• Your smoke alarm is packaged with the battery disconnected. Connect it to
the battery leads before mounting the smoke alarm.
• A smoke alarm will not work without a good battery installed correctly. The
smoke alarm must be tested when a new battery is installed and every
week after that.
• A smoke alarm that beeps about once per minute means the battery is
weak, and you need a new battery.
• A smoke alarm should never be used, in any case, for more than 10 years.
WHAT SMOKE ALARMS CAN DO
Smoke alarms can only HELP protect your home and family against loss
from a fire. The best protection is obtained by installing smoke alarms in
each room, and each other area of the home, making sure the people in the
home will be able to hear and respond to the alarm sound.
Your smoke alarm meets or exceeds the requirements for audibility set by
Underwriters’ Laboratories, Inc.
WARNING:
S
MOKE ALARMS MAY GIVE YOU A WARNING OF FIRE AND SMOKE
,
BUT ONLY
IF YOU INSTALL
,
USE AND MAINTAIN THEM IN ACCORDANCE WITH THESE INSTRUCTIONS
.
WHAT SMOKE ALARMS WILL NOT DO
A SMOKE ALARM WILL NOT WORK WITHOUT POWER. Your smoke alarm
needs a good battery that is installed correctly to work. A smoke alarm will
not work if its battery is missing, dead or put in wrong.
A SMOKE ALARM WILL NOT SENSE A FIRE WHEN THE SMOKE CANNOT
REACH THE ALARM. If a fire starts in a chimney, wall, roof, the other side of
a closed door, or any other isolated area, the smoke alarm may not sense the
smoke and will not give a warning. If you do not have an alarm in the bed-
room, and sleep with the door closed, a fire inside the bedroom may not
sound the alarm located in another room. Therefore, a smoke alarm must be
placed both inside and outside all bedrooms. A SMOKE ALARM WILL NOT
PROMPTLY SENSE A FIRE EXCEPT IN THE AREA OR ROOM IN WHICH
THE SMOKE ALARM IS LOCATED.
FOR EXAMPLE:
A. A SMOKE ALARM MAY NOT SENSE A FIRE ON ANOTHER LEVEL OF
A RESIDENCE OR BUILDING. A second-floor smoke alarm may not
detect a fire on the first floor or in the basement of a building. Therefore,
smoke alarms must be installed on every floor or level of your home or
building.
B. IF THE SMOKE ALARM IS LOCATED ON A DIFFERENT LEVEL
THAN THE BEDROOMS, OR IN AN ISOLATED AREA OF THE
HOUSE OR RESIDENCE, IT IS LESS LIKELY TO WAKE UP PEOPLE
SLEEPING IN THE BEDROOMS.
2
ALL TYPES OF SMOKE ALARMS HAVE LIMITATIONS. NO TYPE OF SMOKE
ALARM CAN SENSE EVERY KIND OF FIRE OR SMOKE EVERY TIME.
Ionization alarms are generally more effective at detecting fast, flaming fires that
consume combustible materials rapidly and spread quickly. Sources of these
fires may include flammable liquids or paper burning in a waste container.
Photoelectric alarms are generally more effective at detecting slow, smoldering
fires that smolder for hours before bursting into flame. Sources of these fires
may include cigarettes burning in couches or bedding.
However, both types of
alarms provide adequate detection of both types of fires.
If you desire the earliest detection of both smoldering fires and fast flaming fires,
you should install smoke alarms that combine both photoelectric and ionization
sensing technologies in one unit.
110-657D 12/9/05 2:39 PM Page 2
