Properly operating smoke detectors provide an early warning system for families. These systems need to be maintained 2x a year and replaced every 10 years.
NFPA 101 Life safety code
NFPA 72 National smoke detector signaling and code
Most homes have hardwired smoke detectors, these devices should be installed on every level of a home, especially close to sleeping areas. Each bedroom, living area and hallway should have one. Hardwired smoke detectors are often interconnected, meaning if there is a detector in one area that is activated, all detectors go off to alert the entire household.
Smoke detectors and CO alarms are made to last 10 years from date of manufacture, not beyond that. Most do not make it to a full 10 years. If you have the original smoke detectors in your home, chances are they are overdue for an upgrade! Smoke detector’s sensors degrade at a rate of 4% each year! By the end of their cycle they are only running at 60%! Smoke detector response rate and sensitivity is severely diminished. Please keep your family safe and update / upgrade your system!
This alarm was over 18+ years old! Way too old.
Smoke Alarms turn Yellow over time, if yours are like this replace them,
Facts:
- Someone dies in a home fire every 3 hours.
- Families on average have 3 minutes to escape from a fire, before being overcome from smoke/heat. The sooner an alarm is triggered the better.
- An integrated system hardwired and/or wireless system provides the best early detection and alarm for families.
- It is estimated 100 million homes are not hardwired or interconnected. These homes often run with little to no protection.
- Smoke alarms provide an early warning of a fire, giving people additional escape time. In 2009-2013, smoke alarms sounded in more than half (53%) of the home fires reported to U.S. fire departments.
- Three of every five home fire deaths resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms (38%) or no working smoke alarms (21%).
- The death rate per 100 reported home fires was more than twice as high in homes that did not have any working smoke alarms compared to the rate in homes with working smoke alarms (1.18 deaths vs. 0.53 deaths per 100 fires).
- In fires in which the smoke alarms were present but did not operate, almost half (46%) of the smoke alarms had missing or disconnected batteries.
- Dead batteries caused one-quarter (24%) of the smoke alarm failures.
