Four Smoke Alarm Maintenance Tips that Can Save Your Home

When a fire erupts in your home, it can quickly spread and cause extensive damage to your home, possessions, property, and potentially loved ones.  Fires are one of the most common causes that bring people their insurance company to get compensation for damages.  As a public insurance claims adjuster in Hillsborough County, we help our clients estimate the cost of property damages that are caused by accidents like house fires.  In order to prevent house fires from occurring, you will want to be sure to have working smoke detectors in your home.  There are a few smoke alarm maintenance tips that you need to follow to save your home from the destruction of a fire.

Make Sure They Are Properly Installed

One of the first lines of defense against a fire is a working smoke alarm.  You want to be sure that they are properly installed by professionals so that they efficiently function in the event of a fire in your home.

Test Your Alarms

You should test your smoke alarms to ensure that they is working properly at least once every month.  In order to test it, hold in the test button until you hear an alert tone.  This will let you know that your smoke alarm has sufficient battery power and will alert you in the event of a fire.  If you have difficulty reaching your alarm on high ceilings, you can use the end of a broom to reach the button for testing

Clean Your Alarms

It may seem strange to clean your smoke alarms, but you'd be surprised at how dusty or dirty they can become over time.  Every six months, you should do a thorough vacuum or dusting of your smoke alarms to keep cobwebs and dust from muffling the detection and noise.  You'll want your smoke alarms to be sensitive the moment a fire breaks out in your home.

Replace Their Batteries

Anytime you test your smoke alarms and they show that there is insufficient battery power, you will want to immediately change the batteries.  Consider investing in smoke alarms that alert you when the power is running low as a reminder to change the batteries.   A smoke alarm that doesn't have battery power will not work in the detection of a fire, which means that they are pointless in protecting your home, belongings, and loved ones.

These are a few important maintenance tips that you'll need to follow in order to protect your home from the destruction a house fire can cause.  To prevent extensive damage, be sure to follow this list and routinely check your smoke detectors.  If you happen to suffer property damage due to a house fire, you will want to trust our public insurance claims adjuster in Hillsborough County get the insurance settlement and right estimate that you need to cover costs of repair.  Contact us to hear about how we can help you today.