CLEANING YOUR ALARM
YOUR ALARM SHOULD BE VACUUMED ONCE A MONTH
If the tamper resist feature has been activated you will need to follow the instructions
in Section 3 to remove your alarm for maintenance.
To clean your alarm, remove it from the mounting bracket as outlined in the
beginning of this section. You can clean the interior of your alarm (sensing chamber)
by using compressed air or a vacuum cleaner hose and blowing or vacuuming through
the openings around the perimeter of the alarm. The outside of the alarm can be
wiped with a damp cloth.
After cleaning, reinstall your alarm and test your alarm by using the test button. If
cleaning does not restore the alarm to normal operation the alarm should be replaced.
7.LIMITATIONS OF SMOKE ALARMS
WARNING: PLEASE READ CAREFULLY AND THOROUGHLY
• Life safety from fire in residential occupancies is based primarily on early notification
to occupants of the need to escape, followed by the appropriate actions by those
occupants. Fire warning systems for dwelling units are capable of protecting about
half of the occupants in potentially fatal fires. Victims are often intimate with the
fire, too old or young, or physically or mentally impaired such that they cannot
escape even when warned early enough that escape should be possible. For these
people, other strategies such as protection-in-place or assisted escape or rescue are
necessary.
• Smoke alarms are devices that can provide early warning of possible fires at a
reasonable cost; however, alarms have sensing limitations. Ionisation sensing
alarms may detect invisible fire particles (associated with fast flaming fires) sooner
than photoelectric alarms. Photoelectric sensing alarms may detect visible fire
particles (associated with slow smoldering fires) sooner than ionisation alarms.
Home fires develop in different ways and are often unpredictable. For maximum
protection, Kidde recommends that both Ionisation and Photoelectric alarms be
installed.
• A battery powered alarm must have a battery of the specified type, in good condition
and installed properly.
• Smoke alarms must be tested regularly to make sure the batteries and the alarm
circuits are in good operating condition.
• Smoke alarms cannot provide an alarm if smoke does not reach the alarm.
Therefore, smoke alarms may not sense fires starting in chimneys, walls, on roofs,
on the other side of a closed door or on a different floor.
• If the alarm is located outside the bedroom or on a different floor, it may not wake
up a sound sleeper.
• The use of alcohol or drugs may also impair one’s ability to hear the smoke alarm.
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