Your Smoke Alarms Are Dangerous!

Let’s find out why…

Your Most Valuable Assets

If you asked the average person “what is your most valuable asset?”, if they are a homeowner they will probably say, “my home is my most valuable asset.” Those people would be wrong.

Your most valuable asset is your life and the lives of your family. Of course! What if we told you that your most valuable assets are in danger because of the smoke alarms you already have in your home?

There are four possible reasons that your smoke alarms might be putting you in danger... 

Old Smoke Alarms

The first reason is something that a lot of people don’t realize. If your smoke alarms are more than 10 years old, they are dangerous because they have degraded to a point that they are no longer protecting you. You can check when your smoke alarms were manufactured by taking one off its mount and there should be a manufacturing date printed on the back. If it’s been more than 10 years since that date, you need to replace all your smoke alarms. Another good clue that your smoke alarms are old is their color. They were most likely white or slightly off white when new. If they look yellow now, they are WAY more than 10 years old and need to be replaced.

Disabled Smoke Alarms

The second reason your smoke alarms are dangerous is because someone may have disabled them. When we visit client’s homes, we often find one or more smoke alarms that are disconnected. This usually happens for one of two reasons. Either they are prone to false alarms or they are chirping all the time and replacing the batteries didn’t solve the problem. False alarms are usually indicative of the wrong type of alarms being installed in the wrong locations. We'll get into that a bit more later. The incessant chirping problem is most likely because they are very old and need to be replaced. In either case, you are putting your most valuable assets at risk by not having a fully functioning fire detection system.

Smoke Alarm Maintenance

The third reason your smoke alarms are dangerous is that they are not properly maintained. Do you know that every smoke alarm manufacturer recommends changing the batteries every year? They also recommend cleaning the dust out of the alarms and testing them regularly. Dust is not your alarm’s friend.

How to Replace Smoke Alarms

We’ve talked a lot about replacing all your smoke alarms. How do you go about doing that? If you live in an area that we serve you can contact us and we will be happy to help. But we implore you, even if you don’t end up hiring us to do your smoke alarms, please do them soon, especially if they are more than 10 years old. Your family and home are too important to leave to chance.

If you choose to hire someone to do the replacement, make sure you research the type of smoke alarms being installed to ensure three things:

1. They are from a major manufacturer that receives good reviews from researchers that study smoke alarm performance. There is a lot of cheap stuff out there.

2. At a minimum, make sure you choose alarms several alarms with both smoke and carbon monoxide detection. Ask your installer a lot of questions.

3. Alarms should meet the latest smoke standards adopted by the Nation Fire Protection Agency on 1/1/2025. This standard ensure that nuisance alarms are not triggered by common things in your home, like cooking smoke. Ask your installer if their alarms comply with the standard - UL 217, Eighth Edition.

Likewise, when comparing installers, make sure you are comparing similar smoke alarm brands, sensor types, and capabilities when comparing prices. Remember, cheaper smoke alarms likely don't meet the most current smoke alarm standards that require them to detect different types of fires and be less prone to false alarms from things like cooking smoke. At Smoke Alarm Experts we will only install alarms that meet the latest standards.

We haven’t even touched on other important fire safety features such as carbon monoxide alarms. Most jurisdictions in the US now require CO alarms in new home builds. We also highly recommend very inexpensive stovetop fire suppression systems as well as fire extinguishers. These are both budget friendly items that you can afford to put in your home. Please see our other content about these other important safety systems.

Who would have thought this was so complicated? For that reason alone, we recommend hiring a professional with experience installing smoke alarms and that installs, at a minimum, alarms that meet the latest standards from a reputable brand. Even if that installer is not us.

Many people can perform this job. A lot of electricians, HVAC companies, and handymen offer this service. While a lot of companies CAN do this work, they have little or no information or pricing available on their websites. The difference with Smoke Alarm Experts is that we specialize in smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms, and a small set of home fire suppression devices. We constantly research the latest building code standards, National Fire Protection Association standards, alarm technology, and product performance reviews. We have a minimum alarm standard at our entry level price. Our pricing is extremely competitive, fair, and VERY straightforward to figure out because it’s listed on our website. So there’s no surprises for you! We work quickly and cleanly and leave your house like we found it.

Hopefully you found some interesting information in this article and, if you’re in our service area, we would love to help you protect your home, but most importantly, we would love to help you protect your most valuable assets. Thanks!

Last updated: 1/29/2025