While having the proper fire and smoke alerts in your home is a good thing, many people don’t really give them much thought as to the various types that are available and how to utilize them to their maximum capabilities.

There is a lot more to know about these potentially life saving products but we tend to minimize their capabilities to just being able to sound a strong enough alert that we will hopefully hear and act upon.

Of course the first good step is to make sure you are purchasing a good quality unit. There are tons on the market but as with anything all products may not be the same.

The next step is to installing it properly by following the directions that come with the unit, and putting them in the right place. You will notice we said “them” because you should have several of these devices throughout your home.

You want to mount this device in the center of a room from the ceiling, as well as your  and halls. Mount them also at the head of the staiways that lead to occupied areas. Ideally you want the unit to be positioned about 6 inches from the ceiling but no more than 19 inches. Avoid putting the fire alarms within a 2 feet vacinity of the corners of the room.

Something else to keep in mind is you do not want the units to be installed near doors or windows, air registers or where your fans or vents are located.

Some people don’t like the look of the smoke alarms so they attempt to have them recessed into the ceiling which is not a good idea. If your area is comprised of ceilings where there are slopes be sure that the unit you are buying comes with specific instructions for the ideal installation of that unit in this case.

You do not want to install this device at the peak of your “A” frame ceiling. Another area to watch for is how close you are thinking of putting it to you light fixtures. You want to keep them about 2 to 3 feet away from these.

There are a lot of little things to think about when installing this type of security but it is well worth the extra time to make sure your system is fully optimized. A lot of times these devices are put in the wrong places and tend to trigger prematurely which becomes aggravating and leads to people removing the batteries, and forgetting to put them back in. This immediately greatly reduces the level of fire and smoke safety in your residence.