Residential home electrician JMC Electric recommends hardwired smoke detectors as an important safety upgrade to your home. Any functional smoke detector is better than none, but hardwired smoke detector units are superior because they are wired into your home’s electrical system with a 10-year battery backup to prevent failure in the event of a power outage, and do not require you to routinely check and replace batteries.

Hardwired alarms will automatically activate when attached to the mounting bracket, and a green LED light indicates that the alarm is working properly. They are equipped with a test/reset button which tests the alarm’s circuitry and horn and resets memory after an alarm has sounded. The smart hush feature temporarily silences nuisance alarms.

Many models of hardwired alarms have heat detectors that must be triggered as well as smoke before the alarm sounds. This helps to minimize false alarms and makes the detector more accurate. False alarms can occur for a couple of reasons, however.

A change in the electrical current to the wired smoke alarm will cause the smoke alarm sound to go off when there is no smoke in the air. A loose wire in the smoke detector can also cause it to go off as the electrical current is cut off and then restored to the alarm. A faulty smoke detector can cause all the smoke detectors on the network to chirp as well. 

The National Fire Protection Association recommends that you replace your smoke detector every 10 years. If your alarms are overdue for replacement, your residential home electrician in Kansas City JMC Electric offers a 10-year battery, hard-wired smoke and carbon monoxide detector. 

Our 10-year lithium battery backup lasts the life of the alarm and provides protection during power outages. The battery is sealed into the alarm and cannot be removed, preventing unwanted tampering and ensuring your alarm is always on. You will never need to replace a battery during the 10-year life of the alarm and there will be no low battery chirps; an internal timer alerts you to replace the entire unit after 10 years.

Residential home electrician in Kansas City JMC Electric prefers these ionization sensing alarms because they can detect invisible fire particles (associated with fast flaming fires) sooner than photoelectric sensing alarms. The ionization sensor detects fire hazards and sounds an 85-decibel alarm when a hazard is detected.

Call your residential home electrician in Kansas City JMC Electric anytime at (913) 362-2100 or (816) 298-0100 for a free onsite consultation and a written estimate with no obligation or cost.