Smoke Detector Placement In Attic

Do not place smoke alarms closer than 3 feet from any furnace or a c supply and return grills or registers.

Smoke detector placement in attic.

Install smoke detectors 1. Twist the mounting bracket from the smoke detector. Many smoke detectors are designed to mount to a ceiling but some can also be wall mounted when attaching to a ceiling isn t feasible such as when it would be impossible to retrofit the wires. Hold the smoke detector.

Another location in a home where you should have a heat detector rather than a smoke alarm is the attic. A smoke alarm is the audible sound and often the visible warning that is activated once the smoke detector has detected smoke. The detector is no more than one half its listed spacing from any wall measured at a right angle. In addition no space on the ceiling is more than 0 7 x the detector s listed spacing in this case 21 feet.

However make sure it s at least 12 inches about 30 cm away from any wall or light fitting. Smoke detectors are held to the brackets with a series of slots. Smoke alarms are not designed for garages and attics and are much more likely to fail than a heat detector. Few if any codes require alarms in one and two family residential attics where nearly all 90 percent of attic fires occur.

Putting it all together. They must be photoelectric and have a hush feature to silence nuisance alarms. Few if any smoke alarms are underwriters laboratories ul listed for use in the temperature extremes an attic can experience. The detector then sends a signal to the fire alarm control panel which in turn activates the required response which is usually to set off the fire alarms.

You can mount your co detector on the ceiling if the user guide doesn t say otherwise. Smoke alarms should be installed at least 10 feet 3 meters from a cooking appliance to minimize false alarms when cooking. Wherever you live when it comes to home safety carbon monoxide detectors are a must. Battery powered smoke alarms that are more than 10 years old or have expired must be replaced with alarms with 10 year sealed non rechargeable non replaceable batteries.

Slide a stud finder over the drywall in the finished attic to find the rafters closest to the locations you chose for. The us fire administration fema recommends that you have a heat detector rather than a smoke alarm in your garage. After your new smoke and co alarms are installed test them. Up to this point we have been working with square rooms but this is just as applicable to rectangular spaces as illustrated.

Smoke alarms installed in the basement should be installed on the ceiling at the bottom of the stairs leading to the next level. Do not place them in areas of turbulent air where the airflow may prevent the smoke from reaching the alarms.