Checking Your Smoke Detectors

As we are moving throughout the fall months, it is not likely to get too cold here in Gainesville. However, it is important that we are prepared for any occasion. One way to be sure we are prepared, should we want to light a fire or even burn a Fall scented candle, is to regularly check out smoke detectors. We’ve already given you some steps as to how to detect a gas leak in your home. Of course, one way you can do this is by making sure you have a carbon monoxide detector in your home as well.

There is a simple, yet notable statistic that informs us that the amount of serious injuries or deaths due to house fires is cut in half by having working smoke detectors in the home. With that knowledge, please keep the following suggestions in mind:

• Smoke detectors have a lifespan of about 10 years. If yours are older than that, even if they seem to be working as normal, it is time to replace them. They are not cheap, it’s true, but your family is worth it.
• Try to avoid placing them too near a place where there is often steam or smoke, as a part of regular life. For example, you won’t want to put one in the bathroom or right outside if you’re accustomed to taking showers which produce a lot of steam. Likewise if there is often smoke in your kitchen do to general cooking, move the detector away from the stove. The reason for this is so that you do not get annoyed and think to turn of the smoke detector. Move the smoke detector if it continues to go off due to something like this, rather than turning it off. Remember, it cannot work for you if it is not on.
• On the same note, make sure you place multiple smoke detectors throughout the home in or near to each sleeping area of the home