Latest / Around the House with Eric G®: Home Improvement Remodeling & DIY / Smoke & CO Detector Tips for Fire Prevention Week (with Stephanie Berzinski & Jason Kohm, Kidde)
Transcript
- 0:10From coast to coast, it's the nation's number one home improvement radio show and podcast with certified kitchen designer Eric G.
- 0:18And co host John Dudley, a former contractor and online technology expert.
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- 0:33We've got your answers.
- 0:35It's around the House.
- 0:36Dive in and get inspired.
- 0:38Welcome to the around the House show, your trusted source for everything about your home.
- 0:43I'm Eric G.
- 0:44Thanks for joining me today.
- 0:45We got a great show coming up today.
- 0:47We're going to be talking safety, and it's a huge one.
- 0:50And I love Kidda.
- 0:52These guys are amazing.
- 0:54We got Stephanie and Jason here.
- 0:56Welcome to around the House, guys.
- 0:58Thanks so much for having us.
- 0:59This is awesome.
- 1:00It's such a perfect time of year to talk about home safety.
- 1:04Amen.
- 1:05Yeah, thanks, Eric.
- 1:06Yeah, Stephanie said fire safety month is October, so this is perfect.
- 1:10Let's have some fun.
- 1:12So, Jason, what do you do over there?
- 1:14So I am the Northeast sales Director.
- 1:16I have 20 states from Kentucky over and Virginia up Northern New England where I live.
- 1:23So it keeps me busy, but it's a lot of fun.
- 1:25And then I get to do great things like coming on your show and working with Steph.
- 1:28So it's a lot of fun.
- 1:29But I've been with the company for 14 years.
- 1:32Awesome.
- 1:33How about you, Stephanie?
- 1:35So I have been with Kidda going on eight years, actually.
- 1:38In November, I'll be celebrating my eighth anniversary, or workiversary, I guess I should say.
- 1:43And I handle external relations for Kidda for both the US And Canada.
- 1:47So I get to do all the fun PR things.
- 1:49Nice.
- 1:50Well, welcome, guys.
- 1:51And safety is such a huge thing.
- 1:53And it just absolutely drives me nuts when I see on the news the.
- 1:58The homes that maybe didn't have a working smoke detector or didn't have a carbon monoxide detector.
- 2:06And it absolutely drives me nuts.
- 2:08And so anytime that we can bring more awareness to this and they're getting a lot better, it's one of those things.
- 2:15There's so many things we can talk about, but with this.
- 2:17But I love how technology has really changed how these work compared to what they were 20 years ago.
- 2:24Oh, yeah.
- 2:24These are not your grandma's smoke alarms, right, Jason?
- 2:27Yeah.
- 2:28So one of the things I like to talk about is we went through a UL change two years ago that UL changed the requirements for smoke detectors and made them a lot smarter.
- 2:36So basically, the way we look at it is they're basically a computer on your wall.
- 2:42And what they can do now compared to what Stephanie said, like, 20 years ago, is night and day.
- 2:46They can react much faster to a fire, which is so important as the house is now a lot of synthetics.
- 2:53They're burning hotter and faster, so less time to get out.
- 2:56But more importantly, these smoke detectors can also differentiate between what is a nuisance alarm.
- 3:01So you think of your steam in your shower or some burnt toast or bacon or something like that.
- 3:07That will normally set the alarms off.
- 3:09And then people take them down and they're no longer protected because they get annoyed.
- 3:12So that was UL had a big issue, the smoke, when they instituted smoke alarm rules 15, 20 years ago or longer, sometimes in the 80s, the tragedies went way down, but they plateaued.
- 3:25And why did they plateau?
- 3:26Because people were no longer protected because they would either take them down and they got frustrated with them, or they didn't have them at all because their house was built before the rules went into effect.
- 3:35And that's a scary thing.
- 3:37We have a lineup of product, but I pulled one down just to show everyone.
- 3:40So this one is our smart carbon monoxide alarm with your air quality monitor.
- 3:46So it does.
- 3:47It goes beyond even smoke and co.
- 3:50So this is actually looking at toxic chemicals within the home, within your air that you might be breathing in every day.
- 3:55And it will alert you to let you know, hey, your air is not.
- 3:58Your air quality is not great.
- 3:59We're picking up some things, and you need to do something about it.
- 4:03Yeah, it's so important because I live in the Pacific Northwest, and for us up here, we either have it's rainy season or it's fire season.
- 4:11And so we get so bad air quality that I tell people, oh, I open the windows up and put some fresh air in.
- 4:17And you're like, you probably made your air worse by opening those windows up than you did.
- 4:23And if you can keep track of air quality as well as carbon monoxide, that is so huge.
- 4:29And all it takes is somebody to be not paying attention.
- 4:33Maybe they're sitting in there and they open the garage door, or they come in after work, hit the garage door button.
- 4:39It's running for a minute.
- 4:40The vehicle's running in the garage.
- 4:41The door shuts up.
- 4:43It's a newer house, and all of a sudden you're starting to put in carbon monoxide into that house, and people forget about that.
- 4:50And I think just with everything working perfectly, mistakes like that can happen.
- 4:54And maybe they're on the phone, maybe they're talking to somebody, and a few minutes can add a big difference to the indoor air quality.
- 5:02So I think it's huge.
- 5:03A lot of times too, I think people are, let's say you have electric appliances, they're like, well, I don't need a carbon monoxide alarm because I have electric appliances.
- 5:11But what you're not thinking about is the stuff outside of your home unintentionally coming in.
- 5:16So a good example I share with a lot of people, it actually happened to my neighbor right down the road one day.
- 5:20I was sitting in my office and I saw fire truck, they're speeding by and I was like, is everybody okay?
- 5:25I was sending out some group texts.
