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Test your safety
devices
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July 2010
It's not enough to change the batteries in your home's smoke detectors once a year. Every time you change the batteries, test the alarm, too, to make sure it's still working.
Invest about $10 in a smoke detector tester spray like Smoke! in a Can by GE Security. You spray it into the smoke alarm's sensing chamber to simulate smoke and test the alarm's response.
Next, test the ground-fault circuit interrupter in each electrical outlet in your bathrooms, kitchen and laundry room. The ones that are equipped with GFCIs have a “test” button in the middle of the outlet.
Plug in a hair dryer and turn it on. Push the “test” button. The hair dryer should shut itself off. Press it again, and the hair dryer will turn back on.
If that doesn’t happen, call an electrician to have your receptacle and GFCI replaced.
If you don’t have GFCI-equipped outlets in all rooms where you use water with or near electricity, have them installed today. The GFCI will automatically shut off any appliance that’s in use when it senses a potential hazard that could lead to shock or electrocution.
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