A home smoke detector or smoke alarm is the best safety device you can use to protect yourself and your loved ones. Most homes in which a fire breaks out and someone is killed don't have a working home smoke detector. These are inexpensive devices that can save lives.

You can spend a lot on smoke alarms or you can buy very cheap models. The more expensive models are made by brands that have been making smoke detectors and other safety devices for years. You shouldn’t trust your life to an off-brand smoke detector that may or may not work when a real emergency hits.

Anytime you're shopping for a home smoke detector, look for the UL rating on the package. UL stands for Underwriter's Laboratory. You'll only find this on smoke alarms that have been heavily tested in different situations and worked well enough to get a UL rating. If you can't find this, then the home smoke alarm probably has never been officially tested.

Don't risk it. Choose a detector with the highest rating you can find!

The smoke detectors most of us are familiar with look like small discs and are mounted high on a wall or on the ceiling. They run on a battery, typically a 9-volt battery. They're inexpensive and can be moved if you should need to do so. It's a good idea to have a home smoke detector outside every bedroom door, especially if you have children. They're the least likely to hear a detector in another room and wake up. An alarm going off right outside their door has a better chance of rousing them.

You'll want at least one home smoke detector on each floor, at a bare minimum. Once centrally located on each floor and one outside each bedroom door is the ideal scenario for these types of detectors. The only real failing of these types of alarms is that if the battery's dead, they're useless. Change them twice a year, spring and fall. Get in the habit of changing the battery and then testing them each time you change your clocks for daylight savings.

It's also a good idea to write on the detector where you can easily in marker the year in which you purchased it. Each time you change the battery, you'll see the year and be reminded of the age of the detector. It's a good idea to replace them after 7 or 8 years, just in case. Also, use a vacuum hose regularly to remove dust from the outside of the unit.

Another home smoke detector option is the hard-wired alarm. You'll want to have this type of alarm professionally installed, because it's hooked directly into your home wiring. This adds to the already higher cost of these types of smoke alarms. These alarms are the most reliable, and have a backup battery in case of outage, but if your budget doesn't allow, then invest in battery-operated detectors and make sure you change the batteries regularly.

Photo Credits: niteseeker

Originally posted 2009-09-06 06:44:23. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Related Posts

• Contemporary Fireplace Design Ideas You have many fireplace design ideas to choose from when you're ready to add a beautiful fireplace to your home. Your final choice will depend on some factors like where you plan to put it and your overall floor plan. But no matter how big or small the room might......
• Review: Green Design: A Healthy Home Handbook by Alan Berman This latest book by author and architect Alan Berman is written with environmental sustainability in mind. In his book, Berman describes various ways to make the reader's home a more environmentally friendly place to live. The book is teeming with diagrams, simple charts and photographs, enabling users at any level......
• Home Security - Don't Make Yourself a Target In 2004, the Justice Bureau released the statistics that nearly one in six homes were burgled, that 75% of all crime was related to property and that in 90% of the burglaries the burglar gained access into the home. Every 3 seconds a property crime occurs, and every 15 seconds......
• Steps to Installing a Home Steam Shower A home steam shower makes your bathroom a retreat, and if you're a do-it-yourselfer with some experience you can probably handle at least some of the installation yourself. Not only will it make time spent in the bathroom more enjoyable, but any type of bathroom remodeling improves the value of......
• Fun Holiday Home Renovations If you have a holiday home where you intend to stay during the winter season, you may be thinking about some of the renovations that you can do to keep the house in tip top shape, even if you only intend on staying there for a few days, a few......

Related Websites

• Cash In: How to Lower the Cost of Homeowner’s Insurance 6 Different Ways Homeowner’s insurance is nothing more than an afterthought for most home-owners. People get home-buying fever and get really excited about the prospect of being a home-owner. They get some financing setup, look at all different sorts of houses they might like to purchase, find one they link and make an......
• Make Money Online Opportunities - Get More Useful Facts And Tips The best idea that you can use to make money online working at home is so simple that you will probably not believe that you have never thought of it. When I tell you about it, it will be very to figure out another make money online working at home......
• 3 Great Choices for Home Surveillance Systems There are several different types of home surveillance systems for your house. The most basic are just normal cameras placed around the house. These are effective, but there are several other different options you could look into also. You can also get hidden camera surveillance systems, which are effective because......
• Mortgage Home Possessions Continue to Rise The last two quarters of 2008 have seen a steady increase in the number of mortgage possession orders reaching the county courts, and this is according to data and statistics that have been released by the UK's Ministry of Justice. In England and Wales, there have been a total sum......
• 12 Must Have Products That Will Keep Your Child Safe Around The Home About 2−1/2 million children are injured or killed by hazards in the home each year. The good news is that many of these incidents can be prevented by using simple child safety devices on the market today. You can childproof your home for a fraction of what it would cost......

Online Stores

• Case Agriculture Advertising Collectibles
• Sensors Motion Detectors Home Security Home Improvement
• Carbon Monoxide Detectors Smoke Gas Detectors Home Security Home Improvement
• Battery Operated Lamps Home Lighting
• Models Autographs Collectibles

If you liked this article, vote for it on del.icio.us and stumbleupon.


Categories:

Handy Man, Safety, alarms

Tags:

alarms, bare minimum, better chance, cheap models, clocks, daylight savings, habit, risk, safety device, safety devices, smoke alarm, smoke alarms, smoke detectors, ul rating, underwriter, volt battery