Smoke alarm maintenance is a simple step that saves lives.
A lack of effective smoke alarm maintenance in any home can result in serious injuries, even death. Victims risk losing their families and homes, and destroying neighbours’ homes and lives too.
Smoke alarm care could make all the difference in the event of an emergency.
Why Smoke Alarm Maintenance is Crucial
Around 60% of home fires happen while people are cooking, but many occur while families are asleep (London Fire Brigade). In these cases, families often don’t realise what’s happening until it is too late to escape.
Smoke alarm maintenance ensures your alarm will work correctly and be able to act as an early warning in case of fire.
Alarm Maintenance and Cleaning
What does cleaning smoke detectors involve?
- Turn off the mains power to the alarm and check that the green light has gone out.
- With the thin nozzle attachment of your vacuum cleaner, clean around the vents of the smoke alarm.
- Use a damp cloth to clean the smoke alarm cover, then dry it with a lint-free cloth.
- Turn the mains power back on and check that the green light is back on.
How do you check the age of an alarm?
The age, model and ‘replace by’ date can be found on a label on the side or back of the alarm. This makes it easy for tenants and homeowners to understand smoke detector life span and know when they should be replacing the smoke alarm or the batteries.
How often should alarms be tested?
Testing smoke alarms should be a monthly task.
Press the button for 10 seconds. When the alarm sounds loudly, you will know it is functioning. Be sure to check all other interconnected alarms too.
Every six months, dust your smoke alarms. And, make sure you replace the batteries at least once a year unless your alarm is fitted with a long life non-replacable battery or is connected to to the mains power.
Staggering Facts: Your Survival Rate with Working Smoke Alarms
- You are around eight times more likely to die in a fire if you do not have a working smoke alarm in your home, according to Home Office statisticians who combined IRS and English Housing Survey data (see pages 15 and 16).
- 77% of fire related fatalities were a result of a home not having a smoke alarm at all or having a smoke alarm that wasn’t working as it should.
- Reasons that smoke alarms didn’t function as expected included: the battery was missing; the battery was defective; the system was not set up correctly; the fire was not close enough to the detector; there was a fault in the system; the system was turned off; or the detector was removed.
Dealing with Beeps and False Alarms
Beeps and false alarms can be annoying. However, they’re also a sign that your household isn’t properly protected. Smoke alarm care is crucial.
If your smoke alarm is emitting a single high-pitched chirp every 30 seconds or so, it’s most likely a sign that the battery is running low and needs to be replaced.
It could also be chirping due to dust, environmental factors like sunlight, an improperly installed battery, a tripped circuit breaker, residual charge from a previous battery, or simply because it’s a faulty alarm. Proactive smoke alarm maintenance can solve almost all these issues.
False alarms are another danger. They can be caused by humidity, direct sunlight, heating or cooling vents blowing dust particles into the detector, insects, and large appliances on the same circuit. False alarms can cause people to become complacent. In the real, very dangerous event of a fire, these people often assume it’s simply another false alarm.
Follow these steps for effective smoke alarm care:
- Check your batteries by testing your alarm.
- Make sure your detector is clean and free of residual charge and dust.
- If you have experienced a power outage, reset your alarm.
- If your unit is 10 years old or more, replace it.
Stay safe. Smoke alarm maintenance is an essential part of UK home safety.
If you don’t already have a smoke alarm installed, it’s important to do so right away to keep your family, flatmates, or tenants safe.
Click here for more information on how to choose, fit and test smoke alarms.