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3 Features To Look For In Your New Home's Smoke Detectors

10 February 2016

Judith Anderson

Are you building a new home? Are you in the process of putting the final touches on your new house? One of those touches is probably the installation of smoke detectors. Smoke detectors are an important component of any home because they often provide the earliest notification of a fire. They could save your life and prevent costly fire damage. They may even save you money, as some insurance companies offer discounts for homeowners who have a top-notch smoke detector system. Not all smoke detectors are the same, though. Here are a few features to look for in your smoke detectors:

Interconnectability. This could be an important feature if you have a multi-level home. Interconnected smoke detectors connect with each other through the home's hard-wiring. Then, when one smoke detector goes off, they all go off. This could be important if a fire starts on the lower level, but everyone is asleep upstairs. You also may want to consider this kind of setup if the master bedroom is on the first floor and the other bedrooms are upstairs.

Most interconnected detectors are powered through the home's hard wiring. You'll want to make sure they also have a battery backup. That way, they'll continue to work even if your home loses power.

Digital CO display. Many smoke detectors now also detect carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide is fatal, but not easily detected. It has no taste or odor. Look for a smoke detector that detects carbon monoxide and also has a digital display that tells you the home's carbon monoxide level. This is important because different levels of carbon monoxide can be dangerous for different types of people. Children, pregnant women, and the elderly could all be vulnerable at lower levels.

With a digital display, you can see when your CO levels are increasing, even before they reach a dangerous or fatal level. You can then take action to resolve the problem and get the carbon monoxide out of your home.

Hush button. False alarms are common with smoke detectors. All it takes is a little bit of smoke from an overheated oven to set off your detector. With hush button, your smoke detector is temporarily silenced while you clear the smoke. Then the detector reactivates after a short period of time. Without a hush button, you may have to deactivate your detector to make it quiet. If you forget to turn it back on, your smoke detector won't provide the safety you need.

For more information, visit a store that sells smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, like GMW Fire Protection. They can help you find the right detectors for your home and your budget.

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