It;s a nice sunny evening in Godmanchester this evening and I have treat myself to a steak for dinner. Being the rubbish chef that I am, the pan was too hot on my hob and I smoked my kitchen and lounge off and set the smoke detectors off. Not a big deal, silence them, turn the gas down a little and open the window. The alarms have now shut up. This was easy because I knew exactly what to do, but, do you?
I often get calls from clients (previous or new) asking for help because their smoke alarms are either beeping once a minute or they are going off and cannot be hushed. Now, I don't have this problem myself obviously because I install and maintain smoke alarms and have done for the past 18 years at the time I write this, but many people do and begin to panic when their alarms go out of control
I would like to write a small guide for you to follow so that you can be confident in the performance of your smoke alarms in your home, whether you have fully electric or simple battery smoke alarms:
Hush button: Now this first point may seem silly to you, but I had a call from someone in Huntingdon the other day and she did not know how to silence her alarms following her burning her toast. She tried flapping a towel around the alarm with no success. After learning to hold the big red (sometimes white) button in the middle of the alarm, she was able to get some peace and quiet again
The annoying 'chirp': Alarm beeping once every minute? Time for a brand new alarm? Nope, your alarm needs to have a replacement battery fitted. 'But my alarms connected to the mains.....' It still has a battery inside it and this is a back-up power source in the event of a power cut so the alarms are still functional. But batteries run out of its charge over time and fail. Struggling to get the thing of the ceiling? A little tip... Smoke alarms are constructed to be removed from the ceiling without force, either by the twist of a hand OR being slotted away from its base via a flat tool. Relax and don't panic, there is a way for that thing to come off!
Date: Now this is something you may not know. Smoke alarms have a best before date like food in your fridge. Over time, they are prone to becoming more sensitive or just not working at all. Smoke alarms typically have a 10 year period from when they are constructed to when it is recommended its discarded. You can check yours simply by looking at the side of your alarm and checking the 'date of replacement' text printed on it. Now, sometimes this can be printed on the back and you may have to remove the alarm from the ceiling in order to get this info, so please refer back to the paragraph above this one
Testing: How do you know your alarms work? Simply push the test button on the alarm. Usually, this is the same as the hush button and hear the alarms go off. There are other ways you can test the efficiency of a smoke alarm (NOT HOLDING A LIGHTER BELOW IT!!), but this can damage an alarm if not done correctly, so best to leave this to a professional if indeed you want this service provided
Follow these tips, and your smoke detection will always be at their peek performance, helping you sleep easier and not annoying your neighbours when you burn your grub!
