When was the last time you changed your smoke detector battery? Is it more than a year now? Then it’s time to replace it with a suitable new battery. This article will walk you through how to tell if smoke detector needs new battery.
Once the battery in a smoke alarm gets weak and low, the smoke alarm always gives a “chirp” sound within 30 seconds to let you know that the battery needs a replacement. Note that only the smoke detector with a low battery will chirp while the other interconnected alarms will remain silent.
Read Also: Why does my Smoke Detector Beeping or Chirping
In addition, other basic signs vary from one model of the smoke detector to another that allows you to know when it’s time to replace a smoke detector’s battery. It is essential to know how to tell if smoke detector needs new battery. Knowing this will prevent you from having to worry about how your smoke detector will respond in case there’s a fire in your home.
To detect the particular smoke detector whose battery is low, long-press on the Test button on all smoke alarms in your home. It should give a loud pitch/tone which is different from the triggered alarm sound. Although the tones or pitch differ from one alarm to another. In case the pitch or tone is low, then the battery is low.
Smoke detectors installed in your home play a very important role in keeping you and your family safe and alert of possible dangers from fire incidence. However, these smoke alarms are only as good as the fire alarm battery that is powering them.
It’s essential to keep your home smoke alarm functional and maintained so it can work optimally. Assuming, a potential fire accident was to occur in your home, you will be happy you checked your smoke alarm battery in time!
Smoke detectors are designed to last for about ten years before getting replaced with new ones. Once they exceed the ten-year life span, they often begin to lose their sensitivity and they suddenly won’t be able to detect smoke like they used to before. By the end of this guide, you will be able to tell if smoke detector needs new battery or not.
Signs you see to know when to get a new Smoke Detector
Below are feasible signs you will see to let you know it’s time to throw an old smoke detector away and replace it with a new one. Check out the signs below to tell if smoke detector needs new battery or not :
Smoke Detector is Turning Yellow
Climbing up on a ladder to check the “manufacture date” on all the smoke detectors in your home seems like a tedious task. Old smoke detectors will begin to turn yellow over time especially when it’s over 10 years.
However, some people believe that smoke detectors turn yellow after spending many years being exposed to dust in the air. While others think they turn yellow due to accumulated cigarette smoke that comes in contact with them over and over again and causes them to become discolored.
The truth is that most smoke detectors contain bromine, which is used as a flame retardant. This makes the detector change its color to yellow. It is used to help the smoke detector stand up to a fire so that it can alert you if there’s smoke or fire anywhere around your home.
Bromine causes smoke detectors to turn yellow once it’s exposed to heat, oxygen, and Ultraviolet light. These reactions occur naturally inside a home over time. It takes a while for this process to materialize giving you a correct timeframe to order a replacement.
This is one of the most evident signs that you need to have a new smoke detector put into place immediately. You will be able to tell if smoke detector needs new battery or not.
Chirping Sound Almost all the time
The non-stop chirping sound that keeps coming from your smoke detector should not be overlooked. If you ignore the sound, you are eventually going tp
If you don’t do something about the chirping, you’re eventually going to make your smoke detector non-functional. This could make you ignore a smoke detector that’s going off for real.
You will also be putting your home at risk since chirping could be a sign that a smoke detector battery is low and weak. Some smoke detectors chirp over and over (and over!) again when they are on their last legs.
You can stop the chirping sound by replacing the batteries in your smoke detector. However, in case you have fresh and new batteries in it or if you had it hardwired by an electrician and it’s still chirping, this should be a big cause for concern.
Plan to get a replacement for your smoke detector immediately to make the chirping sound a thing of the past. And you will also be able to tell if smoke detector needs new battery or not
It Doesn’t Respond Once You Test It
Always test your smoke detectors at least once every month or even more often than that. Testing a smoke detector is quite easy. All you need to do is tab the “test” button located on the smoke detector to ensure your smoke detector is working properly.
If your smoke detector is functioning optimally, then it should beep several times (ensure you take few steps back since these beeps are usually very loud!). This will notify you that you don’t have anything to be worried about.
