Daylight saving time ends Sunday, November 1. When you change your clocks, take ten minutes to check the alarms that protect your family while you sleep.
Press the test button on every smoke and carbon monoxide alarm. Replace the batteries in battery-powered units and the backup batteries in hardwired ones. If an alarm still chirps after a new battery, or doesn’t sound at all, replace it.
Check the dates. Smoke alarms should be replaced every 10 years, and most CO alarms last 5 to 7 years. The manufacture date is printed on the back. If you can’t find one, it’s probably time.
Make sure you have enough. Smoke alarms belong in every bedroom, outside each sleeping area, and on every level of the home. If you have gas appliances, a fireplace, or an attached garage, you also need CO alarms outside sleeping areas and on each level. Interconnected alarms, where one sounding sets them all off, give everyone in the house the earliest warning.
Hardwired alarms are connected to your home’s electrical system, so replacing or adding them is a job for an electrician. We can install new interconnected smoke and CO alarms throughout your home.
