Gentek photoelectric smoke alarm 9120 - Manual (Page 2)

start in your home and increase your chances of safely escaping if one
does start. To have an effective fire safety program:
a. Install smoke alarms properly following the instructions in this
manual. Keep your units clean. Test your smoke alarm weekly
and have unit repaired or replace unit when it no longer
functions. As with any electronic product, smoke alarms have a
limited life, and devices that don't work cannot protect you.
b. Follow safety rules and prevent hazardous situations:
Use smoking materials properly; never smoke in bed.
Keep matches and cigarette lighters away from children.
Store flammable materials in proper containers and never use them
near open flames or sparks.
Keep electrical appliances and cords in good working order and do
not overload electrical circuits.
Keep stoves, fireplaces, chimneys, and barbecue grills grease-free
and make sure they are properly installed away from combustible
materials.
Keep portable heaters and open flames such as candles away from
combustible materials.
Do not allow rubbish to accumulate.
Do not leave small children home alone.
c. Develop a family escape plan and practice it with your entire
family, especially small children.
Draw and post a floor plan of your home and find two ways to exit
from each room. There should be one way to get out of each
bedroom without opening the door.
Teach children what the smoke alarm signal means, and that they
must be prepared to leave the residence by themselves if
necessary. Show them how to check to see if doors are hot before
opening them, how to stay close to the floor and crawl if necessary,
and how to use the alternate exit if the door is hot and should not be
opened.
Decide on a meeting place a safe distance from your house and
make sure that all your children understand that they should go and
wait for you if there is a fire.
Hold fire drills at least every 6 months to make sure that everyone,
even small children, know what to do to escape safely.
Know where to go to call the fire department from outside your
residence.
Provide emergency equipment such as fire extinguishers and teach
your family to use this equipment properly.
d. Bedroom doors should be closed while sleeping if a smoke
alarm is installed in the bedroom. They act as a barrier against
heat and smoke.
WHAT TO DO IF THERE IS A FIRE IN YOUR HOME
If you have prepared family escape plans and practiced them with
your family, you have increased their chances of escaping safely.
Review the following rules with your children when you have fire drills
so everyone will remember them in a real fire emergency. If the alarm
should sound:
a. Don't panic; stay calm. Your safe escape may depend on thinking
clearly and remembering what you have practiced.
b. Get out of the house following a planned escape route as quickly as
possible. Do not stop to collect anything or to get dressed.
c. Open doors carefully only after feeling to see if they are hot. Do not
open a door if it is hot; use an alternate escape route.
d. Stay close to the floor; smoke and hot gases rise.
e. Cover your nose and mouth with a cloth, wet if possible, and take
short, shallow breaths.
f. Keep doors and windows closed unless you open them to escape.
g. Meet at your prearranged meeting place after leaving the house.
h. Call the Fire Department as soon as possible from outside your
house. Give the address and your name.
i. Never re-enter a burning building.
Contact your local Fire Department for more information on
making your home safer from fires and about preparing your family's
escape plans.
NOTICE: Current studies have shown smoke alarms may not
awaken all sleeping individuals, and that it is the responsibility of
individuals in the household that are capable of assisting others
to provide assistance to those who may not be awakened by the
alarm sound, or to those who may be incapable of safely
evacuating the area unassisted.
WHAT THIS SMOKE ALARM CAN DO
This smoke alarm is designed to sense smoke entering its
sensing chamber. It does not sense gas, heat (except for the H or T
options), or flames.
When properly located, installed, and maintained, this smoke
alarm is designed to provide early warning of developing fires at a
reasonable cost. This unit monitors the air and, when it senses
smoke, activates its built-in alarm horn. It can provide precious time
for you and your family to escape from your residence before a fire
spreads. Such an early warning, however, is possible only if the
smoke alarm is located, installed, and maintained as specified in this
User's Manual.
NOTICE: This smoke alarm is designed for use within single
residential living units only; that is, it should be used inside a single-
family home or one apartment of a multi-family building. In a
multi-family building, the device may not provide early warning for
residents if it is placed outside of the residential units, such as on
outside porches, in corridors, lobbies, basements, or in other
apartments. In multi-family buildings, each residential unit should have
smoke alarms to alert the residents of that unit. Units designed to be
interconnected should be interconnected within one family residence
only; otherwise, nuisance alarms will occur when a smoke alarm in
another living unit is tested.
NOTICE: WHAT SMOKE ALARMS CANNOT DO
Smoke alarms will not work without power. A battery must be
connected to the device to maintain proper alarm operation if device
AC power supply is cut off by an electrical fire, an open fuse or circuit
breaker, or for any other reason. In the event of AC power failure, the
battery will supply power for a minimum of 24 hours.
Smoke alarms may not sense fire that starts where smoke
cannot reach the devices such as in chimneys, in walls, on roofs, or
on the other side of closed doors. If bedroom doors are usually closed
at night, smoke alarms should be placed in each bedroom as well as
in the common hallway between them.
Smoke alarms also may not sense a fire on another level of a
residence or building. For example, a second-floor device may not
sense a first-floor or basement fire. Therefore, smoke alarms should
be placed on every level of a residence or building.
The horn in your smoke alarm meets or exceeds current audibility
requirements of ANSI/UL 217. However, if the smoke alarm is
located outside a bedroom, it may not wake up a sound sleeper,
especially if the bedroom door is closed or only partly open. If the
smoke alarm is located on a different level of the residence than the
bedroom, it is even less likely to awaken people sleeping in the
bedroom. In such cases, the National Fire Protection Association
recommends that smoke alarms be interconnected so that a unit on
any level of the residence will sound an alarm loud enough to awaken
sleepers in closed bedrooms. This can be done by employing a
systematic approach by interconnecting smoke alarms together, or by
using radio frequency transmitters and receivers.
All types of smoke alarm sensors have limitations. No type of
device can sense every kind of fire every time. In general, smoke
alarms may not always warn you about fires caused by violent
explosions, escaping gas, improper storage of
flammable materials, or arson.
NOTICE: This smoke alarm is not designed to replace special-
purpose fire detection and smoke alarm systems necessary to protect
persons and property in non-residential buildings such as warehouses,
or other large industrial or commercial buildings. It alone is not a
suitable substitute for complete fire-detection systems designed to
protect individuals in hotels and motels, dormitories, hospitals, or other
health and supervisory care and retirement homes. Please refer to
NFPA 101,The Life Safety Code, and NFPA 72 for smoke alarm
requirements for fire protection in buildings not defined as
"households."
Installing smoke alarms may make you eligible for lower
insurance rates, but smoke alarms are not a substitute for
insurance. Home owners and renters should continue to insure their
lives and property.
PLACEMENT OF SMOKE ALARMS
THIS EQUIPMENT SHOULD BE INSTALLED IN
ACCORDANCE WITH THE NATIONAL FIRE PROTECTION
ASSOCIATION'S STANDARD 72 (National Fire Protection Association,
Batterymarch Park, Quincy, MA 02269).
For your information, the National Fire Protection Association's
Standard 72, reads as follows:
NFPA 72, 2010 Edition, Chapter 29, Section 29.5.1.1 Where required
by applicable laws, codes or standards for a specific type of
occupancy, approved single and multiple-station smoke alarms shall
be installed as follows:
550-0093
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