Smoke Detectors and Smoke Alarms
This article explains what and why use smoke detectors at your premises; Beyond a beep: How smoke alarms fit into your disaster plan. Smoke alarms are emerging as common device in majority of the business premises and even in some homes. They detect the occurrence or the presence of smoke in a building. We explore more of smoke alarms in this blog.
What are smoke alarms?
As the name suggests, whenever there is concentration of smoke in a building smoke alarms tend to produce sound indicating the potential of a fire hazard. Types of smoke alarms, ionization and photoelectric.
What are smoke alarms?
- Ionization smoke alarms – they monitor electrical charged particles. An electrical imbalance of the air is created thus causing the alarm to sound.
- Photoelectric smoke alarms – they use a beam of light and sensor. Once the smoke alters the required amount of light to reach the sensor the alarm goes on.
Advantage of smoke alarms.
- They alert people on the presence of smoke in the building.
Disadvantage of smoke alarms.
- They make false alarms sometimes caused by the faultiness of the device. However, it is better to extinguish a spark before it becomes a flame.
Proper maintenance of smoke alarms.
- Test the smoke alarms monthly by pressing the press button on the device.
- Replacing the battery immediately when the low warning alarm sounds or at least once a year.
- Clean the device by regularly vacuuming.
