hard wired smoke detectors going OFF (not chirping) randomly

Question

I rent, and in the last year I have been here, twice, the smoke detector in the living room has started blaring with no smoke or cooking going on. For like 15 seconds, then shuts up. In the daytime. Weird but OK.

Last night at 1 AM both the LR and my bedroom smoke detectors start blaring for like 30 seconds (they are about 6 feet apart). Then shut up. Then start AGAIN. Then shut up. Then do it a third time. Then quiet the rest of the night. There is a separate CO2 detector on the stairs, I checked that and it was at zero.

What could be causing this? I have a private landlord, not property management, and he tends to be very passive and not wanting to do anything (told me to pour vinegar down the toilet when the main drain was completely blocked).

To be clear, it had been hours since I cooked, I don't smoke, use incense, vape, or anything like that.

ETA- I got at both of them to clean them with compressed air. One in the bedroom is hard wired, one in the livingroom is battery only. Bizarre.

Answer 1

Smoke detectors are of two types: Ionization and Photoelectric.

Ionization detectors detect particles that have changed while going through the detector. They are good at seeing the early products of a fire. Photoelectric sees particles. They detect the burning particles of a fire in progress.

Your detector is probably an ionization type. They go off when there is something in the air that doesn't make sense. Like water vapor. It's annoying, especially if the detector is close to a bathroom.

Your only option is to either replace the unit with a new one or a photoelectric type.