Tested your smoke alarms lately....??

[DandyDon]

The one in my bedroom went off the other morning. Not a low battery chirp but a blood chilling alarm. I'm not one to call 911 until I see smoke, fire, or some other confirmation tho, in fact I have put out problem fires myself in the past, so I checked my other smoke alarms and my carbon monoxide alarms - nothing! I killed the faulty one, stayed alert for several hours, then called the manufacturer who sent me a new replacement.

Back to testing: I test the buzzers frequently, but I like to check with real smoke annually, so I took all my alarms out to my driveway. I've done this inside the house but that made me nervous. With a gallon of water and a quart of baking soda handy, I ignited a rag inside a metal coffee can, got the smoke going well, and held the alarms in the smoke one by one.

Successful test. All alarms reacted well, test fire fully extinguished, no fire escaped, no one called the fire department. Hung the alarms around the house. Two of them are new, sealed, 10-year models while the third is an surplus older one with a fresh battery.

My two wall CO alarms I test frequently for buzzing, check the 110 volt power supply, replace the backup batteries annually - but they're difficult to test, which is why I keep three on hand - those two and the Sensorcon that I carry around, and which I can test just by blowing into it. The Sensorcon is also good for checking home heaters since it reacts to such minute rates. Zero is always preferred.

 

[NYCNaiad]

10 yrs ago I was woken up at 1am at my apt before a big speaking engagement to a blaring alarm. I made everyone evacuate though they are were quite unhappy with me and called the fire dept. At first, they couldn't find anything. Then, they found the issue. What was rated as a good CO2 detector didn't purge regularly so normal CO2 in the house built up in the sensor and triggered the alarm. CO2 detectors nowadays are less likely to have that problem.

It still baffles me when people don't have detectors, don't test them, don't replace the batteries, or even worse don't react when an alarm does go off. Better a little inconvenience above or below water than dying from a horrible accident.

 

[KeithG]

My divebuddy tests our smoke alarm regularly. not saying she is a bad cook...

On a serious note our local fire department mounts 2 community awareness campaigns each year - at dst time change.

 

[DandyDon]

10 yrs ago I was woken up at 1am at my apt before a big speaking engagement to a blaring alarm. I made everyone evacuate though they are were quite unhappy with me and called the fire dept. At first, they couldn't find anything. Then, they found the issue. What was rated as a good CO2 detector didn't purge regularly so normal CO2 in the house built up in the sensor and triggered the alarm. CO2 detectors nowadays are less likely to have that problem.

It still baffles me when people don't have detectors, don't test them, don't replace the batteries, or even worse don't react when an alarm does go off. Better a little inconvenience above or below water than dying from a horrible accident.

I suppose you mean CO - carbon monoxide, as CO2 - carbon dioxide is not likely to be a risk above or below the water as long as the O2 - oxygen level is good.

Yes, technology has improved substantially along with economy.

 

[NYCNaiad]

Yes. A mistype. CO, not CO2. lol

 

[DeputyDan]

Every time I cook

 

[DandyDon]

Every time I cook

I've done that. Nowadays I turn the stove fan on first.

Seriously, it doesn't take much effort to take your alarms to the driveway, start a smoldering rag fire in a coffee can, and hold the alarm in the smoke to ensure it goes off. Just have fire extinguishing materials handy and remember drop & roll if you ignite yourself...!!