Why maintain your smoke detector? Check out these facts from State Farm Insurance:

- Almost half of all home fires and three-fifths of fire deaths occur in homes without smoke detectors.
- The chance of dying in a home fire are cut in half if you have a working smoke detector.
- More homes have inoperable smoke detectors than have no detector at all. Poorly maintained or disabled detectors create a false sense of security for homeowners.

To keep your detector in tip-top condition, you’ll need to do a few minutes of maintenance every few weeks. Test the detector at least once a month, and follow the manufacturer’s recommendations for cleaning it. Vacuum cobwebs and dust from the detector every month as well, and have everyone in your home review what to do if the alarm sounds. And if you’re doing work around the detector that might produce dust, cover it, and remove the cover when you’re done. Same goes with when you paint around it – never paint a smoke detector.

Change your detector batteries every six months, at the same time you change your clocks for daylight savings time – in the fall and spring. If the detector “chirps” in the meantime, that means the battery needs to be replaced sooner. Be sure you always replace the detector battery with a fresh one, and never “borrow” a smoke detector battery for another use. You should retire every smoke detector after 10 years of use, and install a new one in its place.