Emergency Electrician: Reasons Behind Fire Detection System Failure | Myrtle Beach, SC

11/12/2021

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Fire alarm systems are essential in detecting fire and alerting people of the fire, allowing them to vacate the homes to prevent them from burning. The United States records over 2,000 deaths in residential fires annually. The fire detectors include smoke and restorable heat detectors as well as non-restorable heat detectors. When an electric fire starts and you don’t have access to a fire extinguisher, run for your life.

The fire contains deadly gases and smoke that can suffocate you, leaving you trapped inside. Since most fatal electrical fires happen at night, most families or occupants might lack enough time to escape. Having an emergency electrician install fire detection systems such as smoke alarms in your Myrtle Beach, SC home can alert folks to run out of in time.

The fire system stands guard 24/7 throughout the year to sense smoke and fire and sounds the shrill alarm. Homes without fire detection systems are at risk of losing everything in the fire. The fire system is only ideal when functioning smoothly because a faulty one will not detect fire and automatically sound the alarm. Here are some of the reasons a fire alarm system is likely to fail or break down.

Dirty Smoke Detectors

Fire alarm systems are critical in preventing loss of life and are susceptible to failure because of dirt, which results in devastation if a fire breaks out. Electric fires start in homes due to electrical hazards such as an arc fault, overloaded circuits, overheating appliances, and outlets.

An emergency electrician installs highly efficient Smoke detectors and alarms on your ceilings and walls inside and outside of your home, attracting different types of dirt, contaminants, and debris.

The amount of dirt the system accumulates depends on its position and the environment. The debris, dust, small insects, and lint can build up in the fire detector’s detection chamber and corrupt the detection device’s sensitivity, making it malfunction. The buildup can also increase the chances of nuisance alarms that will occur without sensing smoke or fire.

If you fail to hire an electrician in Myrtle Beach, SC, to perform routine cleaning procedures, the fire detection system might deteriorate, leading to inaccurate detection of smoke. So, as you get an emergency electrician to check and fix the arc fault and circuit breaker issues, you should ensure the expert also inspects the fire detection system and clean the dirt.

Negligence

Another cause of fire alarm system failure is carelessness or laxity. Homeowners without comprehensive fire alarm system inspections, evaluations, and maintenance will end up with a faulty system that will fail to work when much-needed, leading to massive destruction of property and loss of lives that an electrician cannot fix.

Lack of regular servicing of the system while ignoring stipulated manufacturer’s guidelines can cause significant fire alarm deficiencies, putting you and your family at risk.

Some people might decide to disregard critical trouble signals such as programming errors and offline or broken fire alarm systems that can be promptly fixed or replaced by an electrician, exposing their family to the dangers of electric fires.

Energy Source

The fire detectors or alarms such as smoke detection sensors, ionization, and photoelectric are prone to fail because of the failure of the energy source. The system can be powered differently, use interconnected alarms or single station alarms.

Smoke alarms using electric power can be connected to the home’s wiring system by an experienced emergency electrician to ensure they operate efficiently in detecting fire and alerting people about it to find the easy way out of the house, even through a window if possible. The systems that use electric energy can fail to alarm people if there is a power outage.

The emergency electrician can connect the fire detectors to the battery backup system to ensure they are operational throughout and your family, house, and valuables get protection even without electricity.

Other fire detectors are battery-powered, which might fail due to missing, drained, or disconnected batteries. If you are using the battery type of fire alarm system, you will not need a skilled emergency electrician to fix the problem because you have to replace the dead batteries.

Power Surge

Appliances, outlets, plugs, and electronic devices can break down because of a power surge. High electric voltages from downed power lines and lightning can cause unimaginable destruction to life and property by causing electrical hazards such as fires to homes without whole house surge protectors in place.

Internal surges due to circuit overloading can destroy electric equipment, compelling you to call an electrician to identify the issue and fix it before it escalates to more severe hazards.

The fire detection system might break down due to external and internal transfer of high voltage to the fire alarm, damaging the motherboard. The catastrophic failure of the fire alarm system can be identified and rectified by an emergency electrician inspecting all the appliances in your home after a powerful surge.

Natural Disaster

The fire alarm system failure can also be due to natural disasters. If there is a hurricane, heavy rains will cause floods, creating havoc in your home and electric equipment. When water gets into the fire alarm panel and other electric systems, it may cause short circuits and ground faults posing a health threat to people through electric shocks or electrocutions.

The fire alarm system will also fail to alert you and your family in case of a fire. After the hurricane, it is wise to hire an emergency electrician to ensure all the protective systems are operating efficiently, including the fire detection device.

Reach Out for Professional Electrical Services!

A fire alarm system is a vital electric device that protects you and your valuables from destruction by electric fire. It can fail or malfunction due to the different reasons mentioned above. If you want to ensure your fire detection system is operating efficiently or repair a faulty unit, take the first step and call Mister Sparky of Myrtle Beach.

We are an electrical company in Myrtle Beach, SC, with experienced and skilled electricians ready to handle a range of electrical issues. You will get the best emergency electrician who will address any problems with your fire alarm system.