Use and Care Manual

NOTICE: THIS SMOKE ALARM IS DESIGNED FOR USE WITHIN SINGLE RESIDENTIAL
LIVING UNITS ONLY; THAT IS, IT SHOULD BE USED INSIDE A SINGLE-FAMILY HOME
OR ONE APARTMENT OF A MULTI-FAMILY BUILDING. IN A MULTI-FAMILY BUILDING,
THE SMOKE ALARM MAY NOT PROVIDE EARLY WARNING FOR RESIDENTS IF IT IS
PLACED OUTSIDE OF THE RESIDENTIAL UNITS, SUCH AS ON OUTSIDE PORCHES, IN
CORRIDORS, LOBBIES, BASEMENTS, OR IN OTHER APARTMENTS. IN MULTI-FAMILY
BUILDINGS, EACH RESIDENTIAL UNIT SHOULD HAVE SMOKE ALARMS TO ALERT THE
RESIDENTS OF THAT UNIT. SMOKE ALARMS DESIGNED TO BE INTERCONNECTED
SHOULD BE INTERCONNECTED WITHIN ONE FAMILY RESIDENCE ONLY;
OTHERWISE, NUISANCE ALARMS WILL OCCUR WHEN A SMOKE ALARM IN ANOTHER
LIVING UNIT IS TESTED.
NOTICE: WHAT SMOKE ALARMS CANNOT DO
Smoke alarms will not work without power. A battery must be connected to the smoke
alarm to maintain proper device operation if AC power supply is cut off by an electrical fire,
open fuse or circuit breaker, or for any other reason. In the event of AC power failure, the
battery will supply standby power for a minimum of 24 hours.
Visual signal will not operate on battery power alone. Smoke
alarms may not sense fire that starts where smoke cannot reach the devices such as
in chimneys, in walls, on roofs, or on the other side of closed doors. If bedroom doors are
usually closed at night, smoke alarms should be placed in each bedroom as well as in the
common hallway between them.
Smoke alarms also may not sense a fire on another level of a residence or building.
For example, a second-floor smoke alarm may not sense a first-floor or basement fire.
Therefore, smoke alarms should be placed on every level of a residence or building.
The horn and visual signal in your smoke alarm meets or exceeds current audibility and
visual requirements of ANSI/UL 217. However, if the smoke alarm is located outside a
bedroom, the visual signal will not be seen or noticed by occupant and piezo sounder
will not wake up a sound sleeper, especially if the bedroom door is closed or only partly
open. If the smoke alarm is located on a different level of the residence than the
bedroom, it is even less likely to awaken people sleeping in the bedroom. In such cases,
the National Fire Protection Association recommends that the smoke alarms be
interconnected so that a device on any level of the residence will sound an alarm loud
enough to awaken sleepers in closed bedrooms. This can be done by employing a
systematic approach by interconnecting smoke alarms together, or by using radio frequency
transmitters and receivers.
All types of smoke alarm sensors have limitations. No type of device can sense
every kind of fire every time. These types of fires include:
1) Fires where the victim is intimate with a flaming initiated fire; for example, when a
person’s clothes catch on fire while cooking.
2) Fires where the smoke is prevented from reaching the smoke alarm due to a
closed door or other obstruction.
3) Incendiary fires where the fire grows so rapidly that an occupant’s egress is
blocked even with properly located smoke alarms.
In general, smoke alarms may not always warn you about fires caused by violent
explosions, escaping gas, improper storage of flammable materials, or arson.
NOTICE: THIS SMOKE ALARM IS NOT DESIGNED TO REPLACE SPECIAL-PURPOSE
FIRE DETECTION AND SMOKE ALARM SYSTEMS NECESSARY TO PROTECT
PERSONS AND PROPERTY IN NON-RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS SUCH AS
WAREHOUSES, OR OTHER LARGE INDUSTRIAL OR COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS. IT
ALONE IS NOT A SUITABLE SUBSTITUTE FOR COMPLETE FIRE-DETECTION
SYSTEMS DESIGNED TO PROTECT INDIVIDUALS IN HOTELS AND MOTELS,
DORMITORIES, HOSPITALS, OR OTHER HEALTH AND SUPERVISORY CARE AND
RETIREMENT HOMES. PLEASE REFER TO NFPA 101,THE LIFE SAFETY CODE, AND
NFPA 72 FOR SMOKE ALARM REQUIREMENTS FOR FIRE PROTECTION IN BUILDINGS
NOT DEFINED AS "HOUSEHOLDS."
Installing smoke alarms may make you eligible for lower insurance rates, but smoke
alarms are not a substitute for insurance. Home owners and renters should continue to
insure their lives and property.
Visual signals are only one method of alerting the hearing impaired to a fire. The visual
signal may not awaken all hearing impaired individuals. The visual signal must be in the line
of sight of the individual to be seen and effective.
PLACEMENT OF SMOKE ALARMS
THIS EQUIPMENT SHOULD BE INSTALLED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE NATIONAL
FIRE PROTECTION ASSOCIATION'S STANDARD 72 (National Fire Protection Association,
Batterymarch Park, Quincy, MA 02269).
