Smoke detector safety is important for landlords so be sure you know how to maintain smoke detectors and who is responsible for smoke detector maintenance.
By Steve Lockwood
Regarding fire safety, properly operating smoke detectors is one of the most essential tools for alerting property owners and firefighters of dangerous home and apartment fires before they happen.
They are a simple tool that saves lives.
According to the National Fire Protection Association, “Roughly three out of five fire deaths happen in homes with either no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms.”
This means that the risk of death from a residential or apartment fire is cut in half in homes with operable smoke alarms. In states such as Arizona, where I work, rental property owners must provide smoke detectors to their tenants. However, fire safety requires more than just installing smoke detectors on your property: You must also maintain them. Doing so will keep your property and, more importantly, your tenants better protected against fires.
Here are a few tips from an Arizona fire protection expert on maintaining smoke detectors.
Conduct professional inspections annually
The biggest thing a rental property can do to ensure their smoke detectors work is to have them inspected annually by a fire safety professional.
This is especially true of multifamily property owners who must ensure their smoke detectors are connected to the more extensive fire alarm system. A professional is going to do more than just check the batteries.
They will smoke test them, visually inspect them for signs of damage and tampering, and inspect the control panel to ensure your smoke detectors communicate with other devices. A fire safety expert will also document their findings and issue the corrective action you must take.
No one knows the state of your smoke detectors better than fire safety inspectors, and doing an annual inspection protects your property and your tenants while only taking a few hours to conduct. Annual inspections are a baseline for fire safety. Have a fire safety expert inspect your smoke detectors once a year; they will help catch any issues you have.
Clean and replace them
A fire safety inspection is great, but you should look at it more as a test you want to pass instead of a checklist of chores the fire inspector gives you.
You can do most of the smoke detector maintenance yourself. You must clean your smoke detector at least once every six months and once every three months if your tenants have pets. Dirt, dust, pet hair, and other home grime accumulate in the smoke detector over time and a dirty smoke detector can either not go off when there is a fire or give you false alarms. The dirtier they get, the less they work correctly.
I recommend removing the head of the smoke detector and using compressed air to blow the dirt and grime off the smoke detector. You can also vacuum the dust out if you don’t have a compressed air canister. Do not clean your smoke detectors with water because it will damage the unit. You should also replace your smoke detectors every ten years, even if they work correctly. After ten years, alarm sensors are on borrowed time, so new smoke detectors are needed.
Replace your smoke detectors ten years from the manufacturing date. You can find the date on the back of your alarm.
Replace batteries
Everyone knows the annoying beeping sound that comes on when your smoke detector battery is low. Most people change their batteries whenever they hear that beep, but you should replace batteries before that happens.
Replace smoke detector batteries with 9-volt lithium batteries once every six months. This is because you want to replace worn and torn old batteries with fresh ones. It is just an extra safety measure you can put on your calendar twice a year. You can also set a clause in your agreement that the tenant must replace batteries to ensure they do their part to protect against fires.
Test smoke alarms yourself
You shouldn’t wait a year for a fire safety inspector to test your smoke detectors.
You can do it yourself. Do a smoke test on your smoke detectors every three months or anytime you do a property inspection. You can see if they work using a can of test smoke alarm tester. You can find them at any home improvement store. Spray a puff of test smoke; if the detector works, it should go off. It is a simple test that only takes a few minutes and gives you peace of mind that your smoke detectors will go off if a fire starts.
Smoke detector maintenance is an easy task and one of the most significant factors in saving lives. Fires happen, and smoke detectors ensure that your tenants are alerted to a fire before it puts them at greater risk. Replace the batteries every six months, replace smoke detectors every ten years, use test smoke, and, most importantly, hire a fire safety professional to inspect them annually. Follow these steps, and you will rest easy knowing your smoke detectors are doing their job.
About the author:
Steve Lockwood is the Owner of Mountain State Fire Protection LLC, an Arizona fire equipment inspections, sales, service, and repair company in Phoenix, Arizona. Mountain State Fire specializes in selling primer fire equipment and fire protection services to residential customers across Phoenix.