- 5:27Come to find out, our neighbor at the end of the street was getting their rugs cleaned in their home.
- 5:32And it was that the company that was cleaning the rugs was operating off of a generator.
- 5:37Their van was using a generator.
- 5:38Yeah, well, that was pumping into the home carbon monoxide.
- 5:42So thankfully they had CO alarms.
- 5:44The CO alarms went off.
- 5:46But these are things that you wouldn't think of, right?
- 5:48This is an external source and a third party company you're not thinking of, oh, they're operating off of a generator.
- 5:55That could potentially cause CO poisoning in my own home.
- 5:59So it's things like that really to keep in mind.
- 6:01And we've heard a lot of instances, there's been students at schools where there were contractors working on cleaning floors and those devices were operating off of diesel and the children suffered CO poisoning in the classroom.
- 6:13So it can really come from places that you might not think about or you might not expect.
- 6:17So it's always better to be prepared.
- 6:19Right?
- 6:19That doesn't matter if you have electrical appliances or especially if you have gas appliances, but you should have CO alarms in your home.
- 6:26Well, yeah, think about it.
- 6:27Maybe you got the stump grinder working on the tree in the backyard out there and you've got all electric appliances and that's where the fresh air intake is for the house.
- 6:33Because you've got a newer house that's grabbing air outside and all of a sudden you're packing a house full of it.
- 6:38And many of the home system aren't smart enough yet to be able to stop that.
- 6:42So this is your, your perfect safety device for that.
- 6:45So that makes a ton of sense.
- 6:47And I think the other thing that happens too is people sit there and maybe they've got that 15 year old house, they forget to look at the back of those units to see how old they are because they're
- 6:57like a gallon of milk in the fridge when it hits that date.
- 7:00Time to Change it.
- 7:01And Eric, that's a scary thing.
- 7:03And just this past week we were at an event and my coworker and I were joking about how we now become Fire Marshal Bill from the old In Living Color days.
- 7:11That we're looking at our friends and family's detectors, saying, hey, when was the last time you changed those?
- 7:16And oh, it's, these are the ones that came in the, that with the house.
- 7:19And I'm like, okay, well you've lived here 17 years, so they're no longer working.
- 7:23And not that they're no longer working, but it's.
- 7:26What happens is over time the sensor loses its effectiveness.
- 7:30And so even if they go off, they're going to go off so late that they may not go off until the fires, well, well, engulf the house.
- 7:38And that's a scary situation.
- 7:39So that's why we recommend every 10 years and our new alarms will actually notify you at the 10 year mark.
- 7:45They start beeping incessantly.
- 7:47So they basically force you to change them.
- 7:49Yeah, smart.
- 7:51I got into an argument actually with a design client probably eight or nine years ago.
- 7:56I'm walking through their house, we're talking about this remodel we're going to do.
- 8:00And it was a kitchen and there's all these other things in the house we're going to do and a little second story addition.
- 8:04And I walk up and I'm in the hallway, the bedrooms.
- 8:07And I go, I could tell that smoke detector had been up there for 30 years.
- 8:11It was something I recognized as a kid and in my parents house.
- 8:14And I went, wow, that needs to go in a museum.
- 8:17You need to update these while you do it.
- 8:18She goes, oh, I worked in the fire department for 20 years.
- 8:20They're fine.
- 8:22And I went, actually they're not.
- 8:25But I didn't back down.
- 8:26And the next I was in there next week as we were starting to go over some design stuff, she goes, eric, I'm so sorry I corrected you.
- 8:34She goes, I don't know what happened, it was just the universe.
- 8:38But she goes, it started just beeping and making all these weird noises.
- 8:42And I pulled it down and looked at the back and yeah, it had a warning on it and it was 20 years out of date.
- 8:48And she goes, you were right.
- 8:50When I looked it up, she goes, I was wrong.
- 8:53And I was like, okay, you worked in the fire department for 20 years and you didn't know this?
- 8:57Okay, that's scary.
- 8:59But it really shows you how much education we still need to do out there.
- 9:03100% she's not the only one either.
- 9:05We actually have been.
- 9:06We have a new show.
- 9:07I don't know if Jason filled you in on it, but called Home for Good.
- 9:10Oh, yeah.
- 9:11Oh, good.
- 9:12So you've seen it.
- 9:13Art's been on the show right when it came out.
- 9:15That's right.
- 9:16But so we've, we've been doing a lot of these home renovations and some of them have been with first responders.
- 9:21And we've gone into these homes and my colleagues and I, we serve as the fire safety educators for these episodes.
- 9:27And we've actually looked around in the homes and we couldn't even recognize the devices because some of them are over 40 years old.
- 9:34And again, these are.
- 9:34Some of them were first responders that had smoke alarms in their home that were 40 plus years old.
- 9:40Which to your point, is kind of terrifying.
- 9:43Right.
- 9:43But again, it just comes to show you that this is, for some reason fire safety.
- 9:48And often co safety is something that people just tend to be lackadaisical about.
- 9:52They just assume it's not going to happen to me.
- 9:54Like, my home is good.
- 9:55It's got.
- 9:56It's a solid home.
- 9:57It's a safe home.
- 9:58We'll be fine.
- 9:59So people tend to put this off at work.
- 10:02They forget about it.
- 10:02Right.
- 10:03The alarms are out of sight, out of mind, totally.
- 10:05But we try to make it now when we talk to people like, look up, look around you, look at the ceiling, look at your walls, and really start to prioritize fire and co safety because we hear it again
- 10:15and again.
- 10:16It'll never happen to me.
- 10:17It'll never happen to me.
- 10:18And then the call comes in from someone who says, oh my gosh, it happened.
- 10:22You were right.
- 10:22And those are the calls that we want to avoid.
- 10:24Right.
