Did you know your smoke alarm and CO alarm have an expiration date?
As winter ramps up across the country and more people begin cranking up their heat and using space heaters to keep warm, the threat of fires all across the country will increase. Heat, holiday decorations, winter storms, and candles are the leading cause of house fires in the winter according to the US National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). December, January, and February are the peak months for winter fires in homes.
This is important to know because we are often told we should change the smoke alarm batteries when we change the clocks for the time changes - usually every six months. One thing that we don’t often hear, though, is you should also check your smoke alarm’s manufacturing date.
The red square highlights where you can find the manufacturing date on most standard smoke alarms.
According to the National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code (2010 edition), all smoke alarms, including smoke alarms with ten-year batteries or that are hard-wired, need to be replaced when they are ten years old or sooner. CO alarms should be replaced every seven years, though. If you have a combination CO alarm and smoke alarm, that should be replaced every seven years.
The reason you want to change your smoke alarms every ten years is that the way the smoke alarm detects the presence of smoke can become clogged or malfunction with age. If that occurs, your alarm might not be as efficient at detecting smoke when it is present. Thus causing the alarm to possibly not go off. Back in the day, many used to say the yellowing of a smoke detector was tied to a home with someone who smoked inside, but a white smoke alarm becoming yellow is actually an indication of age. If your smoke detector is yellow in color, it would be a wise choice to check your manufacturing date.
Helpful smoke detector guidelines
Smoke detectors are required to be installed in every sleeping room; outside each sleeping room, and on every level of the home.
Smoke detectors should never be painted or covered
Replace batteries at least once a year
Test smoke detectors monthly
Graphics provided by the Bloomington, Minnesota Government.