Muffling a fire alarm speaker?

Question

First off, this may or may not be legal, but seeing as this is in my own place of residence and it's bothering me a lot, I figured I'd ask.

I live in an apartment complex near my college. I have 2 smoke detectors in the living room/kitchen area and 1 in each of the 3 bedrooms.

In addition, there is a Simplex TrueAlert horn/strobe device on the living room wall. It is one of the loudest alarms I have ever heard, and it is completely unnecessary considering the smoke detectors are plenty loud on their own.

I have bad anxiety when it comes to anticipation of loud, unexpected noises and it's at the point where I'm not completely relaxed when I'm sitting in my own apartment living room anymore, because it could go off literally any time and the noise is god awful.

here's a picture of the alarm on the wall for reference:

Anyways I was wondering if there's anything I can put over the speaker grille to muffle the noise a little bit. My living room is pretty small so the noise has nowhere to go and is awfully loud.

Answer 1

I am a NICET Level IV Fire Alarm System & Life Safety Professional.

It is unlawful to taper with a life safety system! The horn/strobe in the living room to alert you when another section of the building outside of your apartment is on fire.!!!!

NFPA 72 Fire Alarm Code states that the horn should be 15 db above the ambient sound level of the space. The horn strobes come out of the box set to HIGH. It can legally be set to LOW by the fire alarm service company.

Removing the horn/strobe may cause a supervisory alarm on the fire alarm system. Many horn/strobes are connected to the same circuit. If you tamper with the device in your apartment, you could unknowingly open the circuit and render the remaining downstream horn/strobes useless and endangering the lives of your neighbors.

Ask the building management team to have it set to LOW. If its already on LOW then be thankful there are codes and technicians trying to save your life. If you can't deal with the potential loud life saving noise, then move to a low rise building with exterior entrances to units that doesn't require the same level of life safety systems.

Don't be the selfish person that tampered with a fire alarm system that 1. made the building less safe for other people living there 2. caused an expensive nuisance service issue for building management and the service company.

Answer 2

No. Your safety is worth more than you feeling anxiety. You have smoke alarms for your apartment but this one looks like it is hooked up to the building. Meaning if there were a fire somewhere else in the building you would be notified via this alarm.

You may think that this alarm is extremely loud if you are standing next to it but what if you are in the shower with a radio on? In college I had a similar alarm and showered right through a drill and had no idea. Also these alarms should go off maybe a couple of times a year so your anxiety should be only messed with for a few minutes a year at most.

If this doesn't convince you, then maybe saying that tampering with fire alarms is illegal and could be grounds to have you evicted.

Answer 3

I know this is really old. But I'm in an apartment with TWO of these alarms. One bedroom, one living room. It's unbearable. And there's the same alarms in the hallways and fire stairs. There's no way to miss any of them. There's trying to lower the volume so your ears aren't bleeding and there's tampering. Tampering imho would be doing something bad! like getting the cover off and messing with the works. Don't do that. Covering the speaker box to just muffle it a bit? I don't see that as tampering, I see it as trying to keep sanity, at least some. I've put foam board over the speakers in mine with duct tape. Easily removed, tape is not on the actual speakers, can definitely still hear them but my ptsd isn't set off quite as bad or as long with just quieting them down a bit.

Answer 4

The OP mentioned that there are smoke detectors tied to the system in both the living room and bedrooms, which will all sound at once if the building alarm is activated. I know what types of sounders they are, and I can say that they would definitely be loud enough on their own to wake anyone up. So I honestly can't see what great harm it would do muffle the horn with some duct tape or something - it's not like it would be rendered completely inaudible anyhow. I suppose it might technically be illegal, but are the powers that be really going to be so heartless as to fine or arrest you over this? At the most you could get a warning, and you could always try to appeal based on your condition.

Answer 5

Remember, the whole purpose of this alarm is to be heard through closed doors, earplugs, and sleeping pills, and to actively drive people out of the building before they are trapped by the fire and killed.

It is supposed to be too painful to ignore.

Let it do its job.

Answer 6

Maybe you can unscrew the face and unplug the speakers. I have a similar issue with my apartment complex - they've been "testing" them twice daily for the last 3 weeks and I'm starting to lose my mind as I've been on nights and need to sleep in my apartment. You know, the one I live in. I've called and complained and they don't care to move their testing to the mid afternoon, and as I have a high stress job and need all my faculties at work (I'm an anesthesiologist covering emergencies all night long with people on the verge of dying all the time), I need sleep, more than I want to be alerted if my apartment were on fire. In fact, if I got burned, maybe I would finally get a day off. Anyway, aside from that, I am considering putting some play dough or soft putty that's removable from the speaker. Mine doesn't have lights but you could probably tape over the strobe, or cover it with nail polish (and remove it later with nail polish remover. hehe). Good luck! Stay sane!

Answer 7

You could try squirting a little GREAT STUFF in there.

Because its illegal to do this, you'll have to make sure its not noticed by the super. Maybe paint the great stuff red afterward?