- 10:24That's what we're trying to teach people so we can prevent tragedies and home fire losses from happening.
- 10:30It's so true.
- 10:31And it's one of those things.
- 10:32And this is stuff that you should be putting in your house, your vacation home, your r.
- 10:37So many things out there.
- 10:38Any place, guys, that you're sleeping or you're hanging out.
- 10:42Even if it's that maybe it's the pool house back there in the back of the house.
- 10:45Do you have one back there that's got it?
- 10:47Because maybe the.
- 10:48The pool heater is having issues and all of a sudden you've got carbon monoxide back there.
- 10:53So really think about this.
- 10:55Just because the room doesn't have it doesn't mean you shouldn't add it to it.
- 10:59That's such a great point.
- 11:01Travel co safety is something we're really honing in on and trying to encourage people to take more notice of.
- 11:07We highly recommend taking an alarm that's double A battery operated with you because it's easier for packing.
- 11:12You can take the batteries out, reinstall them when you arrive at your destination, make sure the alarm works properly.
- 11:18But, you know, only 14 states are required.
- 11:21The hotels and motels are required to have alarms.
- 11:24Only 14 out of 50.
- 11:25Think of all the other states you're probably visiting, whether to see family or on vacation, what have you.
- 11:31Renting a property, you might not have the detection that you need.
- 11:35And we have heard some horrifying stories.
- 11:38Even overseas.
- 11:39Same thing.
- 11:39Especially overseas.
- 11:40If you're traveling overseas, take that double A CEO alarm with you.
- 11:44Because the policies and the legislation are so different in other countries, they might not have anything at all.
- 11:50Most likely they don't.
- 11:51It's just crazy.
- 11:52Unless you're getting into Europe and some other places.
- 11:54It's just one of those things that they just don't deal with.
- 11:57And we're behind the game.
- 11:59They're even worse.
- 12:01Yeah.
- 12:02Is becoming so much more popular.
- 12:04Like, you don't know.
- 12:06There's not too many people going and inspecting those homes to make sure that they're up to date with their devices as well.
- 12:12So to Steph's point, it's a great idea to bring a co alarm with you when you travel.
- 12:16That's smart.
- 12:17Some states get interesting.
- 12:18Like here I'm in Oregon.
- 12:19We had an Airbnb that was out at Cannon Beach, Oregon, out here.
- 12:22That was really cool that we were doing.
- 12:23And man, those guys hated Airbnb stuff so bad that they actually gave us.
- 12:29We had to have fire inspections more so than the hotels in the area did.
- 12:34So they would send out their fire inspector and literally walk the house.
- 12:38But that's the exception, not the rule.
- 12:40By all means.
- 12:41Out there.
- 12:42Correct.
- 12:42And it's state by state.
- 12:44Yeah.
- 12:45So every state is different with their laws.
- 12:47And some are like, I live on the opposite side of the country.
- 12:50Maine is a big Airbnb.
- 12:52We have a lot of vacation homes.
- 12:53And the first thing I do is just make sure and go in and say, okay, are the smoke alarms and Cosmos up to date?
- 12:59And I know I work in the industry.
- 13:00As you said earlier.
- 13:02It's scary that how many people don't know how long their detectors are good for.
- 13:08Yeah.
- 13:08I always encourage people.
- 13:09A lot of my friends when they're traveling, I say, just pick up the phone whether you're staying at a hotel or a rental property, just find out what are your fire and CO protocols.
- 13:17Do you have alarms?
- 13:18Do you know how old the alarms are?
- 13:20Because any property management, they probably don't know the age of the alarms.
- 13:24And then when you get there, go ahead and double check, right?
- 13:27And if you ever feel uncomfortable, then again pick up the phone, talk to the property management.
- 13:32If you feel that your, your room is located too close to say like you mentioned the pool house and you know that there's a generator back there or they're near an app like an appliance room, ask to move
- 13:42your room.
- 13:42Like it's not out of the question.
- 13:44It might, might be a little like encumbersome for a little bit.
- 13:48But you know, at least you get a, you're safe, right?
- 13:50You're alive and you feel more comfortable.
- 13:51You have better peace of mind for your family.
- 13:53So it's worth just asking these questions before you go anywhere, double checking upon your arrival.
- 13:59And then at any point in time you do feel uncomfortable, you're just like, you know what, I need another place to stay.
- 14:03Just ask that, request that and then if they're a good property or a homeowner, they'll meet your request.
- 14:09Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
- 14:11One of my biggest complaints as of a few years ago now it's changed a little bit, but was that CO alarms didn't go off fast enough for me.
- 14:19I would like it if they and I noticed that's changed a little bit.
- 14:22But you know, CO is one of those things that, yeah, there's that deadly version of it, but that can make you sick if it's a lot lower.
- 14:29So I do like that some of the alarms have changed a little bit and become a little more sensitive.
- 14:34Yeah.
- 14:34So great point.
- 14:35We actually, I mentioned that the smoke alarms two years ago went through a UL change yo this past summer actually went through a change as well.
- 14:41So they updated a lot of the requirements for the cosmic and one of them was to your point is they react quicker to parts per million.
- 14:50So.
- 14:50And we actually have four alarms that we call our low level devices that they will notify you at 35 by on the display where typically they go off at 70 parts per million.
- 15:03And that's the particles in the air that.
- 15:06Yep, that's got a picture right there.
- 15:07So that's how they measure the CO particles in the air.
- 15:10And that's something they've realized was a gap and they've changed that as well.
- 15:15So great point.
- 15:16Our alarms, our CO alarms now are even smarter as well.
- 15:20So the industry is definitely going in a very progressive manner and making some great improvements to the products we offer out in the field.
- 15:28So the low level alert are so important, especially if you have anybody in your home that has health issues, children, seniors, pets, those communities and those types of people are more vulnerable to lower levels of carbon monoxide.
