Smoke alarms are one of the most crucial fire safety devices. They let you whenever there is smoke and fire, giving you enough time to evacuate your house. 

Testing your smoke alarms is an easy task that can save your loved ones and the roof over your head. But how often should you test your smoke alarm? Let’s find out. 

Once a Month

Regularly testing your smoke alarms is essential to fire safety. They should be ideally checked once a month to ensure they’re working properly. This includes testing the alarm and changing the batteries if needed. 

Smoke alarms usually have test buttons, which you can press to check if they’re working well. But if your smoke alarms don’t have test buttons, use a smoke alarm testing spray, which you can buy online.

We also recommend adding your carbon monoxide detectors to your testing routine to ensure everything works fine. 

At the very least, test your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors twice a year. The time of the year doesn’t matter much as long as you check them once every six months. However, we recommend testing your alarms as frequently as you can. 

When the Batteries Need to Be Replaced

Smoke alarms don’t require much maintenance. However, according to the USFA (United States Fire Administration), their batteries must be replaced at least once or twice a year. When you replace them, you also need to test them. 

An easy way to remember this is to change your smoke alarms’ batteries when you change clocks because of daylight savings. This is just a general rule, so review your smoke alarm manual. You might need to replace the batteries more frequently. 

Lastly, smoke alarms might beep to indicate low batteries that need replacement soon. When this happens, check your smoke alarm to determine the problem. You see, a smoke alarm beeping multiple times might mean different things. Check out our guide about fire detectors beeping three times to know what the beeps mean. 

After Cleaning

Dust and debris can accumulate on your smoke alarms over time. They can affect your alarms’ performance. Hence, you should clean them to make sure they can detect smoke and warn you during fire emergencies. 

Clean your smoke alarm by wiping it with a soft cloth or gently vacuuming around it. We also suggest doing a visual inspection to see if dust and debris entered the device. 

Once you’re done cleaning, test the smoke alarm to see if it works. If it doesn’t, call a professional and have it fixed or replaced as soon as possible. 

Conclusion

As much as we want them to work forever, smoke alarms are not invincible. Their parts wear out over time, their batteries can die, and dust and debris might affect their performance. 

For these reasons, regularly testing your smoke alarms should be part of your fire safety routine. Doing this ensures that your family stays safe once a fire breaks out in your home.