How to Choose a Smoke Detector

Depending on your situation and your preference, you can choose to go with a battery-operated detector or one that is hard-wired (AC-powered) to your electrical system. The important thing is that you have smoke detectors mounted in your living and work space.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Lithium Batteries
• Standard 9-volt Batteries
• Smoke Detectors
• Smoke Detectors
• AC-powered Smoke Detectors
• Combination Smoke/carbon Monoxide Detectors
• Lithium-powered Smoke Detectors

1. Decide if you want a battery-operated smoke detector or a detector that runs on electricity. AC-powered smoke detectors with battery backup are the most desirable smoke detectors to have. Lithium 10-year battery-powered detectors are the second-best choice. Regular 9-volt battery-powered detectors are the cheapest, but least desirable type of detector.

2. Keep in mind that building codes in most states require all new homes or additions to be equipped with hard-wired smoke detectors.

3. Know that all smoke detectors need to be tested monthly.

4. Change the batteries when you change your clocks - at the beginning of daylight-saving time in the spring, and again when returning to standard time in the fall.

5. Replace all smoke detectors after 10 years.

Tips & Warnings

• A good time to have smoke detectors hard-wired to your electricity system is during a home addition, or when a new home is being built.
• Consider purchasing a combination smoke/carbon monoxide detector for your home. They are more expensive, but well worth it.
• If a smoke detector goes off, you literally have seconds to respond. There is absolutely no time to gather possessions, pets and possibly even each other. Your best response is to leave the home immediately, gather at your prearranged meeting place and call 911 from a neighbor's home.
• Never go back into the house once you've escaped from a fire.
• Avoid getting any paint or dust on your smoke detector.
• Make sure that the smoke detector you choose has been tested by an independent testing laboratory.

[jull14]

on 6/25/2009 I found this article to be very interesting and helpful at the same time, we need more articles like this to help people all over, thanks for sharing. Excellent

on 11/22/2005 Most burglar alarm companies offer smoke detectors that are wired into and monitored through your security system. These operate 24 hours a day, and will send a signal to alert the fire department if they are sounded.

on 11/22/2005 If you have high cathedral ceilings and they have a battery back-up in the detector, consider having a 10 year battery installed when the detector is installed or plan on taking a chance on a high step ladder to change the battery annually.

on 11/22/2005 Speaking from the firefighting perspective, it is not only the type of detector you have, it is also the placement. If you have one detector at the top of your stairs, and the fire starts in the basement, you may have your escape route cut off before the detector activates. In many counties and cities, the codes are now requiring all new construction homes to have a detector in every bedroom. Make sure to especially have one in the master bedroom, and in children's rooms. Having one in the upstairs hallways, downstairs hallways, kitchen, foot of the basement stairs, and over the furnace is not a bad idea either. Incidentally, many new detectors come with a 10-30 minute cut off, so that if you are cooking, say, barbeque, and it keeps going off, you can silence it temporarily. Make sure, however, not to use it for anything other than known smoke producers. Don't just kill it at night. There could be a serious problem. And for the love of God, don't disconnect the detector, or cover it in plastic. That not only is a stupid way to get yourself into trouble, it may also be illegal. Insurance companies have been known not to pay people for damages if they find the detectors tampered with. If you have a fireplace, or any type of semi-permanent heating fixture (wood burning stove, heaters, etc.), put one there as well. If you purchase a battery-operated detector, you can place it next to the heater, and then remove it come spring when you no longer need the heater (though I'd try and leave it there). Also, having them is not enough. You must know what to do when they activate. Plan exit drills in your home, and practice them regularly. Make sure your kids know where to go, how to feel a door to make sure it's safe to go outside, etc. If you want more information, call or go down to the local firehouse. Ask them for any literature they have. Trust me, they'll be ecstatic you are being proactive, and will be sure to give you anything they can. In fact, in some localities, if you have just had a baby, or you simply inquire, they may give you a smoke detector for free. In my department, we will even come out and do a home inspection for you, and also install the detector, given it's of the battery type. For hardwired detectors, talk to any electrician or contractor. It is a relativly cheap way to save a lot of money later on, not to mention your life.

on 11/22/2005 We just had a small fire and our First Alerts with new batteries didn't go off. Had we been asleep, we would have lost EVERYTHING. The fireman had to blow two point-blank puffs of smoke at one to get it to go off! Know how well yours are working!!