- 15:42So I definitely encourage anybody who has children, pets, seniors, or health issues in their home to invest in the low level CO alert because it can really help make a difference.
- 15:51It'll alert you to a lower parts per million and then you can take action sooner.
- 15:55Right.
- 15:56So you could open the window, get outside, get fresh air, call first responders.
- 16:00It can really help make a big difference in your health and your overall safety in your home.
- 16:05Yeah, I bought a fairly inexpensive air quality monitor off Amazon.
- 16:08I think it's where I bought it.
- 16:09And I go around and check mine every once in a while and mine's between one and three and I think that's within the parts per million.
- 16:16So it's within the measuring tool that I'm using.
- 16:21So it's nearly zero.
- 16:22But it's good to know what it is.
- 16:24So just like anything in your air, know what it is and know where it's supposed to be.
- 16:28So then if you have an issue, you go, well, that's different.
- 16:31Something's broken, something's changed, we need to fix it.
- 16:34Yeah, I remember, I grew up in New Jersey and I remember our CO alarm actually did go off.
- 16:39Thankfully.
- 16:40My father is a huge safety advocate, so he always had, he always made sure the smoke alarms were updated every 10 years.
- 16:45And he had the CO alarms on every level of our home.
- 16:48And my mom and I had been suffering from headaches and I was probably around 10 years old, I want to say, when this happened.
- 16:54And my mom and I had both had severe headaches for a couple of days.
- 16:57My brother and dad did not have any symptoms.
- 16:59And then the CO alarm went off.
- 17:01The one that was in the basement, it was like on, in the stairwell leading up to the first floor.
- 17:06And it turned out it had been the, the heater or the furnace in the basement had a tiny little pinhole leak and that had caused CO throughout the whole home.
- 17:15And the first responders came, we had to clear out for 24 hours.
- 17:19Obviously the repairman came, fixed, fixed that for us.
- 17:22I think we'd replace the unit.
- 17:23But it was, it was a tiny hole and it was causing symptoms.
- 17:26We got lucky.
- 17:27Right?
- 17:27It could have been far worse, but it was scary.
- 17:30Yeah, that could have been so Bad.
- 17:31And then I see people in apartment complexes and you know what happens here.
- 17:35Anytime we got a power outage here, and I don't understand why this happens, but people decide to bring their charcoal barbecues, their generators, and they bring them inside so they don't get stolen.
- 17:48And all of a sudden you've got what can be a very deadly situation.
- 17:52And the bad part with apartments is it's not only affecting if they're in a top floor unit, there's a good chance that's going to go down into the, the whole structure itself because they didn't build those so well
- 18:03anyway.
- 18:04And not only can it affect the people that are in that unit, it can also affect the people that are in the building itself.
- 18:10And I think this is super smart.
- 18:12If you're a renter out there, again, just make sure that you've got this around there.
- 18:17You can always take it with you if there, if you don't want to leave it behind.
- 18:20These are all simple things you can do to make it a lot safer.
- 18:23Yeah, that's such a good point.
- 18:25Especially if you live in an apartment complex or a multi residential type dwelling because it might not be something you're causing that's causing the co.
- 18:33And a lot of times we hear people say, oh well, couldn't I just smell it?
- 18:36Won't I just know it's there?
- 18:37And we're like, no.
- 18:39The answer is no.
- 18:40Carbon monoxide is invisible.
- 18:42It is colorless, it is odorless, it is tasteless.
- 18:45Honestly, the only way to know it's present is to have a CO alarm.
- 18:49It's just like radon.
- 18:50Same kind of thing.
- 18:51You'll never know it's there until it's, well, too late.
- 18:54Exactly.
- 18:55So that is what we're trying to Prevent, right, Jason?
- 18:57Yeah, 100.
- 18:58And generator safety is such a big issue, especially where I live.
- 19:01In the winter, the power goes out.
- 19:03We've had, in the past 20 years, we've had two storms where we were out for a week.
- 19:07So I'm running on a generator and the new ones have the cutoff, but the old ones didn't.
- 19:12So they just can produce massive amounts of co.
- 19:16And if it's too close to the windows or anything like that, it can get scary.
- 19:19And the other point I'd like to make is beyond not being able to see it or smell it, to Steph's point earlier, it mimics the flu.
- 19:26So a lot of people will be getting exposed and they don't know.
- 19:29They have no idea that they're being exposed.
- 19:31Like the low levels like you talked about.
- 19:32So it's very important to be aware of your surroundings.
- 19:35We've all heard horror stories.
- 19:37We had one in New Hampshire a few years ago where a bunch of kids went to their ski house and they brought this generator inside because they didn't know any better.
- 19:46Thought, okay, well my heater's inside, so I'll bring the generator inside.
- 19:49And unfortunately, it was a tragic ending and it's just scary.
- 19:52And it breaks my heart when I hear these stories because so many of them are preventable.
- 19:57Yeah, I just got a brand new generator for my RV and it has that co shield in it.
- 20:01And I tell you what, it's nice because if I ever put it in a stupid situation, it'll shut itself off.
- 20:07Correct.
- 20:07But the older ones have that feature.
- 20:11Absolutely.
- 20:12Another thing I wanted to talk about here too that's so important is fire extinguishers.
- 20:16And I know my audience is going to sit here and go, Eric's telling that story again.
- 20:20But I was, oh, probably 12 years ago, I was dating this girl, her dad, elderly, was fighting dementia, Alzheimer's, and they didn't have a way to really turn the stovetop off well, and they didn't want to turn it
- 20:35off the way I did.
- 20:36So I went in there and put in three outside the kitchen, three of the big fire extinguishers in there and said, hey guys, let's be safe.
