If a fire occurs in your Richmond, VA home, you may have just minutes to escape. A multi-level home can be complicated to escape, especially if the fire is blocking your ability to move downstairs and outside. Because of this, it’s incredibly important that a smoke detector alerts you of a fire as quickly as possible so you have plenty of time to act. Let’s consider the importance of smoke detectors in multi-level homes.
How Do Smoke Detectors Work?
The National Fire Protection Agency recommends that homes have at least one smoke detector on each story. They also advise that you should include more than that to increase your safety. Many homeowners and home builders opt to include more detectors than the minimum requirement. Installed on or near your ceiling, a smoke detector will go off if it senses that there are smoke particles in the air. These particles cannot always be seen with the naked eye, but they spread quickly when fire is present.
Smoke detectors emit a very loud noise that can wake you out of a sound sleep. To comply with smoke detector standards that are set by the NFPA, a smoke detector must output sounds of at least 85 decibels.
How Many Smoke Detectors Do You Have?
Many homeowners are unaware of how many smoke detectors they have in their homes. Take a walk around your residence to see where they are located. The more detectors that you have, the better prepared you are in case of a fire. Make sure that you have one detector per level of the home. If you’re going to add more, consider placing detectors in areas that are prone to fire. This may be your kitchen or the area where your furnace is located.
Smoke detectors last for approximately 10 years before they need to be replaced. You should replace their batteries once per year. Many people choose to complete this maintenance task during Fire Prevention Month, which is October.
Smoke Detectors and Carbon Monoxide Detectors
Manufacturers also make smoke detectors that can sense the presence of carbon monoxide alongside smoke. An alarm will sound when either of these things are present. This combination unit is more expensive than a traditional smoke detector, but they can help provide you with peace of mind. It’s recommended that one CO detector be installed on each level of your home as well.
Connecting Your Smoke Alarms
While you may have several smoke detectors on each level of your home, it’s important that these units are connected to one another. If one goes off on a lower level of the home, connection means you will also be alerted to an issue if you are on the upper level. This allows everyone in the home to exit the residence in a timely manner regardless of where the actual fire is located. Our team can help you wire your detectors into your home so they are all connected.
When we wire your detectors into your home’s electrical system, this can remove the need to replace batteries in your units. If you’re unsure whether certain detectors in your home are wired into one another, simply press the test button. A brief alarm will sound on each of the detectors that is connected to the one you pressed.
Different Types of Smoke Detectors
There are two main types of smoke detectors to choose from. This includes photoelectric and ionization units. A photoelectric smoke detector utilizes an infrared beam of light to sense smoke. When smoke enters the unit, the broken beam of light will activate the alarm.
Slightly more complicated of a design, an ionization smoke detector senses smoke using an ionization chamber. When the chamber becomes clogged with smoke particles, the alarm will sound.
Which unit should you choose? An ionization smoke detector does a better job of sensing smoke that is coming from large flames. A photoelectric smoke alarm is optimal for areas of the home that may be experiencing a smoldering fire. Consider the different levels of your home. You may want one of each type of smoke detector on each level for optimal safety.
Basements, Attics, and Garages
While it’s important to have a smoke detector on each level of your home, you should ensure that you haven’t forgotten about your basement, attic, and garage. These are areas that are prone to fire as well. As parts of your home, fire can spread from these areas to the rest of your living spaces quickly. Because they are quite separate from where you likely spend most of your time while at home, you may not notice that a fire has started in any of those locations. Fire spreads very quickly, and your home can be a total loss. You can avoid this situation by placing smoke detectors on all levels and in all structures.
Where Should You Not Place a Smoke Detector?
We’ve discussed the areas of a home that should have a smoke detector, but there are spaces that you should avoid. Very dusty, dirty, or greasy areas should not have detectors. These particulates can cause your detectors to sound even when fire isn’t present. This can also shorten the lifespan of your detectors, resulting in you needing to buy replacements frequently.
You should avoid placing your smoke detectors in one area of your home. Don’t cluster them all on one side where the bedrooms are located, only to have them missing from your kitchen, living room, office, etc. Your smoke detectors should be evenly spaced, especially in very large homes with multiple levels. Keep in mind that smoke rises. You should consider having more detectors on the upper levels of your home.
Fire Extinguishers
When a smoke detector sounds, your first reaction should be to call 911 while removing yourself from the residence. For small cooking fires or smoking appliances, it’s helpful to have a fire extinguisher on hand. You can place these extinguishers in areas of the home where smoke detectors are located.
Fire extinguishers usually last anywhere from 10 to 15 years before needing to be replaced. There are disposable units that you replace as needed. There are also rechargeable extinguishers that can be refilled by your local fire department or a fire equipment service company in the Richmond area.
If you would like to learn more about the importance of smoke detectors as well as determine how many of them you should have in your home, reach out to our team here at Davis & Green. We would be happy to help you with this process. We also provide residential and commercial electrical services, including new wiring, installing generators, equipping your home with an EV charging station, installing switches and outlets, and more. We also provide plumbing services for your water heater, pipes, sump pumps, and more. Our HVAC services include heating and cooling as well as indoor air quality assessments and equipment installation. Contact Davis & Green today for more information.
