Spring Cleaning Should Be The Time For Changing Smoke Alarm Batteries, Checking Filters, and Safety Drills

Now that weather is starting to warm up and spring is here, a lot of people start cleaning their home and getting rid of things. A couple of things should be added to the list when you are spring cleaning. Test and change your batteries on your carbon monoxide detector and your fire alarms,  also change your filter on your furnace. Here's a little help when you are changing batteries.

Press the test button, it will make an annoying noise but you will save a life. Purchase a new one if it looks old, they aren’t expensive at all and every once in a while fire departments have giveaways.

Most of the time, Americans never check their smoke alarms. I talked to a couple of the area first responders and they said people wait till they chirp. That happened to me. I wondered why it never went off when I burned something on the stove. Turns out it was 10 years old and had a dead battery.

According to the Red Cross, the average single-family home should have at least five alarms. By the time a smoke alarm is 10 years old, it has a 30 percent chance of not working. Twenty-three percent of American adults said they would replace their home furnace, heater or air conditioning system if they knew it wouldn’t work tomorrow, but fewer than 5 percent said they would replace their smoke alarm.

Another good thing to have is a carbon monoxide alarm plugged in to the wall with a battery back up. Most people don't check those either, and that is something you will never see like you would if your house is on fire.

Get together with your family, what do you do in certain situations. Have a path that every child knows to get out of your house. Have a meeting place once you are out of the house, and practice many times if you have very young children.