- 20:44He could come in here and cause a fire.
- 20:46So let's at least if you're not going to shut stuff off, be a little prepared.
- 20:50I used all three of those fire extinguishers in a fire in that kitchen.
- 20:56And I was sitting downstairs, she was putting her little kids through shower time in the evening, watching tv and I heard a smoke alarm go off.
- 21:03And I went, huh, wonder if they're cooking.
- 21:05And I gave it about a 10 count.
- 21:07Then I heard a second one go off and so I went, something's bad.
- 21:10I knew they're up there.
- 21:11So I go up in the kitchen and he had taken one of those big 64 ounce truck stuff, copy coffee mugs and put it on the coil burner to heat it up on high.
- 21:22And I had flames going all the way up into the hood.
- 21:25And then he, bless his heart, didn't know any better.
- 21:29He was sitting there with a towel trying to beat the flames out.
- 21:32Well, then all the hot plastic was spot firing.
- 21:34So I had the paper towel rolls on fire, I had the mail over here on.
- 21:38I had all these different spot fires in the kitchen.
- 21:41I emptied And I had told them to call the fire department.
- 21:44I emptied all three of those things before I got it out.
- 21:47And it was a heck of a fire.
- 21:49And plastic burns so crazily.
- 21:51You think, oh, one little tiny one will do it.
- 21:54Well, if it's a tiny fire, it is.
- 21:56But we were seconds away from losing that house.
- 21:58Happy I'd put them in there.
- 22:00But guys, be careful out there, especially when you've got elderly and things like that.
- 22:04Make sure you've got enough of those.
- 22:06One probably isn't enough in most houses.
- 22:08No, that is such a good point.
- 22:10Wow, that is scary.
- 22:11We obviously recommend fire extinguishers.
- 22:13There's throughout your home, every level within reach.
- 22:16Definitely multiple per level to your point.
- 22:20And then a lot of people don't realize too depending cooking.
- 22:22Unattended cooking is the number one cause of house fires.
- 22:25So across the board, that is what causes the most home fires.
- 22:28But also people get confused if it's a grease fire and you need to certain type of fire extinguisher that is meant to put out grease fires.
- 22:37You can't just use anything on a grease fire.
- 22:38And don't get the water.
- 22:40I was just about to say, please don't use water.
- 22:42I'm.
- 22:42So many times we hear these stories where I tossed water on it and it got worse.
- 22:46I'm like, yes, because that's what happens.
- 22:49So people just have to educate themselves.
- 22:51You need to know what to do in the event of these emergencies because you need to be prepared.
- 22:55And in those moments when you're.
- 22:57It's sheer panic, right?
- 22:58Like when something like it's chaos, it's panic.
- 23:00You're trying to, like you said, prevent other smaller fires around you from starting.
- 23:04Somebody's reacting like they shouldn't be.
- 23:06So you need somebody who has that education that knows what to do in these emergencies, because that can make a big difference.
- 23:13But definitely having the fire extinguisher.
- 23:16And then number two is knowing how to properly use the fire extinguisher.
- 23:19Right.
- 23:20That's the big one.
- 23:21And I've.
- 23:21I learned years ago doing tv when I'd go out to the fire department and they would light things on fire and we.
- 23:27I got to burn through about 10 fire extinguishers and going, this is kind of fun.
- 23:31And we did a whole video on it.
- 23:33So much fun to learn how to do that the right way.
- 23:35It's cool.
- 23:36And the fire department does a great job of showing people how to do that.
- 23:39But it's pretty simple.
- 23:42Except just don't go aiming at the Top of the flames.
- 23:45It's the base that you're trying to go forward, sweep across it.
- 23:48Basic stuff.
- 23:49But so many people just haven't had to use them and don't know.
- 23:53Yeah.
- 23:53And one of the things I always say is fire extinguishers is one of those things that you don't think about until you wish you had one.
- 23:59Because if you don't have one and it's too late.
- 24:02Oh, I wish I had a fire extinguisher right now.
- 24:04And if you have a small fire in your house, you have an extinguisher that you can get to it yourself, that's great and that's ideal.
- 24:10But a lot of times that's not the case.
- 24:12I had a friend of mine that works in the industry on electrical side and apparently I'd given him an extinguisher at some point and he said he was grilling and he walked away from his grill and the grease
- 24:24had caught the final siding and luckily he had put that extinguisher underneath his grill and was able to extinguish the fire, he said.
- 24:32But he goes, I was pretty close to that.
- 24:33That thing kept climbing.
- 24:34I wasn't going to be able to get to it.
- 24:35So it was just a case that he had one and was able to do it himself.
- 24:39But we highly recommend that if take a chance and then by the get out, if he can get put the fire out in time.
- 24:46Because it is.
- 24:46One of my tips I've always leaned on is put one in your master bedroom, the closet, wherever in there.
- 24:53Because half the day you're at the house, you're sleeping.
- 24:56So you might as well have something that you can grab quickly.
- 24:59Might help you get out.
- 25:00Or if you've got something going on the night, maybe it's something that, that maybe it's the kids scooter battery that's going out there and you're just trying to get in there to get something done to get it out
- 25:09the outside the house.
- 25:10Be a little safe, put it, put an extra one in there because that way you know where it is and you can grab it.
- 25:16Well, and that's a great point.
- 25:17The thing that's three.
- 25:19Yeah.
- 25:20And if you're in your house and you don't have a way out because the fire is blocking it, that might be the.
- 25:24That might be enough to get a path through for you and your family to get outside safely.
- 25:29Yeah, I have one in my.
- 25:30Well, one in the garage, which I think we actually have two in our garage and they're the bigger ones because there's all sorts of stuff in the garage, right?
- 25:36Oh, my gosh.
- 25:37We'll talk about that.
- 25:38My husband, please.
