I want to move a direct wired smoke detector-do I have to turn off the power to the entire house?
I am building a bookcase and it will be floor to ceiling. The smoke detector has to be removed and I want to go it to a different location in the room. Since it is direct wired, I am assuming that I have to shut off the power to the entire house since turning off the power to that room does not disarm the smoke detector! I also assume that I have to place a further box in the ceiling to connect the detector in it’s new location.
In the same room I have went three electrical outlets and a telephone line. They are all working fine. I know that I can go a smoke detector.
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you *should* turn the power off…
You asking this question tells me that you should not be doing electrical work of any kind.
since you dont know what breaker the detector is wired to, you must turn off all power. better safe than sorry
If you Don’t you may get a CHARGE….I don’t recommend YOU doing this job. Get Help
The hard wired detector circuit should be separate from everything else. See if the circuit breaker is labeled (or fuse). turn this breaker off and do the work. I had a small screwdriver that lights up (neon) to identify the "hot" line (usually the black wire). Once you are sure the circuit is dead, you can work. Hopefully the wire is long enough to reach the new location. If not you have more work ahead of you. If you have to splice the wire, do it inside the ancient box and place a cover on it. 14GA is the size you can use unless the system uses 12GA.