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LEHI -- A Lehi man recently learned his family could be in danger from something he thought he'd already fixed: his smoke detector system.
Sunday morning at 5:00, Jim Jarman got the kind of wakeup call no one wants.
"All the sudden, I have eight smoke detectors going off at the same time," Jarman said. "We had a false alarm the week before, so I suspected there wasn't really a fire."
It wasn't a fire, but it was alerting him to a safety problem. He discovered it when he started taking out the detectors' batteries.
"The second one that I took apart, the battery was super heated. It was like a hot potato," Jarman said.
It was then he learned the familiar warnings to change the batteries each year aren't the only thing you have to do to protect yourself from a house fire.
"It says on the back you have to replace these after 10 years of the manufacturer date, and our house is 10 years old," Jarman said.
- Smoke Alarms powered by long-lasting batteries are designed to replace the entire unit according to manufacturer's instructions.
- In standard type battery powered smoke alarms, the batteries need to be replaced at least once per year and the whole unit should be replaced every 8-10 years.
- In hard-wired, battery back up smoke alarms, the batteries need to be checked monthly, and replaced at least once per year. The entire unit should be replaced every 8-10 years.
Utah firefighters have tried to get this message out.
"As they continue to improve smoke detectors, we want to have the latest technology in the homes to be the best efficient protection for our citizens," said Unified Fire Authority Capt. Clint Smith.
But in the time it took Jarman to find a compatible model and order it online, his home was vulnerable for about a month.
"I don't see people rushing out to do this, so I doubt everybody's out doing it," he said.
So, let this story serve as your warning. When you make your daylight saving inspection of the smoke detector coming up, look on the back and note the manufacturer date. If it was made before 2000, it's time for a new one.
E-mail: dwimmer@ksl.com
