Linked Smoke Detectors Are Smart Upgrade
December 19, 2008 – 1:45 pm
If it’s been a while since you upgraded your smoke detectors (or even thought about them), it may be time. Today you can get linked detectors, which is a smart move.
Linked smoke detectors alert the whole house (each alarm starts beeping) when one alarm detects smoke. Consider augmenting battery-powered detectors with hardwired ones (this means that even if you’re lousy about remembering to check the batteries on your smoke detectors, the hardwired ones will still go off in an emergency).
And if you’re tired of your smoky cooking setting off the detector in the kitchen, you can pick up heat sensors that are designed to sense a rapid temperature increase instead of simply responding to the presence of smoke. Heat sensors cost $50-$100.
You may also want to pick up carbon monoxide detectors (they cost about $100), which protect you against the colorless, odorless gas that is produced by malfunctioning equipment.
Tags: fire safety, Home Safety, smoke detectors