The smoke detector is an amazing invention that has drastically lowered the rates of injury and deaths resulting from house fires and saved thousands of lives. Readily available in the market at reasonable prices, these inexpensive units ensure the safety of your family and loved ones in the event of a fire. It is highly recommended to test all the smoke alarms in the house at least once a month or few times a year. The smoke detector should always be checked after a battery change to make sure that it is working successfully because only a functional alarm serves its purpose.

All buildings must have smoke alarms installed as a part of their safety measures against fire. These self-contained devices detect smoke or fire during the early stages for quick evacuation of the premises by triggering an alarm. These smoke alarms of smoke detectors are commonly enclosed in disc-like or circular plastic fittings that are set to the ceiling. There are a number of brands and manufacturers who make these smoke alarms and these have their own characteristic shapes and sizes. Smoke detectors that have a power back up are a good choice as they do the job even when there is a power cut. There are mainly three forms of smoke detectors available in the market and these should be installed only by qualified electricians.

The ionization smoke alarms are highly sensitive to particles of smoke that indicate fast flaming fires. They are inexpensive and among the most widely available smoke alarms. However, they may also trigger false alarms and are not very sensitive to slow and smoldering fires. These are best suited for the kitchen for controlling fires that are caused by cooking.

The optical smoke detectors are less prone to sending out false alarms. Though they are more high priced than the ionization smoke alarms, they are highly effective when it comes to detecting smoke particles that are produced by slow and smoldering fires. These smoke detectors detect smoke produced by the burning of PVC wiring insulation and foam-filled upholstery, but are not very effective in the detection of fast flaming fires.

The combined smoke alarms harness the technology of both optical and ionization smoke detectors and these alarms can recognize a slow, smoldering fire as well as a fast-flaming one. Interconnected smoke and fire detector systems are those in which a single detector activates all the other detectors in the house and these are good for people with special needs and for those who have hearing disabilities, they also come with emergency flash lights that glow when they detect smoke.

Home security systems have smoke detectors that run on either batteries or electricity. Some of them use a mixture of both while others need their batteries replaced every year. A few smoke detectors come with batteries that have a warranty period of 10 years and these are slightly more pricey than the ones that require yearly battery replacement.