Most people are familiar with the annoying chirp of the smoke detector when its batteries are low. Inevitably, this usually happens around 3 a.m., waking you up and preventing you from getting back to sleep! Some of us tolerate the annoying chirp for a while before hauling out the ladder and replacing the batteries, seeing as some smoke detectors require a climb. Others are guilty of disconnecting the dying battery without popping in a new one (we know, 9-volt batteries aren’t always on-hand). Keeping your smoke detector powered at all times is vital to protecting your family and your home. Cut down the number of nights you lay awake due to those dying batteries by installing hardwired smoke detectors! 
With hard-wired smoke detectors, you need not worry about when your batteries will give out. By hard wiring, smoke detectors will be powered by your home’s electricity. Batteries then become your back-up power, necessary to power smoke detectors in the event of a power outage, which could occur before smoke is detected in the event of a fire. Dedicated circuits are also recommended for smoke detectors to help ensure constant power to these important alarms.
Not only does wiring smoke detectors provide a reliable power source, but it also makes installing other beneficial safety features a possibility. Most building codes require smoke detectors on every floor of the home; by wiring each floor’s smoke detector on a dedicated circuit, they can be interlinked to sound alarms simultaneously. That is, if smoke is detected on the first floor, alarms on the second floor will sound, too.
Wired smoke detectors are effective 95% of the time, as opposed to 75% with battery-powered smoke detectors; failures are caused largely by dead batteries. The Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that two-thirds of home fire-related deaths occur in homes with no alarms or without working smoke alarms. Smoke alarms save lives, and it is very important for proper installation and maintenance.
If you’d like to discuss replacing your battery-powered smoke detectors with hard-wired equipment, contact us. Frye Electric can help keep your family safe by installing reliable, hard-wired smoke detectors in your home.