A couple of months ago, the fire alarm in our building went off, but we slept through it! I acknowledge that we’re hard of hearing, but we have an alarm siren right outside our bedroom. I was so surprised to find out that there had been an alarm that I suspected that something was wrong with the alarm and we had it tested. Nope! We slept through it! I’ve thought of several ideas keep it from happening again, including buying or building a device to shake our bed or flash our lights.
I also was aware that it was time to replace the one smoke detector I had in my hallway. Did you know that smoke detectors are supposed to be replaced every 7 or 8 years, depending on the manufacturer? I found that out when I replaced ours shortly after we moved in—I wanted an integrated smoke and carbon monoxide detector. (We’re on the 1st floor right above the garage.) It had reached the end of its life this year.
I began doing some research on smoke/carbon monoxide detectors, and learned that instead of one unit in the hallway, we are supposed to have one in each bedroom in addition to the one in the hall. I also learned that some smoke detectors can communicate with each other wirelessly, so I decided to find units that are compatible with each other.
I decided on these: First Alert SA521CN Interconnected Hardwire Wireless Smoke Alarm with Battery Backup for the hallway, and the First Alert SCO501CN-3ST Battery Operated Combination Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm with Voice Location for each bedroom.
They are LOUD! When you set one off, they all go off together. I don’t think we will be sleeping through this noise! I may still try to figure out how to build an Arduino device that will flash our lights when it picks up the sound of the alarm, but that would be for the challenge rather than to ensure we’ll wake up.
If you have not checked the expiration date on your smoke detector recently, now might be a good time to do it. Also, even if you are “grandfathered” in the fire code for the number of smoke alarms you need, it might be a good idea to consider adding them in each bedroom.
