Does your home have a smoke detector?

Nile

There are still people dying in house fires. Either their smoke detector wasn't working (not tested regularly or battery removed) or they hadn't installed any in their home.

Make sure you and your loved ones are safe. Check your smoke detectors are working and ask your relatives (especially the elderly) if they have checked theirs too.

Coldfinger

I always change the batteries twice per year when the clocks go forward and back, a useful reminder.

Anne_Marie_2

That's a good idea Coldfinger. Then you can always use the battery in something else until it is flat.
Our smoke detectors bleep when the battery is getting low, and bleep and bleep, and bleep, you get the message - until the battery is changed.
Anyway, this post has reminded me to get new batteries, not needing them yet, but maybe tomorrow/next week.

ashmit

I wanted to bump this up and link my post here as there is very useful information in this thread too.

All fire brigades in the country will come out and do a fire safety check for free. For more information on it, check my post on the other thread. They have just come out to do mine this morning and I can highly recommend it.

And like the ad says... if the batteries in your smoke alarm are dead, you don't have a smoke alarm. Get them sorted.

robby-01

Instead of battery powered alarms go for mains powered with a battery back up.They cost about £13 each from electrical wholesalers .
And they can be linked together quite easily.As a guide the cost to supply and fit 2 interlinked mains powered detectors in a terraced property would be about £85

seven-day-weekend

You can get smoke detectors free from the Fire Brigade (at least you can in the West Midlands; I've just started a new thread.

We have one in the cellar, one in the dining room (ground floor), one on the first landing and one in my son's loft room.

My house is lived in by my son and two lodgers; they also have a fire extinguisher, fire blanket and an escape ladder for the loft and they all know the escape plan.

In our house in Spain we have a smoke alarm on each floor.

Will be getting a CO2 detector too as we use calor gas.

jamescredmond

Andrea wrote:

A carbon monoxide detector is very handy too. I bought one last week as well because we've both been feeling a bit sick and dizzy lately (although for some strange reason its usually on a Saturday morning so could well be something to do with drinking the previous night ::)).

Mine was just under a fiver in Tesco, less if you have coupons, and it lasts a year. You write the date that you opened the packet on it and stick it on the fridge as it has a magnet. You're supposed to buy a new one once a year has passed from the date you wrote on it.

this post maybe 3 yrs old but still holds true.
a few years ago I awoke at 7 am on a sun to find my wife bolt-right in bed, struggling for breath, pupils dilated,etc. I felt as if I'd just consumed 15 pints of guinness. carbon monoxide from the boiler directly beneath. the cat lay at the bottom of the bed (dead as it turned out). tried to alert my f-in-l acroos landing but collapsed and blacked out before reaching bedroom door. by pure luck, my f-in-l heard me shouting at wife and investigated. later, in hospital, we were told that we would have been dead within 90 mins.

3 people died that same winter night in darlington of mono poisoning. they'd been for a few drinks, got a curry, sat down by fire and watched tv. they fell asleep and didn't wake up.

take my advice and that offered in other posts: fit a c.mono detector at the same time you fit a fire detector or there may come a time when you're not in a position to money-save anymore.

ginger_nuts

I have three Smoke dectectors ,
1 in the hall
1 on landing
1 dining room .
I didnt fit the dectector in the hall or the landing
but I never understood why people put a smoke dectector on the landing .
I mean I have never known a fire to start on the landing .
My way off thinking says put a dectector on each room not on the landing

John_3:16

If only one detecter is fitted the landing is a good place as smoke rises it will reach it from the hall.

devon-gnome

I have just had 2 fitted by the Fire Brigade. They are the sort that last 10 years and don't need the batteries changing. Also, they just need a flat hand on the surface to turn them off rather than fiddling about trying to poke the button. This is a free service though my local brigade took some time to get to me.