Proper placement of smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors in your home is important to the safety of your family. You want to have the right number of them installed in the correct locations. Follow these simple rules to have your smoke and carbon monoxide alarms at peak performance. Continue reading to find out how easy it is to properly place smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in your home.
Smoke alarm technology has improved tremendously over the years. But the discussion around picking out a particular alarm for your home is not in the scope of this article. That’s why I want you to read this article about picking The Best Smoke Detector. It walks you through all the details on smoke and carbon monoxide alarms.
Where To Place Smoke Detectors And Carbon Monoxide Detectors
The National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code, also known as NFPA 72 has some requirements that should be met to ensure maximum safety from your alarms. Although smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors have different requirements, they overlap enough to be able to use a combination unit where appropriate.
Room placement for smoke detectors requires them in every bedroom, in the hallway outside the sleeping areas, and at least one on every level of the house, including basements. There must be at least one carbon monoxide alarm on every level of the house in the main living areas, including basements.
It is recommended to have a smoke detector in the kitchen area, but is not a requirement. Keep in mind that having one in the kitchen may trigger false alarms while cooking. Neither type of alarm is required in a garage or an attic space.
CAUTION: Do not place either smoke or carbon monoxide alarms in the bathroom, as the humidity may reduce their lifespan.
You do not need a carbon monoxide alarm inside the bedrooms or the kitchen. Neither alarm should be within a 6 ft radius of any appliances.
Smoke Detector on Wall or Ceiling
When deciding on a placement for a smoke detector, your choices to consider are putting them on either a wall or a ceiling. Its okay to install them in either location, but keep a few things in mind.
Wall placement for a smoke detector is best if the top of the alarm is at least four inches from the ceiling, but no more than one foot from the ceiling. And it does not matter what orientation they are placed in when mounting them to the wall.
Ceiling placement for smoke detectors is best if the edge of them are at least 4 inches from the wall. The corners of the room are considered a dead air zone. It’s also ideal to have them in front of, or near to the room’s main doorway. This will cause it to sound if any smoke outside the room comes in through the doorway. See diagram.
Carbon monoxide detector placement is a bit different, but overlaps the smoke detector placement. This makes it possible to be able to use combination units that detect for both smoke and carbon monoxide.
Wall placement for carbon monoxide detectors is at least 6 inches from the ceiling and 6 inches from the floor. If you want to install it on the ceiling you will place the edge at least 6 inches from the wall. See diagram.
Interconnecting (Hard Wired) Smoke Detectors Vs Battery Operated Smoke Detectors
There are two available power options for smoke detectors. One way is to hard wire them together. This began being a requirement for new houses in 1973, but that year is not the same for every state. Houses built in or after 1992 require the hard wired smoke detectors to have a built in battery backup.
Interconnecting the smoke detectors links them to one another so that if one triggers, all of them will be triggered. This option is built into the home during the construction phase, so if your home doesn’t have wires installed, then you don’t need this type of alarm.
The main benefit for this is if you are not in the area that has smoke, and the alarm is going off somewhere in the house you will hear it more quickly, and be able to get to safety sooner.
Photoelectric Vs Ionization Smoke Detectors
There are two types of sensors used in smoke detectors. Each one does a better job than its counterpart at responding to particular types of smoke more quickly. Some states require one option as opposed to the other. And other states may even require a combination of the two to be used.
The chart below will help you determine which type of smoke detector you need in your state. If you are in the market for buying a smoke detector visit the article on picking The Best Smoke Detectors.
What Are Photoelectric Smoke Detectors?
Fires can be placed into two basic categories. The typical ones we think about are those that have a visible flame producing smoke. But there is another type of fire that smolders. This means it doesn’t have any flames but produces larger smoke particles.
The larger particles are read more quickly by a photoelectric smoke detector. This means you will be alerted more quickly to a smoldering fire with this smoke alarm.
There happens to be another type of fire that we may encounter. An ionization smoke alarm has a sensor built for these types of fires.
What Is An Ionization Smoke Detector?
When we think of fires we generally think of a visible flame that produces smoke. The smoke from these flames will typically have smaller particles that are read more quickly by an ionization smoke detector. This is helpful to alert you quickly so you can get to safety faster.
Now that we know the difference between Ionization and Photoelectric smoke detectors, there is one question I know that’s on your mind.
Do I Need Both Ionization And Photoelectric Smoke Detectors?
It’s ideal to have both ionization and photoelectric alarms in your home, but not always a requirement. This chart is going to show you the basics of what your state requires. It’s a good idea to do a quick search online to find out if maybe your county or city has different requirements than what are listed here.
For states that don’t mind which one you chose it’s fine to pick either one. They will both alarm you in a reasonable time frame if there is smoke in your house.
How Often Should I Test my Smoke Alarms?
It’s recommended you test your alarm once every week or two. If you can’t do it frequently, try to test them at least once a month. A lot of the newer models have a test button making this easy.
This article is meant to be a broad overview of the above topic. If you have any more specific questions it’s best to do an independent search online to find those answers.
And if you are ready to buy your smoke detectors, then visit the article called The Best Smoke Detector. It includes carbon monoxide detectors in it as well.
Happy Home Owning,
Kevin