can’t bring myself to toss ’em either. As soon as I can get a son or grandson over, he’s got a clock job!
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Did the powers that be ever decide if we can stop all the back and forth with the clocks? I think it wasn’t even going to happen for at least another year but I never heard if it passed or not.
Twyla says
Hope the garbage man doesn’t think it is a ticking bomb and call the police.lol
Glad you foound it. Both of my refrigerators have alarms that still have me looking for the noise sometimes.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
When Vince called the manufacturer, they told him about a little lever on the back that you pull up to silence it. I also was concerned about putting that noise in the trash can. I could see it on the news. In fact, I didn’t write the blog post til I knew he hadn’t put it in the trash with it making noise. I could see it on the news!