A smoke alarm is a excellent device that can detect if a fire is occurring and can alert you that there is a fire, by creating a loud "Alarm" beep sound, it is a device that can save your life. But if the battery in your smoke alarm is dead, flat or faulty, then the smoke alarm will not work and you will not know if there is a fire, this put your life at a high risk. So it is ideal to test the battery inside the smoke alarm, to ensure that it is getting enough power to work.
1)Get access to your smoke alarm, there should be a large button on the plastic casing that says "Test". Press the button down, if the smoke detector beeps, then the battery is fine and will not need replacing. If it doesn't beep then the battery is dead, or the unit doesn't have a battery attached to it.
2)There are some cheap fire alarms that don't have a "Test" button for you to press down and to check if the battery is dead. If you fire alarm doesn't have the test button, then remove the battery from the smoke alarm. It should be inside the smoke alarm and a 9 volt battery attached to a small battery snap should be connected to it. Once you have removed it, get a battery tester and insert the 9 volt battery onto it. If the needle on the battery tester swings to the area that says "Charged" then the battery is fine. If the needle on the battery tester doesn't swing at all, then the battery has no power and will need replacing.
Nice tips! I have had to hire a professional to check my fire alarm batteries over the past few years because I have absolutely no idea how to do it myself. It's a shame that these devices are required to run on batteries, otherwise we wouldn't have to worry about them being non-functional when operating within the home.
ReplyDeletefire alarm systems
The article is partialy correct by stating that batteries should be tested. What you may not know is that the unit may be dusty, or have cobwebs which will leave your tester inoperable regardless of a charged battery.
ReplyDeleteAll the test button does is test the battery. The smoke detector itself should be tested with the use of a simulated fire (smoke), or smoke-in-a-can(this is what NFPA states. I recently tested a smoke detector near my furnace by pushing the button, and the test was successful. When I sprayed smoke into it, almost an entire can, nothing happened. I used the can on two other detectors successfully prior to this one and all it took was a very little spray of smoke to set them off.