Without question, smoke detectors are a very important piece of equipment to have around the house or the workplace. However, sometimes these essential pieces of equipment can malfunction and cause false alarms. These false alarms are, of course, dangerous, and the risk spawns from the actions people take – or don’t take – in response to these false alarms.
Reasons for a Smoke Detector False Alarm
This blog will touch on the responses that people give to these false alarms, why these responses are dangerous, and what can cause these false alarms to take place.
Dust
If a smoke detector is placed in or near a particularly dusty location, the dust may interfere with the device’s sensors and cause it to go off needlessly. To make sure this doesn’t occur, it would be wise to routinely make sure that your smoke alarm and its area are free of dust.
Cooking
How many times has this happened to you? You’re in the middle of cooking dinner, and the smoke detector goes off. One of the causes of this false alarm may be increased sensitivity. To circumvent this false alarm from happening, take a good look at your smoke detector and see if there is any way to adjust the sensitivity.
Steam
Similar to the way that smoke detectors may misread the smoke that your stove might make, smoke detectors may misread steam from your bathroom shower. To avoid this false alarm from happening, it may be a good idea to not place smoke detectors too near the bathroom if possible.
Low Battery Power
Slightly different from a traditional false alarm, most smoke detectors will emit a series of chirps every few seconds to alert the owner that the batteries need to be replaced. To stop this false alarm all you need to do is replace the batteries.
How Not to Handle a False Alarm
What makes smoke detector false alarms so dangerous is the fact that people eventually cease to take them seriously.
Ignoring the Alarm
When the smoke detectors needlessly went off twice within an hour at an office, many people simply put in headphones and turned up the volume on their computers just to drown out the sound. This is the wrong approach to take. Every sounding of the smoke detector should be taken seriously. Don’t let your guard down until it is determined that everything is safe.
Disabling the Alarm
You might think that if the smoke detector becomes too much of a nuisance that a way to get it to shut up is to take the batteries out. You’d be right, but this is a bad move. If the batteries aren’t in the detector, then it can’t perform as it’s intended, thereby substantially increasing the risk of personal injury.
Smoke detectors are an important and useful piece of technology. Like any other piece of technology, smoke detectors can sometimes malfunction. But even in the face of a false alarm, it is important to take a beeping smoke detector seriously. Your safety may depend on it.
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