You've probably never heard smoke alarms and seat belts mentioned in the same sentence.  However you do need both of them (and yet hope you never really have to use either of them to their full potential).  Unfortunately, too many families learn too late that they should have paid better attention to their smoke alarm system.  Fire kills an estimated 4,000 people every year and seriously injures another 30,000, and that doesn't include property damage and losses!  Fire experts conclude a properly installed and maintained smoke alarm system can reduce property loss, injuries, and deaths by 90%!

What makes up a properly installed and maintained smoke alarm system?  Let's look at the maintenance part first.  Smoke alarm sensors are only rated for 10 years.  Regardless of whether your smoke alarms are battery-operated or hard-wired into your electrical system, if they are 10 years old or older, they need to be replaced.  For battery-operated alarms, you should change the batteries every 6 months even if the old ones are still working.  For the simple cost of a battery or two, you could save your home and your family.  You should also hit the "test" button monthly on all smoke alarms to make sure they are still operating correctly.  Also, if your smoke alarm gets overly dusty or cobweb covered, make sure to clean it off so the dust and cobwebs don't interfere with the smoke sensor.

What is a properly installed smoke alarm system?  The first step is looking at where your smoke alarms are placed.  You should have one on each level of the home, one within 10ft of each sleeping area, and one in each bedroom.  Why one outside and inside the bedrooms?  Because if a family member's bedroom door is closed (or they are a sound sleeper), they may not hear the hallway alarm.  Also if the fire starts in the bedroom, the hallway smoke alarm may not alert you in time.

Fire experts recommend smoke alarms be inter-connected.  This means if one alarm triggers, all the alarms in the home trigger to give you as much warning as possible.  Electricians can install smoke alarm systems that are run by the electricity in your home, with a battery backup.  Those alarms are then set to work as a team and all will alert when one senses smoke.  Since 1973, State of MN building codes have required all new homes have at least one hard-wired smoke detector and, in 1995, the code was changed to state hard-wired smoke detectors with battery backup are required outside of all sleeping areas.  If you have questions about your smoke alarm system, give us a call!  One of our top priorities is keeping our clients safe, and we'd be happy to help!