Around the Home



	Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 6, Issue 11, November 2002 Copyright 2002 Seattle Sun. Please feel free to use the article and photos below in your research. Be sure to quote the Seattle Sun as your source.
	AROUND THE HOME: Smoke detectors need more than just a battery change BY MATT MAURY About this time of year, as daylight savings time ends, there are numerous public service reminders to change the batteries in your household's smoke detectors. That's to give you the piece of mind that, in the event of a fire, you will be warned by a shrill noise. This is certainly good advice, but the National Fire Protection Association says that the battery switching is only the first step in alarm safety. Three additional steps should be taken to assure that a home is adequately monitored. The second step is to clean and check alarms regularly. There is dust and lint in the air circulating throughout your home. This settles in the elements of a smoke detector just as it accumulates on tabletops, bookshelves and windowsills. Regular vacuuming of the alarm and its vents will maximize its effectiveness. Testing it should be done regularly by using the "test" button. The third step is to replace smoke detectors every 10 years. The construction of residential smoke detectors leads them to become less effective over time. The National Fire Protection Association estimates a 30 percent failure rate for smoke detectors within a decade of installation. A top-of-the-line dual detection model costs less than $30 for 10 years of protection! The fourth step is to check the placement and type of smoke detectors in the home. Most people move into a house and accept the detectors that were installed by the builder or prior owners. They don't give the detectors a second thought. Besides the fact that they may be old, inefficient or not working, the detectors may not be the right types or in the right locations. There are two common types of alarms: ionization and photoelectronic. The ionization models recognize the heat and flames of a fire while the photoelectronic models sense the presence of smoke. Knowing the difference of these technologies is important in the selection of the detectors to be placed at various points within the house. There are also alarms available that include both technologies, marketed as "dual sensors" or "double sensors." Placement of the alarms is equally important. While some homeowners have alarms that are monitored so that the fire department can be called, the majority of people have battery-powered ones to alert the residents of a fire. Thus, the alarms should definitely be located on hall ceilings close to bedrooms where a middle-of-the-night warning can be heard. Many people wrongly assume that alarms should be located in places where a fire might start kitchens, garages, bathrooms or laundry rooms. Unfortunately, cooking heat and smoke, exhaust gasses from lawn mowers and cars, or the humidity of a warm shower will all set off false alarms. It's much better to put alarms in areas adjacent to these locations, but not by furnace vents or cold air returns (which can dilute the air monitored by the alarm). *** Homeowners seeking additional information about fire alarms and fire prevention can visit www.nfpa.org on the Internet.