3 Things to Know About Smoke Detectors

11/25/2020 (Permalink)

Avoid severe fire damage to your West Hartford home by buying, installing and maintaining your smoke detectors the right way!

You know how important it is to have working smoke detectors in your West Hartford home. They give you and your family a fighting chance to escape a house fire. Unfortunately, because our home furnishings have become more flammable over the years, you actually have very little time to escape a fire: only 3 to 5 minutes!

So, while every one of us has cursed a chirping smoke alarm in the middle of the night, that annoying little device may just save your life. There are a few things to know about smoke detectors that will make them more effective—and hopefully, less irritating.

The Right Kind

Start by buying the right kind of detector. You’ll have a few choices to make:

• Battery or hardwired: The National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) recommends that your detectors are interconnected through wiring or a wireless signal. This way, if one alarm sounds, they will all sound, waking your family up throughout the house. In fact, new homes are required to have hardwired interconnected detectors with battery backup. The alternative is to buy battery-based detectors.
• Ionization or photoelectric sensor: Photoelectric sensors better detect smoldering fires, and ionization sensors better detect flames. The ideal is a dual-sensor smoke detector, which alerts you promptly to both kinds of fires. Or, you could invest in both kinds of detectors and install them throughout your house.
• With or without CO detector: You can buy dual-models that combine a smoke detector with a CO detector, or you can purchase each kind of detector.

The Right Place

Where you install your detectors makes a difference in their operation:

• Install a detector inside each bedroom and outside each sleeping area. There should be at least one detector on each floor of your home, including the basement.
• The detector should be installed on the wall, 12 inches or less from the ceiling.
• Keep detectors at least 10 feet from cooking appliances and 3 feet from bathrooms, to avoid false alarms from steam or cooking smoke.

The Right Upkeep

Maintaining your smoke detectors is essential to their effectiveness:

• Replace the batteries once a year, ideally when you change your clocks forward or back.
• A chirping detector is annoying, but it’s telling you to replace the battery or replace the entire unit. Don’t just unplug and ignore.
• Test all your smoke detectors each month. In case of failure, replace the battery or the whole unit.
• Replace all your detectors after 5–7 years for a combination smoke/CO detector or 10 years for a smoke-only model.

We’re Here for You

The team at SERVPRO of West Hartford has specialized training and experience in fire restoration and cleanup, as well as natural disaster and storm damage cleanup, water damage and mold remediation, and chemical and biohazard cleanup. Call SERVPRO of West Hartford (860.206.6141) any time.

If your home or business suffers damage from a fire, call SERVPRO of West Hartford today at 860.206.6141

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If your home or business suffers damage from a fire, call SERVPRO of West Hartford today at 860.206.6141