So I bumped my pump a couple of times while mowing yesterday, then raked some leaves. Got in the house and heard a strange squealing sound. First thought is whether Ancient Harley is okay, next is if a smoke alarm has gone off. Then I realize it’s ME!! I finally get the Pod off and can’t get it to shut off!! Argh! So after I got the new pump running, I go to the garage and SMASH that sucker with a mallet! Ever so satisfying! 
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That’s hilarious! Probably a lot of fun too!
But how come the deactivate pod didn’t work?
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Dunno but…it was FUN!
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Sometimes the pods “scream” and can’t be deactivated by the PDM.
I’ve had it happen too many times, lol.
There is a hole under the tape that you punch with a paperclip (or something similar - I’ve used a lancet) to stop it.
Here’s a video I came across on youtube:
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My CDE shared that trick with me but I guess I was not in the mood to finesse it! 
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I have never had an alarm that could not be stopped with the PDM. What circumstances can lead to that? (I guess a dead PDM, of course. But is there anything else?)
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So many of life’s problems can be solved with a mallet! 
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I remember early on with podding I had a pod failure that the scream couldn’t be silenced by the PDM and I think it cited communication failure/inadequate signal/something I’m not remembering. I had the pod right next to the PDM but it wouldn’t communicate to shut it off. I chucked it into the woods as hard as I could behind my house. I am not usually a litterbug but I was also pretty P-O’d at the time.
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I got the pod scream of death on Day 1 of my pod on Thursday, 10 minutes after our movers arrived and I was briefing them on the overview of the project. My husband heard it and was like, “Seriously? Right now? You haven’t bumped it on anything? Does it know you’re busy and that’s why it dies?”
I had another pod death Sunday night…but I was already 8 hours into the 12 hour grace period so I didn’t care about that one.
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Yeah, that makes sense. The PDM is unable to communicate and tell the pod to shut-up!
I’ve never had that.
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Isn’t it an 8-hour grace period? Therefore you were at the end of the pod’s life, no extensions allowed. But you can still turn that alarm off, right?
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Well, that would be funny! Mystery Solved, LOL!
I was getting the warning beeps about every hour or fifteen minutes…and then I got the official flatline Pod Scream of Death. I did silence the Scream of Death and then promptly changed it.
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I second the communication failure. And Insulet couldn’t tell us why. We’ve also had the PDM fail and need a hard reset, which wouldn’t let the pod be silenced. I suspect that when we told the new pod to activate we were too far away from the PDM.
I used a vice grip once to smash it. That didn’t work! Switched to a hammer. And yes, it was satisfying.
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Your pods wouldn’t dare misbehave that way!
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Along with communication, occlusion is another reason. I had too many of them (screamers) and finally realized, although I was rotating around my belly, I needed to use other sites. …knockonwood… I haven’t had a screamer since I left my belly …knockonwood…
@CatLady and @TravelingOn I can definitely appreciate your satisfaction in taking a hammer to silence a screaming pod! It is unbelievably loud and high-pitched, and it happens at the absolute worst times, as @T1Allison says! I think the worst time for me was when I was in the final stages of Thanksgiving Day dinner and everyone had to wait for me (chief cook and bottle washer) to take care of the pod!
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@Catlady, how hilarious!
@Eric, we have also dealt with one screamer. That happened after 72 + 8 hours. The PDM was OK (since it worked perfectly with the next pod), but it also gave us a comm error. We deactivated the pod with the usual paperclip.
I am guessing the problem is on the pod side most every time, otherwise we would see problems with upcoming pods.
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But doesn’t an occlusion allow you to silence it with the PDM? If you deactivate the pod, doesn’t that silence it right away?
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No, unfortunately, the PDM did not silence it. The first, second, third, fourth,… times it happened I had to call into OmniPod for help - with both occlusion and communication problems. Although I had pulled the back off plenty of times to silence it, when the PDM did not, I couldn’t find the darn hold to punch. I was very grateful when I found the youtube video and have shared it a few times.
…knockonwood… I don’t have any more problems …knockonwood…
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The PDM should silence it, according to the User Guide. When you talked to Omnipod, could they say why your occlusion alarms couldn’t be stopped?
I didn’t ask that question. Here’s hoping I don’t need to ask that question in the future!
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