Don’t Forget To Test Your Carbon Monoxide Detectors!
Testing your smoke and carbon monoxide detector(s) is extremely important. We should make a habit of testing often to ensure the safety of your family & pets.
This has hit very close to home recently and I just felt the need to reach out to everyone I care about, including my current and past clients to ensure they are as safe as can be.
Click the link to read about a recent incident that happened to very close family members, they were very lucky as a terrible tragedy did not occur.

One common question that not enough people know the answer too is “does carbon monoxide rise or fall?” Carbon monoxide is lighter than air so, it rises. That means if you do suspect CO poisoning, you might want to get to lower ground, but it’s probably safest to get outside and call the fire department.
Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are two of the most important devices attached to an all-encompassing home security system. Both devices are life-saving tools, but to get the most of them, they must be working properly. This is where testing comes in.
Testing for both smoke and carbon monoxide alarms is rather simple, and staying on top of the devices is not too difficult. With some practice, and setting yourself up with reminders, your alarms will be operating properly at all times.
Carbon Monoxide Detectors
Testing a carbon monoxide detector is very similar to testing a smoke alarm. Before testing, you’ll want to alert your home security company of the test and place your system on test mode so that the device does not cause a false alarm.
Unlike the smoke detector, the carbon monoxide device does not have a crisis test to perform (because you’d never want to consciously emit carbon monoxide into a home).
To Test the Device:
To test a carbon monoxide detector, hold down the “test” button until you hear two beeps sound off. Once you hear these beeps, release your finger off the test button. Recreate this event, but this time hold down the test button until you hear four beeps. If you hear four beeps, you know that a signal was sent to your monitoring station.
After 10-15 minutes the CO alarm will return from test mode back to its original setting. If for some reason the device doesn’t return to its original setting, you’ll need to perform a power cycle.
General Testing Tips for Both Devices
- With interconnected alarms, make sure they are all emitting sound together.
- When testing, include people in other rooms of the house to make sure alarms in every room are working, and to make sure that you can hear alarms from every room. If you fail to hear an audible noise, it means you need to replace the batteries.
- Don’t allow dust or debris to settle into devices or they’ll work improperly.
- If the smoke detector is hardwired to a monitored home security system, make sure to alert your company before going through with the alarm test, so they know a test is taking place and they don’t send responders to the home.
- Even if the unit’s lights are on signaling they have power, you should still test the devices.
- Wear ear protection when standing next to alarms when testing. They are very loud.
- If you just moved into a new house and the house is equipped with smoke alarms, you can check the dates on the devices by looking on the back of them. They will usually display a date of manufacture and you can calculate the device’s age. If you can’t find the age on the device, replace the unit.
- Alarms are just sources to alert you of danger. They can’t save you. You still have to create an action plan and respond to an emergency by escaping your home.
- Never decorate any part of alarms. Doing this will impair function.
You should test smoke and carbon monoxide alarms once a month at minimum, but once a week is recommended. Batteries should be replaced twice a year (we recommend when clocks are changed for daylight savings time). Most smoke and CO alarms are said to last ten years, but we suggest beginning to look at replacement at the five-to-seven-year mark to see how they are performing. If you purchased an older home and don’t know the age of your smoke and carbon units, replace them entirely.

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