Smoke detectors are one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to keep your home safe. There are approximately 374,000 home fires in the United States per year, according to the National Fire Protection Association. The best way to protect your home, loved ones and valuables is to ensure that smoke detectors are properly and professionally installed in your house. The majority of fatal house fires happen in homes with no smoke detectors or ones that aren’t functioning properly. Smoke detector installation in your home is essential and can be accomplished easily through the electric installation by a licensed electrician.
The NFPA recommends that every home have the following coverage:
• One smoke detector installed in every bedroom.
• One smoke detector installed outside of each sleeping area.
• At least one smoke detector installed on every story of your home even when bedrooms are not located on that floor.
o For example, a two-story home with three bedrooms will need at least five smoke detectors.
Even with smoke detectors that are hard-wired by an electrician into a home’s electrical system a battery is needed to provide backup power. A power outage or even a fire can render a house’s electrical system unusable. Candle use during a power outage is common and leading cause of house fires. So make sure your batteries are functioning.
When Should You Replace the Batteries?
When the battery is low, a beep or chirp will be emitted every 30 seconds or so by the smoke detector. You can wait for the audible low battery alert or pick a day every year to change out all of the batteries in your house at once. Some people pick April 1st or the start or finish of Daylight Savings. This keeps you from having to pull out the ladder several times a year and allows you to do the swap all at once.
Keep your family and your cherished possessions safe and make sure you have the recommended smoke detectors installed professionally and keep those batteries fresh. If you’re in need of smoke detectors or just want to make sure yours are in fighting form, call the expert electricians at Gulf Coast Electric today!
