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Home Safety

Home Safety

Protect your family with eHow’s home safety tips, and sleep easier at night. Keep loved ones secure with advice on buying and installing a home alarm system, smoke detectors and carbon monoxide sensors. Learn to burglar-proof a house and install a safe, too. Is tornado or hurricane season on the way? Get tips on preparing your house for high winds. eHow even has suggestions for planning an escape route in case of any home emergency.

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Showing 1-50 of 223 results

  • How to Clean a Ion Smoke Detector

    The alarms in ionization smoke detectors operate through an electrical current constantly running between two plates inside the devices. If smoke interrupts the current, an alarm sounds to alert...

  • Fire Alarm Systems Basics

    Fire alarm systems are essential for any home or business. Fire alarms detect smoke and heat using various types of technology. An alarm then sounds to alert a building's occupants of any...

  • How to Test a Heat Alarm

    You awake one night to the suffocating smell of smoke emanating from somewhere in your home. Tired and confused, you are not sure whether there is a fire or not; the smoke detector is beeping but...

  • How to Do a Fire Safety Risk Assessment in Your Home

    Have you ever done a fire safety risk assessment in your home? If you haven't, then you can learn to do a fire safety assessment right now. Please don't ignore this information because learning...

  • How to Fix a Smoke Detector That Keeps Alarming

    Most smoke detectors emitting false alarms do so because of improper placement near environmental factors that trip the internal sensors. Fixing the problem requires better smoke detector...

  • How to Stop Smoke Detector Flase Alrams

    A number of everyday household activities and circumstances trigger false alarms in smoke detectors. Properly plotting installation locations for these life-saving devices keeps smoke detectors...

  • How to Plan a Zoned Security System

    Security systems use zones to monitor security devices. To correctly install a security system you must plan for the zones your system will use. Hardwired systems may have only six zones while...

  • How to Stop False Alarms on a Smoke Detector

    Several factors cause false alarms in smoke detectors. Careful planning and positioning of smoke alarms prevent most such nuisances. The two main types of smoke detectors on the...

  • How to Properly install a Smoke Detector in your home

    Installing a home smoke detector is a very wise decision. If a fire happens in your home it can alert you and your family to the danger and possibly save your life. Although mounting the...

  • How to Wall Mount a Smoke Detector

    Fires in the home kill approximately 4,000 people each year. According to a John Hopkins University study 75 percent of those people could have been saved if their homes had working smoke...

  • Building Department Rules for Fire Alarms

    Building departments nationwide have differing rules for smoke alarms. However, the National Fire Protection Association's Standard 72 is widely accepted as being the national fire code, and local...

  • How to Wire First Alert Smoke Alarms

    Wiring smoke alarms is slightly different depending on whether you are installing one alarm or interconnecting more than one alarm. Your electrical code will likely say that you have to be a...

  • How to Replace Interconnected Alarms

    If you're having difficulty removing an interconnected alarm because you want to replace it, the chances are it's locked to the mounting plate. The locking mechanism is designed to stop the alarm...

  • How to Turn Off Smoke Alarms

    Smoke alarms shouldn't be switched off or disconnected. If they sound too frequently you should relocate the alarm. Smoke alarms can be turned off for a period, however. They have a silence...

  • How to Start a Space Heater

    A space heater can make a room warm and cozy. However, space heaters have a reputation for being somewhat dangerous. If you're starting your space heater for the first time of the season, it's a...

  • Corn Stove Safety

    Corn stoves are a clean, economical way to heat a home and offer a number of advantages over traditional heating methods. Corn stoves are also safe when the proper precautions are taken.

  • How to Remove Smoke Stains From Plastic

    Smoke has a degrading effect on plastic as it mars the look by leaving a yellow stain on the surface. Removing smoke stains from plastic requires following a procedure thoroughly and repeating the...

  • How to Recycle a Smoke Detector

    Smoke detectors, also called smoke alarms, are essential in all homes and businesses. Over time, smoke detectors begin to lose their effectiveness and must be replaced with a new unit. The old one...

  • Home Emergency Exit Procedures

    No one wants to think about their home going up in flames, but fires destroy thousands of residential structures each year. And it doesn't take long for a fire to spread. Often you have just a...

  • Problems with Ionization Smoke Detectors at Higher Elevations

    Smoke detectors, while key in providing warnings of imminent danger, can frustrate and annoy household users when they malfunction. Frequent beeps and false alarms can lead to users ignoring the...

  • Safe Home Checklist

    Considering that most accidents happen in or around the home, home safety is an important issue. You can never be too careful, especially if you have children. There are many simple things you can...

  • How to Replace Electric Smoke Detectors

    As an electric smoke detector gets older, it become less precise in detecting smoke, and can easily fail. According to the National Fire Protection Agency, if you have an electric smoke detector...

  • How to Reset Smoke Detectors

    A defective smoke detector is not only annoying, but also often dangerous. If you have a smoke detector with an alarm that keeps going off, then your first step to remedy the situation is to reset...

  • Children's Smoke Detector Rules

    It is so important for children to be prepared in the event of a fire. The smoke detector is designed to alert families to the possibility of a fire, but some children do not hear the high-pitched...