However, in case your smoke detector isn’t working properly the way it should be, then, it won’t beep at all when you test it out. Or if it does beep, it will sound very faint and won’t have much of an impact on you.
Ensure you adhere to the USFA guidelines and test your smoke detector out at least once every month. You should also consider replacing your smoke detector once you don’t get a satisfactory reaction from it when you put it to the test.
About 60% of the deaths caused by fires every year in U.S. homes don’t have functional smoke detectors in them according to USFA reports. You can ensure that your home doesn’t become a part of this disturbing statistic by running a regular test on your smoke detectors.
It Suddenly goes off without Prior Notice
As smoke detectors get older, although, it’s common for most of them to struggle with sensitivity issues. They suddenly begin to pick up on issues that don’t even exist.
When this occurs, some smoke detectors will start to go off all the time for no real reason. It can be very frustrating that some homeowners will take their smoke detectors down and remove the batteries from them to get them to be silent.
In case you have smoke detectors like this in your home, it’s best to replace them than to continuously remove their batteries from them. You will be putting your home at risk of fires every time you take a smoke detector down completely and disconnect it.
You certainly don’t want your smoke detectors to go off after picking up on the presence of a few specks of dust. However, you might want them to be sensitive enough to detect real smoke from a fire if you ever experience one in your home.
The only way to guarantee if they will be able to do this is by replacing them when they get old immediately. This will ensure that they only go off when you need them to. That’s it!
It Contains Faulty Parts That Led to a Recall
Always check your smoke detector to see if a recall has been done in your home. Although this is time-consuming and a bit tedious it is sure worth it.
Some smoke detectors are occasionally recalled due to faulty parts found inside of them. You might be lucky and spot a story about your smoke detectors being recalled on the news. However, unless your smoke detector is part of a huge recall, you can’t always count on the news to let you know about a recall.
You can also make use of the internet to see if you can find any information regarding a recall on your home’s smoke detectors. Check again in the months and years to come too, since there is always a chance your smoke detectors could be recalled at a later date. You will be able to tell if smoke detector needs new battery or not too.
How to tell if Smoke Detector needs New Battery
A high-pitched chirping noise will be heard coming from the smoke alarm if the batteries need to be changed. It’s best to be proactive and change the batteries before that noise occurs or even increases. In case you change the batteries in a single alarm, ensure you change the batteries in other alarms in your home.
Smoke alarms that are battery-operated and hardwired into the electrical system must have their batteries changed yearly or at most twice a year. You can change the batteries on New Year’s Day. Since it is a brand new year, you can decide to celebrate it with fire safety and a brand new battery for the smoke detector. In case you notice you have a smoke detector that goes off frequently, then you should change the batteries twice a year.
You don’t have to wait for your smoke alarm to do that annoying chirping noise to remind you to charge its batteries. The chirping noise is a pleasant safety feature that let you know that it is time to change batteries and test the detectors.
Don’t be too sure that your smoke detector is working perfectly, always test them monthly. Replace their batteries at least once every year. When it comes to your family safety, it’s important to always have functional batteries installed every time.
The battery in your smoke alarm must be something you can depend on confidently. That is why a 10-Year Sealed Battery Smoke Alarm is recommended. Instead of having to routinely change the smoke alarm batteries, you will be sure your smoke alarm battery can work properly because of its long alarm life span.
Since these smoke alarms are warrantied for up to 10 years, you can be rest assured that they will last.
Select creditable smoke detectors and use excellent batteries in case you switch batteries in smoke detectors. Do not use rechargeable batteries, except you want to damage your smoke detector all by yourself.
The most functional smoke alarm will ensure you and your family are protected all the time.
By learning how to tell if smoke detector needs new battery, you can make your home a safer place to live anytime. The chances of a fire starting in your home and causing a lot of casualties can be prevented or reduced. So will the chances of a fire outbreak causing injuries or death in your home.
We hope you can now know how to tell if smoke detector needs new battery without having to call an Electrician. Let’s know how this post solved your issues in the comment section below. Thanks for reading thus far.