The Joys of Smoke Detectors

Alright, so I'm on night #2 of 3 - 4 hours of sleep. So if the below ramblings make zero sense, that's my reason and I'm sticking to it.

So we have the First Alert fire detection system at our house. It's a fairly new house, totally under warranty (thank God), and so the builder will hopefully be able to help rectify the issue.

We have a combined smoke/co2 detector system. It's wired with AC and linked so that when one goes off, they all go off. And these things are loud enough to wake the neighbors down the street. First night, they went off and alerted that there was a co2 buildup in the basement. I got everyone out of the house and called the fire department.

They found absolutely no trace of co2. Zero ppm. We shook hands at 2:00am and they left, we went back to sleep. The next night, same thing. I disconnected the detectors in the basement, and started walking back up the stairs when the detector at the top of the basement flight tripped. I took that one off too. They stayed off the rest of the night.

This morning, one of the ones in the upstairs area went off. I took it off as well, and after driving the dog to a playgroup so she could settle down a bit I came back home and have been testing these things all day. Here's what I found:

Not a single one of them tests properly. According to the manuals for the two different types of units we have, there should be a definitive set of flashing lights and horns each time I test a unit. Every single unit responds differently to the test. I've called the builder and he's also clueless. So my next step is to call the alarm company and see what they say.

This wasn't really a question, mostly just a vent and gripe and a general curiosity of whether anyone else has had similar problems.