Safety Tips: Installing/testing smoke alarms
These easy safety tips can keep your whole family safer.

Ceiling-mounted alarms should be installed at least four inches away from the nearest wall.

Tips for installing your smoke alarms correctly:

• Install smoke alarms Listed (examined and tested to appropriate product safety standards) by a qualified testing laboratory on every level of your home, including the basement (but not unfinished attics). Make sure there is an alarm in or near every sleeping area.

• Mount the smoke alarms high on ceilings or walls – remember, smoke rises. Ceiling-mounted alarms should be installed at least four inches away from the nearest wall; wall-mounted alarms should be installed four to 12 inches away from the ceiling.

• Don't install smoke alarms near windows, outside doors, or ducts where drafts might interfere with their operation.

• Don't paint your smoke alarms; paint or other decorations could keep them from working when you most need it.

 

Test your smoke alarms at least once a month by using the alarms' "test button."

Tips for keeping your smoke alarms working properly:

Test your smoke alarms at least once a month by using the alarms' "test button." Never use an open-flame device to test the alarm as you could burn yourself or start a fire. If the smoke alarm manufacturer's instructions permit the use of an aerosol smoke product for testing the smoke alarm, only use one that has been Listed by a third-party product testing agency, and utilize it in accordance with the product instructions.

• Replace the batteries in your smoke alarms once a year, or as soon as the alarm "chirps," warning that the battery is low. Helpful hint: schedule battery replacements for the same day you change your clock from daylight to standard time in the fall.

• Regularly vacuuming or dusting your smoke alarm following manufacturer's instructions can help keep it working properly.

• Replace your smoke alarms once every 10 years.

• Never "borrow" a battery from a smoke alarm.

• Make sure that everyone in your home can hear and recognize the sound of the alarm and knows how to react immediately.

Thanks to: NFPA Online