Home fre is the leading cause of non-natural death in the home, accounting for nearly one-third of all home fre fatalities. Upgrading your home smoke alarm systems can go a long way in keeping you and your family safe from fres. But what exactly is a smoke alarm system and how have they improved in recent years? Smoke alarm systems are now interconnected and they’re photoelectric. These fre alarms are so much better at protecting families that many jurisdictions are making them mandatory. Read on to learn why you should upgrade your home smoke alarm systems today!
What is a Home Smoke Alarm System?
A home smoke alarm system is a monitoring system that alarms once it detects smoke. How they do that differs depending on the type of alarm. The older alarms had a small piece of radioactive material. When smoke entered the chamber, it would upset the fow of ions from this radioactive material and that would be detected as a fre. Newer smoke detectors are photoelectric, which means they see smoke rather than detect it with ions. They’re more accurate at detecting smouldering fres, which are the most common fres in homes. Hence why they are preferred.
The other important thing about modern smoke detectors is they are interconnected. This means that when one smoke alarm sounds, they all sound. If you’re asleep in the opposite end of the home where a fre has started, this can mean the difference between life and death. That early notice gives sleeping families time to evacuate safely and has been proven to save lives.
Modern smoke alarms can also connect to your phone and detect CO2. Whereas countries are legislating to make photoelectric interconnected smoke alarms mandatory, these other features are considered good but not necessary.
Reasons to Upgrade Your Home Smoke Alarm Systems
There are many reasons to upgrade your home smoke alarm systems. The most compelling reason is to keep your family safe. As we mentioned above, photoelectric are better at detecting smoke from smouldering fres. Interconnected alarms are better at alerting everyone to the fre. When combined, you’re giving yourself and your family much better protection.
Upgrading Your Smoke Alarms
Probably the best way to upgrade your smoke alarms is to get a professional to do it. For instance, we spoke to South East Electrical about their smoke alarm installation services. One of the biggest concerns with homeowners is compliance with their state laws. Professional installers know the legislation and can install a fully compliant system. Being electricians, they can also install a system that is centrally managed and connected to mains electricity.
You can also install your own system using wif-connected alarms. These alarms typically come with a 10-year lithium battery. At the end of the 10-year period, you should replace all fre alarms.
Detect Hidden Fires
When you upgrade your home smoke alarm systems, you can also detect hidden fres. They are called hidden fres because you can’t see them – you only smell the smoke. These types of fres are more common than you might think, they’re the smouldering fres referred to earlier. With a photoelectric smoke alarm system, you can detect these fres before they become out of control and potentially dangerous.
Avoid Confusion and Disorientation
Early notice of fres is important to avoid the confusion and disorientation associated with late night fres. Waking in the middle of the night to a smoke-flled home is a dangerous situation. With earlier notice, from interconnected photoelectric alarms, you can wake to a home that isn’t yet in this dangerously disorienting state.
Get Faster Detection and Response Times
Another reason to upgrade your home smoke alarm systems is to get faster detection and response times from emergency services. When your home is equipped with central alarm systems, you will receive a signal as soon as the system detects smoke. This means they will get out of home more quickly. It also means you can call fre authorities and have them bring the fre under control. The potential savings in property are enormous.
Conclusion
As we said earlier, fre is the leading cause of non-natural death in the home, accounting for nearly one-third of all home fatalities. Upgrading your home smoke alarm systems can go a long way in keeping you and your family safe from fres. Newer smoke detectors not only come with convenience like phone apps (on some). Most importantly, they have features proven to save lives. In some jurisdictions, these attributes are so important that they’re becoming legislation.