For your information, the National Fire Protection Association's Standard 72, reads as
follows:
NFPA 72, 2013 Edition, Chapter 29, Section 29.5.1 Required Detection, states the following:
29.5.1.1 Where required by applicable laws, codes or standards for a specific type of
occupancy, approved single and multiple-station smoke alarms shall be installed as follows:
1) In all sleeping rooms and guest rooms
2) Outside of each separate dwelling unit sleeping area, within 6.4m (21ft) of any door to a
sleeping room, the distance measured along a path of travel
3) On every level of a dwelling unit, including basements
4) On every level of a residential board and care occupancy (small facility), including
basements and excluding crawl spaces and unfinished attics
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c. Develop a family escape plan and practice it with your entire family, especially
small children.
w Draw and post a floor plan of your home and find two ways to exit from each room.
There should be one way to get out of each bedroom without opening the door.
w Teach children what the smoke alarm signal means, and that they must be prepared to
leave the residence by themselves if necessary. Show them how to check to see if
doors are hot before opening them, how to stay close to the floor and crawl if necessary,
and how to use the alternate exit if door is hot and should not be opened.
w Decide on a meeting place a safe distance from your house and make sure that all your
children understand that they should go and wait for you if there is a fire.
w Hold fire drills at least every 6 months to make sure that everyone, even small children,
know what to do to escape safely.
w Know where to go to call the fire department from outside your residence.
w Provide emergency equipment such as fire extinguishers and teach your family to use
this equipment properly.
d. Bedroom doors should be closed while sleeping if a smoke alarm is installed in the
bedroom. They act as a barrier against heat and smoke.
WHAT TO DO IF THERE IS A FIRE IN YOUR HOME
If you have prepared family escape plans and practiced them with your family, you have
increased their chances of escaping safely. Review the following rules with your children
when you have fire drills so everyone will remember them in a real fire emergency. If the
alarm should sound:
a. Don't panic; stay calm. Your safe escape may depend on thinking clearly and
remembering what you have practiced.
b. Get out of the house following a planned escape route as quickly as possible. Do not
stop to collect anything or to get dressed.
c. Open doors carefully only after feeling to see if they are hot. Do not open a door if it is
hot; use an alternate escape route.
d. Stay close to the floor; smoke and hot gases rise.
e. Cover your nose and mouth with a cloth, wet if possible, and take short, shallow breaths.
f. Keep doors and windows closed unless you open them to escape.
g. Meet at your prearranged meeting place after leaving the house.
h. Call the Fire Department as soon as possible from outside your house. Give the
address and your name.
i. Never re-enter a burning building.
Contact your local Fire Department for more information on making your home safer from
fires and preparing your family's escape plans.
NOTICE: CURRENT STUDIES HAVE SHOWN SMOKE ALARMS MAY NOT AWAKEN ALL
SLEEPING INDIVIDUALS, AND THAT IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF INDIVIDUALS IN
THE HOUSEHOLD THAT ARE CAPABLE OF ASSISTING OTHERS TO PROVIDE
ASSISTANCE TO THOSE WHO MAY NOT BE AWAKENED BY THE ALARM SOUND, OR
TO THOSE WHO MAY BE INCAPABLE OF SAFELY EVACUATING THE AREA
UNASSISTED.
NOTICE: VISUAL SIGNALS ARE ONLY ONE METHOD OF ALERTING THE HEARING
IMPAIRED TO A FIRE. THE VISUAL SIGNAL MAY NOT AWAKEN ALL HEARING
IMPAIRED INDIVIDUALS. THE VISUAL SIGNAL MUST BE IN THE LINE OF SIGHT OF
THE INDIVIDUAL TO BE SEEN AND EFFECTIVE.
Visual signal should NEVER
be relied upon as the primary fire alert
for the hearing impaired under these common sense conditions:
a. Sleeping face down on the bedding or pillow
b. Use of sleep medications of any kind
c. Use of alcoholic beverages or recreational drugs
d. Use of eye shades
e. If there are tendencies of deep sleep conditions
f. If a fire cuts power to AC circuits, the visual signal will not operate
g. If person is not within line of sight of visual signal
Under these and other similar common situations an alternate fire alert method
such as a non-hearing impaired attendant is needed. The visual signal only increases
the chance of being alerted to the presence of fire. No system of this type can fully
protect the hearing impaired in case of fire.
WHAT THIS SMOKE ALARM CAN DO
This smoke alarm is designed to sense smoke entering its sensing chamber. It does not
sense gas, heat, or flames.
When properly located, installed, and maintained, this smoke alarm is designed to provide
early warning of developing fires at a reasonable cost. This smoke alarm monitors the air and,
when it senses smoke, activates its built-in alarm horn and strobe light. It can provide precious
time for you and your family to escape from your residence before a fire spreads. Such an
early warning, however, is possible only if the smoke alarm is located, installed, and
maintained as specified in this User's Manual.