Hardwired Smoke and CO Detectors: Do You Have Them?
When was the last time you checked all of the smoke alarms in your house? I bet it’s been awhile. Smoke detectors should be tested once a month using the test button to make sure they are in proper working condition to provide safety for you and your family. If I’m wrong and was quick to judge you, and you are someone who does check your smoke detectors regularly and has them placed in the correct areas of your home, you’ve done well so far. Give yourself a pat on the back! But ask yourself these questions: Are the smoke detectors in your home hardwired? Do you have combination hardwired smoke and CO detectors?
It’s important that every floor in your home has a smoke detector installed, including all bedrooms (sleeping areas), hallways outside those bedrooms, and the basement.
Hardwired Smoke Detectors
Hardwired smoke detectors provide more safety for you and your family during a fire. How so? Well, when a licensed electrician wires all of your smoke alarms into your electrical system, they can be interconnected. For example, if little Johnny accidentally toppled over a burning candle in your bedroom and set your window curtain ablaze, but the rest of your family was in the basement watching a movie, the smoke detector in your bedroom would trigger all of the alarms in the house, even the one in your basement. This will alert the whole family of danger that there was smoke and/or fire somewhere in the house, and could save your family’s lives.
Hardwired CO Detectors
Carbon monoxide (CO) detection is also an important safety measure for a house. CO is a gas that is produced from different fuels including oil, kerosene, wood, coal, propane, and natural gas. Because this is an odorless, colorless, and tasteless gas, CO detectors prevent carbon monoxide poisoning, which is very deadly.
To ensure the safety of you and your family against CO poisoning, it’s crucial that these detectors be tested regularly, and are placed outside bedrooms in hallways, similarly to smoke detectors. Some states require CO detectors in every bedroom of the house as well. It’s always good, like smoke alarms, to have CO detectors on every floor of the house for added protection. Hardwiring your CO detectors will allow them to be interconnected much like the smoke detectors, alerting you of CO gas anywhere in the house.
Hardwired Smoke and CO Detectors (Combination)
The best prevention for fires and carbon monoxide in the house is a combination smoke and CO detector. Having a combination alarm not only alerts you from smoke/fire, but it also prevents the toxicity of CO poisoning. Plus, the combination smoke and CO detector frees up your home with less alarms throughout the house.
It all comes down to one thing: safety. Get a licensed electrician to hardwire and interconnect your smoke detectors and CO detectors so you and your family can be alerted to danger in any part of your home. It could save a life.