The purpose of a smoke detector is to alert you to smoke and/or a fire in your NJ home. Fires can spread fast, so the early detection of smoke can potentially save your and your family’s lives. Understanding
the best placement of smoke detectors helps you to maximize the life-saving benefits that these devices can provide.
How to Determine The Best Places for Smoke Detectors In The Home
Consider the location as you choose placement of smoke detectors in your NJ home. The location of these units will determine how quickly they’ll not only detect the smoke, but how easily you can hear the resulting alarm. Fires are more likely to start in some areas of the home, like the kitchen, and so you’ll want to be sure that alarms alert you to the danger.
Where Smoke Rises
Smoke naturally rises, so it will accumulate near the ceiling before it begins filling the lower parts of any room. Smoke detectors will detect smoke faster when they are installed overhead. Air vents push smoke away from the detectors, so best to avoid placing these detectors directly in the path of air from HVAC vents.
In Or Near The Kitchen
Cooking fires on the stove and in the oven are actually common. While some of these fires break out when you are nearby, others may begin when you have stepped out of the room or left a burner on unintentionally.
And by linking the smoke detectors together, everyone in the home can receive a notification about a fire at the same time, regardless of where they are. The best placement of a smoke detector in the kitchen is going to be several feet away from the primary cooking areas, this to prevent false alarms.
Near A Clothes Dryer
Dryer-related fires happen because of the heat that the dryer generates. This heat is removed through a ventilation duct, but the lint trap in the dryer and the duct can become clogged with lint. When this happens, the dryer gets superheated and the lint can easily catch fire. When considering the best placement for detectors in the home, be sure to include a smoke detector install near the clothing dryer.
Placement Of Smoke Detectors In The Home Includes Where You Sleep
Bedroom doors are often closed at night and fires can break out on either side of the door. The door slows the passage of smoke, so installing detectors on both sides of a bedroom door is a smart idea too. You may be particularly vulnerable in this area of the home because you are not as alert while relaxing, reading a book, watching TV, or sleeping.
Prepare for a potential fire by knowing the best placement of smoke detectors in your NJ home.
Veriguard Home Inspections, based in Hackensack Bergen County, NJ, provides home inspection services to Northern New Jersey. Contact us to schedule an inspection.