Alarm farm maintenance
Around our house, in the corners of certain rooms, we have some pretty interesting technology. Most of the time we forget there there. Until there is a power fire alarm or power failure when we hear them. Alarms. Now the smoke detectors get a lot of attention because they’re very loud. But there are others almost as important that we notice only when they break. In this case small battery boxes that’s served to keep gadgets running when the power is out. It does not happen very often so they fall off our radar. Until they get to the end of their useful life. There has been one, downstairs, behind the door. Farthest from the life centre of the house that when the alarm finally goes off it can be missed for days at a time. In fact, it was only because I went to the basement that I found one of them. What is that strange sound? Is there a mosquito trapped somewhere in the house? Now although gadgets can be fixed, apparently, it is much simpler to bring up Amazon and purchase a replacement. When a UPS becomes U/S, you bring it to the local recycling centre. I have no idea what happens after that. There was a time when I would have been tasked to purchase new batteries and do the fixes. Not worth my time anymore. Turns out that their replacement battery costs about the same as a whole replacement unit. An economic model that leaves me puzzled. What would happen if we simply did not bother with the units? A computer that needs be restarted? That happens anyways because when you unplug the computer from a UPS you have to restart. It also does not help that each company uses their own alarm system. Does it beep? Is it a single tone? Are there flashing lights? This most recent one should be replaced by next week. And then I will go back to normal mode. Waiting for the next one to give up. I imagine that my parents had no idea about such things when they were my age. Even my children are oblivious to the devices. But for a while I worked around a lot of important computers and every alarm sound was treated as the most obvious and necessary moment of the working day. I am glad that my other computers don’t have this problem. At least, as far as I know. And As for all the other appliances around the house I’m going to go with experience. I have never heard the stove give off such an alarm.
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