Your smoke detector’s beeping is supposed to protect you, not confuse you. Yet there are moments when a chirping alarm is a ...

When you move into or buy a new home, no one hands you a guide to how the smoke detectors work. They "chirp," which really means shriek loudly, and you occasionally have to put new batteries in them.

Smoke detectors (not just their batteries) have a temporary shelf life. Find out how long yours will last, and how to know it ...

We’ve all been there. It’s 2 a.m. and you hear an eardrum-piercing beep. Your first reaction is to cover your head with a pillow and pretend it never happened. Eventually the slow chirping takes ...