Alarm System

Smoke Alarm: The Cheap Necessity!

Smoke alarms are a very useful invention that saves thousands of lives every year. There is a greater risk of dying from a fire in a home without a fire alarm than in one with smoke alarms properly installed and maintained. It provides you with an early warning of a potentially deadly fire and affords you the time to escape from injury and possibly death. Damage to property is also kept to a minimum with early warning. Smoke alarms are a necessity and yet it is cheap and readily available.

What does it take to have a smoke alarm installed and working properly?

Smoke alarms cost less than $10 and are very easy to install. It does need some attention to work properly and continue doing so. Smoke alarms should be tested once a month and their batteries replaced annually to make sure they are working properly. Maintaining your smoke alarm makes sure that it would continue to provide protection. People who have smoke alarms are in danger too if the smoke alarms are in the wrong place or if they don't have enough smoke alarms for the size of their home. They also need to check their smoke alarms and make sure that the batteries are working from time to time.

In what part of your home are smoke alarms installed?

Smoke alarms should be placed in areas where they will fully serve their purpose. Generally, one smoke alarm should be placed on every floor or level of the home. Installing a smoke alarm near the bedrooms and inside every bedroom is very important. It increases the chances of waking sleeping occupants since majority of fire deaths happen at night when everyone is asleep. The effect of sleep makes one's senses dull and insensitive to the danger of fire.

Smoke alarms are not placed in kitchens due to the fact that smoke coming from cooking may trigger it. Smoke alarms used near kitchens have a silence button to stop accidental triggering. Moisture can cause false alarms or may damage the smoke alarms so it is not placed in the bathroom or near the bathroom door. The effectiveness of smoke alarms is reduced by false alarms. After a series of false alarms people are fooled into thinking that smoke alarms are false.

How does a smoke alarm work?

All smoke alarms consist of two basic parts: a sensor to sense the smoke and a very loud electronic horn to wake people up. Smoke alarms can run off of a 9-volt battery or 120-volt house current.

Smoke alarms have two acceptable types, the photoelectric detector and the ionization detector. The photoelectric smoke alarms have an electric eye or which senses smoke particles and activates the alarm. The ionization smoke alarm has a radioactive material that is used to ionize the air in the sensing chamber. The ionized air causes a small electrical current flow. Smoke entering the chamber reduces the flow. It then activates the smoke alarm.

People neglect to install smoke alarms despite their life saving potential and low cost. You can never be too careful. Fires don't only happen to other people's homes it can also happen to your own home. A smoke alarm is one of the most effective and cheapest ways to alert you to the danger of fire. Every home should have a smoke alarm installed for the safety of their family.