Daylight Saving Time = Replace Batteries In Smoke, Carbon Monoxide Alarms
DETROIT (WWJ) - After waking up Sunday morning and adjusting your clocks ahead one hour for Daylight Saving Time, it's a good time to replace the batteries in the smoke and carbon monoxide (CO) alarms around your home.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau's American Housing Survey for 2011, only three out of four homes reported they changed the batteries in their smoke alarms in the last six months. But officials warn that batteries need to be replaced in alarms every year.
Smoke alarms should be placed on every level of the home, inside each bedroom, and outside sleeping areas. There are more than 366,000 home fires every year and more than 2,300 people die in them, according to CPSC's latest Residential Fire Loss Estimates report.
While about 95 percent of U.S. homes report having at least one working smoke alarm, only 42 percent report having a working CO alarm, based on 2011 U.S. Census Bureau data.
Poisonous carbon monoxide -- known as the invisible killer because you cannot see or smell it -- can come from a variety of sources and quickly incapacitate and kill its victims. CO alarms can alert you and your family to dangerous levels of carbon monoxide inside your home.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 500 people die each year in the U.S. from unintentional, non-fire related CO poisoning. This figure includes incidents involving automobiles left idling in a home's garage, which does not fall under CPSC's jurisdiction. Each year from 2007 to 2009, there were nearly 170 deaths involving consumer products under CPSC's jurisdiction, including portable generators and home heating systems.
If you do not have CO alarms, officials suggest you get them. CO alarms should be installed on every level of the home and outside sleeping areas. Like smoke alarms, CO alarms need fresh batteries every year.
Officials say both smoke and CO alarms should be tested once a month to make sure they are working.
