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Buying new batteries might not be enough to ensure home safety
By Mary Beth Breckenridge
Beacon Journal
Published on Saturday, Nov 03, 2007
You already know that when you change your clocks tonight, you should change your smoke alarm battery, too.
But maybe it's time to change the whole detector.
Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms have a limited life span, said John Gordon, a public education specialist with the Akron Fire Department. Both should be replaced every 10 years. In addition, if you have a biomimetic carbon monoxide detector — a relatively inexpensive, battery-operated type that uses synthetic blood to mimic the body's response to carbon monoxide — you need to replace the sensor pack every two to three years.
One caution: An alarm's age is counted from the date of manufacture, not from the date it's installed, Gordon said. ''You can go to the store and buy a smoke alarm that's been sitting on the shelf for five years,'' and you'll get only five years of reliable use, he said.
To be certain, check the alarm. The manufacturing date is printed right on the unit, he said.
Replacing your alarms at the right time, however, isn't all there is to ensuring proper operation. Gordon and two of his colleagues, Capt. Al Bragg and District Chief Frank Marina Jr., offered these tips:
Position alarms correctly.
The best way to make sure you do that is to read the material that comes with the unit, the firefighters said.
In general, smoke alarms are best located on a ceiling, because smoke rises there first before traveling back down the walls, Bragg said. The next best location is the top of a wall, near the ceiling. Don't put a smoke alarm near a wall corner, Bragg cautioned, because smoke tends to roll around corners and will miss the detector.
Have a minimum of one smoke detector on every floor. It's better to have one in every room, especially every bedroom. Avoid locations
where the unit will be exposed to smoke or steam, such as near a stove or just outside a bathroom.
Carbon monoxide detectors work down low as well as up high, so they can be plugged into just about any receptacle. Ideally, a CO alarm should be in the main living area and near sleeping areas — possibly in each bedroom, Marina said. Don't put one next to the furnace or in the kitchen.
Avoid putting either smoke or carbon monoxide alarms near a ceiling fan, air intake or anything else that can disrupt air flow.
Keep detectors clean.
Alarms should be cleaned once a year with a vacuum or dust cloth. It's not necessary to take the cover off to clean inside, but Bragg does just so he can look things over and make sure nothing's amiss.
Test alarms monthly.
Just pressing the test button on a smoke detector isn't enough, the firefighters said. That tells whether the wiring is operating properly, but it doesn't test the alarm's ability to detect smoke.
To do that, use a can of aerosol smoke, such as Smoke Check.
Don't light a match or a piece of paper to create smoke, Bragg said. Real smoke leaves a residue that can build up in the detector and affect its functioning. Besides, you might accidentally start a fire, or a child might see and imitate you, the firefighters pointed out.
Aerosol smoke can be found at electrical supply stores as well as some home centers. The firefighters recommend Wolff Bros. Supply Inc. in Akron.
Unfortunately, there's no similar way to test a carbon monoxide alarm's ability to sense CO, Bragg said. To test a carbon monoxide detector's wiring, press the test button.
Use good alkaline batteries.
Read the label on the unit or the material that comes with the alarm to see which brand of battery the manufacturer recommends.
Change the battery twice a year.
Yes, a battery should last longer than that. ''But when you stretch it out to a year,'' Bragg said, ''you're flirting with danger.''
Battery-operated detectors chirp when battery power is low, but if you happen to be away on vacation when that happens, you could come home to a dead battery and never know it, Bragg said. Better to spend a little extra money on fresh batteries to increase the chance your alarm will work when you need it to. You can always reuse the batteries you've removed from the alarms in other devices.
Never borrow an alarm's battery to use elsewhere.
Don't even do it temporarily. It's too easy to forget to replace it, Gordon said.
Mary Beth Breckenridge is the Beacon Journal home writer. She can be reached at 330-996-3756, or at mbrecken@thebeaconjournal.com via e-mail.
You already know that when you change your clocks tonight, you should change your smoke alarm battery, too.
Get the full article here.
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