Daylight savings time ended this past weekend. Along with enjoying that extra hour of sleep, you should be thinking about the months ahead during this transitional time of year. One of the most important ways you can do that is by checking all of the smoke alarms and carbon monoxide monitors in your home. Today we’re going to talk about what you should do to ensure your smoke alarms and CO monitors are working well and provide some tips on when to install new units!
Change your clocks, change your batteries
You might have noticed your local fire department sending out reminders to change the batteries in your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide monitors while you’re changing the clocks in your home. This is a good time of year to do that, because the heating season is when we use our fuel-burning appliances the most in our homes and you should take the necessary safety precautions to protect your home from the possibility of those appliances malfunctioning.
According to the National Fire Protection Association, 71 percent of smoke alarms that failed to operate during a house fire had missing, disconnected or dead batteries. Replacing batteries in your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide monitors as an inexpensive task that only takes a couple of minutes, so there’s no reason to put it off!
Test all of your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide monitors
In addition to replacing all of the batteries in your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide monitors, you should also test each of the units in your home. There is a test button on most of these units that you can press to ensure that the alarm is working properly. If you have any questions about how to do this, refer to the manufactures’ instruction manuals.
Replace old smoke alarms and carbon monoxide monitors
While you’re checking all of the alarms and monitors in your home, take a look at the date that all of your units were manufactured. Smoke alarms should be replaced every 10 years, while carbon monoxide detectors should be replace every 5 years. If any of your units have exceeded these ages, you should replace them with new units.
It should be noted that there are some smoke alarm and carbon monoxide monitor combo units that are available at the stores. We generally recommend that you do not purchase these units, because (as we said above) the lifespan of each type of unit varies by about five years. It would be better to have smoke alarms and carbon monoxide monitors that can replaced separately. If it’s time for you to replace any of your carbon monoxide monitors, be sure to ask Jerry Kelly Heating & Air Conditioning about the benefits of installing a low level carbon monoxide monitor in your home!
If you have any questions about smoke alarms and carbon monoxide monitors, or if you’d like a heating and cooling system serviced or installed in your home, contact Jerry Kelly Heating & Air Conditioning, your St. Charles, MO, furnace and air conditioner contractor. We provide service all over the St. Louis area, including towns like Dardenne Prairie, Des Peres and Frontenac, MO.