  • Minimum Smoke Detector Requirements for New Homes

    Smoke alarms can save lives by alerting people to fires in their homes while there is still time to evacuate the house safely. Because of the proven effectiveness of these devices, there are...

  • How to Reconnect Smoke Detectors

    Smoke detectors can potentially save your life in the event of a fire. However, they can also go off accidentally if you're cooking food and it gets smoky. To keep the alarm from sounding in this...

  • How to Maintain Smoke Detectors

    A smoke detector will not aid you or your family if it is not working properly. Smoke alarms require regular maintenance in order to ensure they are working efficiently. Regular testing, battery...

  • Proper Disposal of Smoke Detectors

    Few, if any, would argue the wisdom of checking the batteries in household smoke detectors every six months. You may not realize, though, that the smoke detector itself needs to be replaced...

  • FHA Guidelines for Smoke Detectors

    The Federal Housing Administration is a part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Part of its mandated duties is the administration of mortgages for single-family homes---FHA...

  • How to Clean Smoke Alarms

    Smoke alarms are battery-operated devices that produce a loud noise in the presence of smoke or gases from fires. Having properly installed and maintained smoke alarms in your home can reduce your...

  • What Are Some Fire Safety Rules?

    Fire safety is one of the most important things for families, especially those with young children. Knowing what to do and where to go can ease your mind. It can also save lives.

  • How to Prepare for and Prevent Apartment Fires

    Apartment. Fire. Killed. Burned. You see the headlines once in a while and they send a wave of fear through you. Although, the chances that an apartment fire could happen to you is very small,...

  • Home Smoke Alarm Information

    According to the U.S. Fire Administration, a functioning smoke alarm is a necessity in any household. When working properly a smoke alarm can save your life in the event of a fire. There are two...

  • How to Troubleshoot Smoke Detector Problems

    We pass under our smoke detectors each day, running in and out of our homes without giving them a second thought. When the seasons change, stop and take time to test your smoke detector. It does...

  • Is Radiation in Smoke Detectors Harmful?

    Most smoke detectors today contain a small amount of radiation called Americium-241; for the average consumer, having radiation in your home can be a frightening prospect. However, the levels of...

  • Types of Residential Smoke & Heat Detectors

    In a late-night house fire, smoke inhalation could kill you long before flames reach your room. Smoke and heat detectors---with alarms that sound at very loud chirps and high frequencies---can be...

  • FHA Requirements for Smoke Detectors

    The Federal Housing Authority (FHA) has a number of requirements for the use and placement of smoke detectors within the home. These provisions are only necessary when new construction is...

  • What Kind of Radioactive Material Do Smoke Detectors Have?

    Throughout America, smoke detectors use a type of radioactive material known as americium-241. This element is necessary to allow the smoke detectors to work properly. Although the element is...

  • Why Are Smoke Detectors Radioactive?

    Smoke detectors in the United States are radioactive due to the presence of an element necessary for their proper function. Without the radioactive element, there is no way for the average smoke...

  • What Are the Causes of False Smoke Alarms?

    Smoke alarms save lives on a regular basis, sounding a warning at the possible start of a fire. However, the false alarms often annoy and frustrate users. Understanding the causes can help you...

  • Use of Radioactivity in Smoke Alarms

    Smoke alarms are some of the most important life-saving devices available. Used in businesses and households across America, smoke alarms give advanced warning to a building's occupants of the...

  • Photoelectric Vs. Ionization Smoke Detectors

    Smoke detectors, among the most significant inventions to promote fire safety in the last 100 years, come in various shapes and sizes. The two main types of detectors are known as photoelectric...

  • How to Cleanse Your House

    When you move into a new home or a tragedy or serious illness occurs in your present residence, it is wise to cleanse your house of harmful impurities, entities and energies that may be lingering...

  • Why Does My Wood Burning Fireplace Smoke?

    Fireplaces are pleasant places to retire to, gather around and enjoy. Whether alone or with family, friends or a special someone, owners of fireplaces need to ensure their fireplace is working...

  • Why Does a Smoke Detector Emit a Low, Intermittent Beep?

    Fires kill thousands every year in their homes, especially at night when people are asleep. Such tragedies can be averted, however, because smoke detectors can and do save lives when used...

  • Does Steam Make a Smoke Detector Go Off?

    Smoke detectors can save lives by warning people of fires in homes, businesses and public facilities. While smoke detectors are very effective in protecting people, some types of detectors sound...

  • Why Do Fire Alarms Beep?

    Fire alarms are a very important part of safety in homes, public buildings and other businesses today. Although they are not completely effective in every situation, fire alarms have drastically...

  • How to Change Smoke Alarm Batteries

    Smoke alarms, found in almost every home and business in America, save lives on a daily basis. Although they can be annoying, the loud and persistent alarms warn a building's occupants of fire and...

  • Development of the Smoke Detector

    Advancements in fire alarm technology have saved thousands of lives every day. However, smoke detectors and fire alarms are often taken for granted. Today almost every business and home uses the...

  • How to Keep Your Smoke Alarm From Going Off While Cooking

    It can become a joke in the household whenever a smoke alarm goes off inadvertently from someone who happens to be cooking or baking. “There’s Dad burning food again!” Although funny at first it...

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