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Smoke & Carbon Monoxide Detectors
Knowledge is the Best Form of Prevention.
Smoke Detectors
Smoke detectors are one of the most important safety features in your home. Properly installed, they serve as a built-in early warning system to allow you and your family to escape fire-inflicted bodily harm.
With that assurance comes a major responsibility. And that, simply stated, is to see to it that your fire detectors are prepared to do the job they were built for…without fail.
Other than routine battery checks and replacement, the NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) recommends that you replace all smoke detectors after 10 years.
Here’s why:
- On average, 3% of all smoke detectors fail each year;
- After 10 years, a smoke detector is 30% likely to fail;
- After 15 years, the likelihood of failure is 50%;
- After 30 years, studies show, it’s a virtual guarantee that a smoke detector will fail.
- Each year, more than 3,200 Americans lose their lives in residential fires.
Here are some additional home safety tips:
- Smoke detectors should be placed in all hallways leading to sleeping quarters. If your home has more than one level, install a smoke detector on each level near the stairs.
- To test if there’s a fire in progress, feel the bedroom door with the back of your hand before you attempt to exit. Then, crawl out so you stay below the smoke.
- In-home safety can be enhanced by as much as 80% when you install an automatic fire sprinkler system along with smoke detectors. That’s a job for your professional M&M electrical service team.
Carbon Monoxide Detectors
Every year, hundreds of people die from carbon monoxide poisoning, and thousands more become seriously ill. So here’s a quick primer on CO causes and how to minimize their effects.
Carbon monoxide is a natural byproduct of appliances and power tools that burn fuels like gas, oil, kerosene, wood, or charcoal. Breathing low levels of CO can cause shortness of breath, mild nausea, and headaches. At higher levels of inhalation, CO can cause drowsiness, nausea, vomiting, and confusion. At the extreme? Loss of consciousness and death.
Will any ol’ CO detector do? Absolutely not. In fact, and without exception, we recommend installing professional grade, low-level carbon monoxide detectors – with audible alarms – in your home and garage.
You see, the home center or hardware store models are barely provide adequate even for healthy adults. That’s why you need the following added protection:
- Our detectors sense CO levels as low as 5ppm (parts per million);
- Standard home center varieties don’t alert you until CO levels hit 70 ppm or higher…the problem is, infants, children, elderly persons or those with respiratory or heart ailments can suffer illness and permanent disabilities from a steady does of CO levels as low as 15 ppm;
- By the time a home center detector alarm goes off, dangerous levels of CO may have been present for an up to 3.5 hours.
Once again, M&M Electric can help you take the straight and sure path to increased home safety.
Local Phone #’s:
Destin: 837-5574 - Ft. Walton Beach: 243-2981 - Gulf Breeze: 932-0406 - Navarre:939-0404 Pace: 995-0784 - Pensacola: 438-8363
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