Maintaining Your Smoke Alarm

8/23/2023 (Permalink)

Smoke alarms are one of the most basic fire safety devices that are available to us.  They have been installed in almost every home and business across the board.  What a lot of people don't know though, is that even smoke alarms require a minimum amount of maintenance.  There are just a few things that the U.S. Fire Administration recommends to ensure that your smoke alarm is up to par.

1. Check your alarms monthly.
   
   
• Although some smoke alarms are self-testing, it is still recommended to manually test them once a month.  This can generally be done by holding down the button in the center of the alarm until it begins to beep.
2. Replace non-hardwired detectors batteries annually.
• The last thing you want is to find out that your smoke alarm's batteries are dead.  Chances are that by then, it would be a little too late.
3. Clean your detectors annually.
• Your average dust bunnies can, in fact, impede on your alarms performance.  Make sure to take the device off of the wall and see that it is sparkling and not sparking.

It may seem tedious to perform these tasks but it's important to make sure that your smoke alarms aren't being sabotaged.  After all, you probably don't want to be without warning if your home happens to catch fire while you're asleep. A few minutes of your time to ensure that things are working properly is well worth it when your assets are on the line.

Source: Safewise.com

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