With the view to ensure safety for the residential and commercial settings, it is pretty much a common sense and also the law to have fire and carbon monoxide warning devices at the facilities. Moreover when you need to buy or sell a house, give a good amount of time to make sure that all the detecting devices are working appropriately.
However, altering the batteries and pressing the test button in certainly not good enough to make certain that the device is effective and working. If this is the only thing you did till now, you may face serious consequences when things go wrong.
If you are able to hear the sound after pressing the test button, this only means that the device has power and not that the inside electronics are working perfectly. Shocked aren’t you? Yes, this is true all the detectors have a limited life and thus expire after some time period. Although we think of these systems as our electronic guardian angel that gives us 2-3 minutes time to escape before the fire entirely covers up the building, however the components inside expire after certain time and require replacement.
However, altering the batteries and pressing the test button in certainly not good enough to make certain that the device is effective and working. If this is the only thing you did till now, you may face serious consequences when things go wrong.
If you are able to hear the sound after pressing the test button, this only means that the device has power and not that the inside electronics are working perfectly. Shocked aren’t you? Yes, this is true all the detectors have a limited life and thus expire after some time period. Although we think of these systems as our electronic guardian angel that gives us 2-3 minutes time to escape before the fire entirely covers up the building, however the components inside expire after certain time and require replacement.
What to do?
It is usually advised to check the manufacturer’s instructions, but the changing time usually is between 8 to 10 years, whereas, the carbon monoxide detectors generally have shorter life cycle of 5-7 years. Some of the alarms that have recently been sold in the past couple of years will make a chirping sound at the end of their life. If you hear that sound, replace them.
Most of the smoke alarms in Brisbane come with a ‘replace by’ date on one of the side of the detector. However the older ones are required to be detached and then look for the date of manufacture or an expiration date. If you cannot find about the same, just replace it as the cost of your house is certainly much more than that of the detector.