- 25:39He's stressing me out with all the stuff he stores in there.
- 25:43And then I have three in our kitchen.
- 25:45I've got two kitchen rated fire extinguishers.
- 25:48One that's for grease, and then another one.
- 25:50And then we also have a new suppression tool called flame out that's sold in certain states.
- 25:55So I have one of those on my countertop.
- 25:57And it's a little bit quicker and simpler to use than a fire extinguisher.
- 26:00Sometimes people can become overwhelmed by a fire extinguisher.
- 26:04So this is more like a can of hairspray, if you will.
- 26:07So it's super simple.
- 26:09And then we have another one in our laundry room.
- 26:11And then in addition, we have our bedroom as well.
- 26:13Both up all upstairs too.
- 26:15Yeah.
- 26:16So smart.
- 26:16Because there's just so many dryer fires are common.
- 26:19That's again one of those things that you got to be careful with and you better be maintaining.
- 26:23When was the last time you cleaned out your dryer duct, you know, and got that cleaned up?
- 26:27That's again one of those forgotten maintenance items that people forget until it's too late.
- 26:31And once they get going, you got a heck of a mess.
- 26:34Yeah.
- 26:34And I have one by my furnace as well, because in case that goes up, I actually have a.
- 26:39A larger one in my furnace room.
- 26:41Just in case.
- 26:42Yeah.
- 26:43Especially if you have a fireplace at home that, if you have a real fireplace, definitely keep one right next to you.
- 26:49What if you're burning wood or anything like that?
- 26:52Yeah, it's so common.
- 26:53And the barbecue thing is so common.
- 26:55I see that so many times.
- 26:56Because again, people forget that, especially with the smokers.
- 27:00You'll see people, smokers, they just don't get that hot.
- 27:02But if you don't keep them clean, all it takes is for that to pop up one time and all of a sudden that smoker becomes just a huge grease fire.
- 27:10And you think that little bit of that small saucepan on the stove gets big.
- 27:13Wait till you have the entire barbecue that's covered going and final sighting.
- 27:17I don't like it for that very reason.
- 27:20It just is one big hot piece of plastic.
- 27:23Yeah.
- 27:23And turkey fryers during Thanksgiving is an issue too as well, is that people don't think about.
- 27:28If you have real Christmas trees, they dry out quick.
- 27:31There's a lot of things that you don't think about that you should have an extinguisher nearby.
- 27:35I'll tell you the one thing now that I'm so cognizant of are all the digital items in our home that run on lithium ion batteries.
- 27:43Oh my gosh.
- 27:44Cell phones, laptops, all the toys.
- 27:46I have two young kids so everything is charged whether it's the scooter or the power this, the power that.
- 27:53One time we had left the house to go away for the week and I couldn't remember if we had unplugged one of the toys that was charging.
- 28:01So I was having a panic attack and we actually wound up calling a friend who had to call the locksmith to go into the front door and sure enough it was still plugged in.
- 28:09And I was like, please unplug it because that wasn't supposed to charge for more than 24 hours.
- 28:14So I think about what could have happened if we had left it plugged in.
- 28:19Like what would have happened?
- 28:20Yeah, well, ironic story yesterday.
- 28:23And this just literally happened yesterday.
- 28:25Girlfriend was out, fiance now was out running around and bought one of those.
- 28:30I don't know if it was from home goods or one of the discount stores she was at.
- 28:33Bought one of those phone charger banks.
- 28:36Just no name, ten dollar one.
- 28:38And I went, we, why don't you take that back?
- 28:41Because good advice.
- 28:43Yeah, I'm like, ah, seven dollar phone charger bank, that makes me nervous.
- 28:47Why don't you take that back?
- 28:48I said we should just have a rule that if it's not a name brand, big UL listed type thing, let's just not bring these in the house because there's too many recalls and they're all over the news on
- 29:02what started the fire someplace and that's the last thing we need is let's make that simple.
- 29:06Yeah, I get it.
- 29:08Like people are trying to save dollars right where they can.
- 29:10I totally understand.
- 29:10But that is not the dollars you want to save.
- 29:13Right.
- 29:13Because if your, your home burns down, you're going to be spending a lot more money in trying to clean up that process than just purchasing the $25 charger rather than the exact one.
- 29:24Spend the extra money where it matters.
- 29:26And the worst part is online too.
- 29:28There's so many products out there you buy, it's got a UL listed stamp on it, but it's not UL listed.
- 29:33There's nobody really policing that well.
- 29:36So anytime that you've got that lithium ion stuff and you're not following the directions, you're leaving it plugged in.
- 29:41Same thing goes with the garage.
- 29:42Those tool batteries don't just leave them on the charger.
- 29:45Take them off the charger, keep them in a metal.
- 29:48I've got mine in a metal cabinet so at least I've got a little protection.
- 29:52It's not going to keep the whole thing from burn it down but at least it's going to keep that flame in a metal box for a bit and then hopefully it's detached too.
- 29:59But still it's one of those things that any time you've got a damaged battery things can go badly quickly.
- 30:06Well, one point I'd like to make is lithium batteries are very hard to put out because they will keep, they'll keep igniting and it's once it goes up and it very difficult to put out.
- 30:15So that's something to keep in mind.
- 30:17And you mentioned UL and I just would like to point out too that actually goes for the smoke detectors and cos make sure they are UL listed or ETL listed because there is a lot of counterfeits out there.
- 30:27I.
- 30:28I'm on TikTok and I've noticed there's these 5 and 6 and 1 detectors and none of them are UL listed and they look super cool and they can do supposedly do everything but I highly recommend that either from
- 30:40us or one of our competitors, just make sure that they are UL listed in ETL listed and it's easy to do.
