Questions You n Need Ask Yourself as You Make Sure Your Home Is Protected

4/26/2021 (Permalink)

You don't think much about the fire alarms in your home in until they start chirping or go off when you burn toast. These alarms are vital to protecting you and your family from a fire, though. Whether it's alerting you to a life-threatening blaze or reducing the amount of fire damage from an unnoticed kitchen flare-up, your home's fire alarms are vital to helping you avoid heartache.

1. Do You Have Enough?
You should have at least one fire alarm on every floor of your home, plus one in each bedroom and one outside every sleeping area. Inspect your home to make sure you have the right number, and consider adding additional units. 

2. Do They Work?
Chirping alarms ensure that you're replacing the batteries regularly, but you'll also need to replace your fire alarm unit entirely every 8-10 years or so since their sensors eventually wear out. Sometimes the units will alert you of this, but often you'll just need to keep track of when they were installed.

3. Are They Effective?
In addition to making sure that your fire alarms are functional, it's important to know that they are effective. For example, there are two different types of smoke detectors: One that picks up on hot blazes (an ionization alarm) and one that warns you about smoky, smaller fires (a photoelectric alarm). To make sure that you're covered for both types of fires, make sure you have both types of alarms installed throughout your home or alarms that detect both.
Although a fire alarm can't prevent a fire or prevent the need to clean up from smoke damage.

Time! Fire alarms give you and your family the critical time needed to escape from a fire.