Overheard a customer say 'it's just a beep' when their low battery chirp started

I was finishing up a panel swap in a condo yesterday and the homeowner said that to her husband. She meant the low battery alert on their old smoke detector wasn't a big deal. It got me thinking, that's exactly why people ignore warnings until it's too late. I took five extra minutes to show them how a single chirp can mean a sensor is offline or the system is in trouble. Last year, a house two streets over had a break in because their cell backup failed from a dead battery they ignored for months. How do you guys make sure customers actually listen to those little alerts?

3 comments

3 Comments

hayes.joel1mo ago

Remember my buddy who lost his whole freezer because he ignored a low temp alarm?

rileyb6126d ago

That reminds me of the time I ignored my car's low tire pressure light for about three months. Kept telling myself it was just a sensor glitch and the tires looked fine from where I was standing. Eventually the light stopped coming on and I thought I had won, turns out the tire was just completely flat by then. Had to get towed to the shop and the guy was like "yeah, you drove on this thing for a while huh." The shame was real.

sandraflores1mo ago

Oh man, "it's just a beep" is the famous last words of home maintenance. Right up there with "that small drip is fine" right before the ceiling caves in. People treat their smoke alarm like a car's check engine light, just a weird noise to live with until the real fire starts. My neighbor did the same thing, let it chirp for a solid month because it was "annoying but not urgent." The urgent part comes when the power goes out and the thing is totally silent.