- 30:46You can just log online, go to the UL or ETL websites and actually type in the model of whatever you're purchasing, whether it's aarm, seal, ARM or a charger, put that model number in and see if it comes
- 30:57up on their website.
- 30:58If it does not show up, you're not purchased.
- 31:01Yeah, and they're all over the place.
- 31:03I see them on every major online site.
- 31:06There's social media things that come up and look at this new thing and it's.
- 31:11If there's nobody policing that stuff like UL or anybody else, that's a concern.
- 31:15And I would not be trying to save 20 bucks to do that when who knows if it even works.
- 31:22And there's a ton of recalls.
- 31:23I see them, we cover every Wednesday on our midweek show that we do the recalls and that is one of the most common things is this off brand not working.
- 31:33And once a month it seems like there's somebody on there with that.
- 31:37Well, I think we're all guilty of it.
- 31:39I have a lot of Ryobi battery equipment for my lawn, the weed whacker and the trimmer and a few other things and I saw online I could get a three pack of batteries for the same price of one
- 31:51of the others.
- 31:52And when I bought them and I'm.
- 31:54I just.
- 31:55They didn't work as well.
- 31:56And I just was like, yeah, I shouldn't be using these.
- 31:58And I disposed of them properly and just paid the extra money to make sure that I got.
- 32:04And the other thing is, you want to make sure that the tool you're buying, the battery is approved for it as well.
- 32:10Well, that's a great point.
- 32:11And I want to bring this up too, because I've done a lot of research on this and you're right, there's those online.
- 32:17It looks just like that same.
- 32:20It's yellow, it's red, it says the brand name on it.
- 32:23And I've seen way too many people out there that have been popping those open and taking a look.
- 32:27And the main tool batteries, they have a little computer inside of that thing that sits there and reads.
- 32:32It knows how to shut it down.
- 32:34It's got fusible links to keep it from burning stuff up.
- 32:38That's a lot of preventative tools.
- 32:40These knockoff batteries, because they're knockoffs, have none of that.
- 32:43So once it goes.
- 32:45And then those other lithium ion battery packs in there, because it's not like one big battery.
- 32:49Yeah, it's like a bunch of little cells in there and that'll light the next one and the next one and then you get the chain reaction going.
- 32:55So make sure, guys, that you're buying the real thing and buy it just from the approved retailer.
- 33:01Don't go grabbing it off some budget site online and make sure that you're getting that actual battery because.
- 33:07Yeah, I've seen too many people testing stuff and lots of fires that were created when they damaged one of those batteries.
- 33:14And once it lit off, you got a fire in your hands and you're not putting it out.
- 33:17Yes.
- 33:18Also, if you have ironic in the home, keep your pets away from.
- 33:21Oh my gosh, away from the cell phones because they're chewing on them and they're sparking fires and they.
- 33:27A lithium ion battery fire in a living room.
- 33:29The whole room can become engulfed in 45 seconds.
- 33:33Wow, that's scary.
- 33:36That's.
- 33:37I was just going to make the point too.
- 33:39Even ironically, with our own smoke detectors.
- 33:41If you have battery operated smoke detectors or battery backups, we have approved batteries that we've tested with ul.
- 33:47So if you're using one that's not approved by ul, you're risking low battery chirps and.
- 33:52But not working properly as well.
- 33:53So it's.
- 33:54It's something that I never thought.
- 33:56I'm like the battery is a battery.
- 33:57But if they're not the right battery that we did the testing on, it may not work as well as the ones that we did the testing and made it through that they can be a hair short.
- 34:08And that connection, especially at night, if the cold weather goes in, think of your car that you can't start your car in the winter as easily in the summer.
- 34:15That battery can shrink a tiny bit in the winter and cause low battery trips if you're not using the properly the one that UL recommends.
- 34:23Yeah, we've had a lot of parts.
- 34:26Yeah, right, yeah, that's a big thing.
- 34:28And then there's.
- 34:29Of course, I think there's a lot of confusion out there too with homeowners and landlords and everything else out there that there's some of these, you know, units out there that have a 10 year battery life.
- 34:39Is that the case, guys?
- 34:41What's the confusion on that?
- 34:42Because there seems to be a lot of confusion of people wanting to change out their batteries every year.
- 34:46But then it's got a long term battery.
- 34:48How do you deal with that?
- 34:49Yeah, so we do have alarms that do have a, It's a sealed 10 year battery backup or it runs on a 10 year battery.
- 34:57So we do have a 10 year option.
- 35:00So there's some that are standard batteries that you replace every year and then.
- 35:04But we do have a line that is a 10 year battery backup to your AC DC or they'll strictly be a 10 year battery which actually is a great thing.
- 35:13Especially as my parents aged, I switched them all to the 10 year battery because I didn't want my dad up on the ladder trying 80 years old trying to change batteries where he was a little less stable maybe
- 35:22when he was younger.
- 35:23And it's a great, a great feature.
- 35:25But there is, you just have to make sure, you know, it's either 10 year sealed battery versus a replacement and that's why we seal them so people can't go in and change them.
- 35:34So if our batteries are 10 year, it is a sealed unit and you can't access the battery.
- 35:40I think that's such a good point, Eric.
- 35:41A lot of times I know as a woman myself, before I was in this industry, I did no knowledge of all these different options when it comes to smoke alarms and co alarms.
- 35:50And obviously after working for Kiddder for nearly eight years, I think I'm well educated on the topic and what to look for.
- 35:56But I think that's one thing we really need to help people with is when you go to the store and you see the shelf, it could be a little overwhelming right at first because there are so many options
- 36:04and you're kind of staring, staring at it, say, where do I even begin?
- 36:08So I think one thing that people can do right now at home is first, do you have working smoke alarms?
- 36:14That's the first question that you should be asking yourself.
- 36:17If you do see alarms in the ceiling, when's the last time you've tested them?
