Blog Post

Smoke Alarms

Darren Holbrook • Nov 25, 2015

Smoke alarms almost always seem to go off in the middle of the night. Thankfully ...

Smoke alarms almost always seem to go off in the middle of the night. Thankfully though, it is not because of Smoke or fire but simply a malfunction of the alarm itself.

I consider this a safety issue and I want to know first thing the next day, weekend or holiday. I have gone in homes to do my inspection and find the alarms not hooked up and almost always get told, “Oh yea, I forgot to tell you that.”

Here are some tips you can do to fix it yourself.
1. Take out the battery.
2. Unhook it from the ceiling and the electrical plug.
3. Press and hold the test button. You should hear it sound off and keep it pressed down for 30 seconds to a minute.
4. Hook it back to the ceiling and hook up the electrical plug.
5. Put a new battery in.
6. Press the test button to make sure it works.

If it fails or starts to beep again then follow these steps.
1. Get a can of compressed air spray, like you use to clean a computer with. Spray the compressed air into the smoke alarm. Spray it really good.
2. Test it again.

If this fails then it is almost always a bad alarm and will need to be replaced.

Tenants are responsible for checking the alarms and replacing the batteries as needed. I have reminders set up for each property to remind me to remind the tenants to check the alarms quarterly.

We think a fire will not happen to us. I hope it never does but make sure your alarms are in good working order just in case. It only takes a few minutes to check all the alarms in your home.

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