There are two things you need to know with respect to fire and smoke detectors:
- Double check them at least once every two weeks.
- Don’t use rechargeable batteries.
You should double check your fire and smoke detectors every week, there is usually a button that you press to make it either flash or beep, because batteries are known to die and it would be disastrous if you had a fire and the alarm failed to alert you because of a low or dead battery.
Secondly, don’t use rechargeable batteries for your detector. It’s been shown that rechargeable batteries like those made of NiMH and NiCd have a short lifespan. That makes them good for devices that surge and use a lot of power over a short period of time, but it makes them ill suited for a detector that uses a very small amount of power over a much longer period of time.
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Also rechargeable batterys go flat suddenly. The voltage fall is like going
down a gentle slope to the edge of a cliff. As it goes over the cliff there is a relatively short period of time when the alarm beeps in warning. Also if there is a fire the alarm can stop working suddenly. Alkaline batteries dont have the over the cliff drop in power so they are much safer
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[...] why I’ve been on a fire-related writing tear at Home Insurance Guide. I warn about using rechargeable batteries in fire & smoke detectors, having a fire extinguisher in your home, and the four classes of fire extinguishers. Having [...]
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