CLEANING YOUR ALARM

YOUR ALARM SHOULD BE CLEANED AT LEAST ONCE A YEAR

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

•NFPA 72 states: Life safety from fire in residential occupancies is based primarily on early notification to occupants of the need to escape, followed by the appropriate egress actions by those occupants. Fire warning systems for dwelling units are capable of protecting about half of the occupants in poten- tially 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. Ionization sensing alarms may detect invisible fire particles (associated with fast flaming fires) sooner than photoelectric alarms. Photoelectric sensing alarms may detect visi- ble fire particles (associated with slow smoldering fires) sooner than ionization alarms. Home fires develop in different ways and are often unpredictable. For maximum protection, Kidde recommends that both Ionization and Photoelectric alarms be installed.

•A battery powered alarm must have a battery of the specified type, in good con- dition and installed properly.

•AC powered alarms (without battery backup) will not operate if the AC power has been cut off, such as by an electrical fire or an open fuse.

•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.