All together now- Wireless Smoke Alarms The Wenatchee Home Inspector

As a home inspector and former emergency responder safety is very dear to me. It is very common in older homes, about 20 years old and more, you will not have interconnected smoke alarms.

Interconnected smoke alarms are a very important part of fire safety in the home.

In the event of fire smoke alarms that are interconnected will activate the alarm on all of the smoke alarms in a home. This will greatly improve the chance of hearing an alarm if a fire starts in another area of the home from where you are.

So if you home is older and the smoke alarms are not hard wired and interconnected you can now purchase wireless interconnected smoke alarms.

There are various versions of these, both battery and AC powered. But you should make sure the wireless interconnected smoke alarms are of the same make and model. You have to make sure that they communicate with each other.

Remember that a smoke alarm installed within 20 feet of a kitchen /cooking area should have a “silence” or “hush” button so nuisance alarms can be easily dismissed.

You should purchase enough smoke alarms so you can install at least one on every floor of the home, including the basement, one in each bedroom, and one in the hallway outside of each sleeping area.

I also highly recommend you install photoelectric smoke alarms they are less prone to nuisance alarms and react better to smoldering fires.

Smoke alarms have a 10-year life span and then will need to be replaced. The batteries need to be replaced on an annual basis. You should vacuum the dust off smoke alarms every six months.

“If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur.”

Red Adair

NCW Home Inspections, LLC  is a Licensed Washington State Home Inspection service located in Wenatchee Washington serving Chelan County, Douglas County, Kittitas County, Okanogan County and Grant County Washington and the cities of Wenatchee, Leavenworth, Cashmere, Oroville, Cle Elum, East Wenatchee, Quincy and many more…

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