When it comes to smoke detector placement, there's more to it than just placing one in each room. In fact, where you place them plays a big role in how effective they are at protecting your family. Here's a quick guide that will help you place your smoke detectors where they'll be of the most benefit to you and your family.
Kitchen
The kitchen may be one of the most confusing places for smoke detectors, especially when you want to avoid the alarms that go off when you burn your food. Your response to the accidental alarms may be to simply disconnect the kitchen smoke detectors. Unfortunately, that can lead to devastating consequences if you have a real fire while they're disconnected.
An easy way to reduce the accidental alarms is to place the smoke detector right outside of the kitchen. Placing the detector outside the kitchen will allow you to clear the smoke from an over-cooked meal before the alarm goes off, while still ensuring that the alarm will sound for a real threat.
Bedrooms
When it comes to your bedroom, the sooner you're alerted to a fire, the better. This is particularly true if you're asleep when the alarm sounds. Place your smoke detector right inside the bedroom directly over the doorway. This will ensure that the alarm sounds as soon as smoke begins to enter the room. Placing the alarm further into the room may lead to the entire room filling with smoke before the alarm sounds.
Hallway
You may think that having detectors in your bedrooms negates the need for alarms in the hallway. However, that's not the case. Installing one smoke detector at each end of the hallway is an excellent way to increase safety to the rest of the house. This is especially true if the fire starts in the living room and travels down the hallway towards the bedrooms. Smoke detectors placed in the hallway will alert you to the fire before the smoke has a chance to enter the bedrooms, which may give you additional time to evacuate the house.
Garage
Most people don't think to place a smoke detector in the garage. However, a smoke detector placed in the garage would alert you to smoke before your garage became fully engulfed in flames. If you store flammable liquids in your garage, you should consider installing a smoke detector.
To protect your home and your family from smoke and fire hazards, you need to have smoke detectors in your home at all times. The tips provided above will help you install them maximum protection. Contact a local fire alarm inspection company, such as Bevan Security Systems, Inc., for further assistance.
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