- 36:20We're supposed to be testing them monthly.
- 36:23We understand life happens, right?
- 36:25People are busy.
- 36:26But, well, number one, do you have working smoke alarms?
- 36:29Number two, when's the last time you tested them?
- 36:31Go test them.
- 36:32Number three, go look for that manufacturing date that is on the back of the alarm.
- 36:36So you might have to twist it, take it down out of the bracket, but look for the manufacturing date on the back.
- 36:40And again, if it is beyond the 10 years from the manufacturing date, then it is certainly time for a new alarm.
- 36:46And then the other thing you need to look at, when you're up there looking at the alarm, is it a hardwired alarm or is it a battery operated alarm?
- 36:54If it's a battery operated alarm, is it the replaceable batteries that I need to be changing out every twice a year or once a year, or is it that sealed battery that Jason was referring to that can last
- 37:05up to 10 years?
- 37:06So some simple educational tips for people just to help them get the process started.
- 37:11And then you can kind of know when you get to the store, okay, I'm here.
- 37:14I know I have hardwired.
- 37:15I know I need the hardwired version.
- 37:17And then from there you can make the next decision.
- 37:20Do I want to upgrade to that smarter technology?
- 37:22Do I want to add in carbon monoxide and have a combo alarm?
- 37:26But then from there, you can step up to the various options that are available?
- 37:30Yeah, I like the smart ones, personally.
- 37:32That just makes life so much easier because it's telling you what's going on.
- 37:35It's giving you a warning.
- 37:36It's so much easier, and it's smarter, which I like, because with me, at least, it seems like you eliminate the little chirp at 3am that the only time it seems to go off.
- 37:47And why is that?
- 37:48In the world, the only time you hear that chirp is between 1 and 3am it's the biggest Murphy's Law thing in the world.
- 37:55So I have a theory on it.
- 37:56It's usually typically to me, when it's the coldest part of the night, and we talked earlier about the environmental, so especially up where we live near the coast, or if you live near the coast, the weather particles, they
- 38:10can be thicker and they can fool the smoke alarm.
- 38:13So smoke alarms are very intelligent, especially the new ones, but they can be tricked.
- 38:17So humidity can still cause some false alarms.
- 38:20And the other thing is dust.
- 38:21And Stephanie talked about with changing the batteries.
- 38:24We highly recommend too, that when you are changing batteries, take a little condensed air and clean out around the alarm and that will eliminate a lot of problems with the false alarming.
- 38:33And I also, my other theory is it may have gone off at 2 in the morning, 2 in the afternoon, and you were at work, so you didn't hear it in the afternoon.
- 38:41And then that night, unfortunately, that's when you get up.
- 38:43There's a lot of different theories, but some of them, it may have reset itself or insects love to go in smoke alarms.
- 38:50So in at night, they might climb inside of it because it's warm inside the smoke alarm.
- 38:54And they will go in and fool it.
- 38:56Our new product actually will notify you if they are getting dirty, if there is something obstructing it.
- 39:01They actually beep three times in 60 seconds, which a lot of people misinterpret as a low battery chirp.
- 39:07But if you hear that three beeps.
- 39:09If they have the newer technology we talked about all the advances, that was one of the big ones.
- 39:14They'll actually notify you.
- 39:15And all you have to do is take either your vacuum hose and go around it, clean it out, or take some condensed air and blow out the sensor.
- 39:21And that will solve a lot of those annoying chirps and beeps.
- 39:26Nice.
- 39:26It's just something to keep in mind.
- 39:28That makes a lot of sense.
- 39:29And that's smart, too.
- 39:30And I like the smartness of that because, yeah, you're right.
- 39:34It probably went off at 2 o' clock and I had the TV going or the game on and nobody was hearing that little beep, you know, the little chirp.
- 39:41Absolutely.
- 39:43I think maintenance too, I was going to say a lot of times it's.
- 39:46We're in the fall season.
- 39:47I know in certain parts of the country, when the weather's beautiful, you want to open your windows, right?
- 39:51Well, of course, get that fresh air in.
- 39:53But also, when you're bringing in that fresh air, you're getting the dust in from the outdoors, in the home, too.
- 39:58And to Jason's point, all of that can accumulate in your alarms as well.
- 40:01So we do send.
- 40:02We tend to see a spike of people complaining that their alarms are chirping in the spring.
- 40:06In the fall.
- 40:07And that's because they have the windows open and they're letting all the dust and dirt and stuff in.
- 40:11So just keep that in mind if you plan to do that.
- 40:13Just make sure you're maintenance in your alarms as well, just like you would dust your furniture, dust your alarms.
- 40:17Just don't use any cleaners.
- 40:19Just make sure you're using that brush, the soft brush attachment, or the compressed air.
- 40:24Nice.
- 40:24Nice.
- 40:25That makes a lot of sense.
- 40:26Guys, we're running out of time this hour.
- 40:28What have we not talked about?
- 40:30Gosh.
- 40:31Well, one thing I would love to share is if you haven't practiced a fire escape plan with your family, now is the best month to do it.
- 40:39And I mean, sit down.
- 40:40Truly sit down with your family.
- 40:42Everybody in the home.
- 40:43Have a conversation.
- 40:45Include your children.
- 40:46Include grandma or grandpa if they live with you.
- 40:48Include your pets if you have them.
- 40:50Make sure you physically map out your escape route two ways out of every room.
- 40:55And then make sure everybody in the home knows what to do and is used to the sound of the alarm.
- 40:59And that includes the pets.
- 41:01So test that alarm.
- 41:02Make sure they're working.
- 41:03Get them used to hearing the sound of it so that way the children and the pets don't run and hide.
- 41:07That's the biggest problem we see, and it's the saddest stories.
- 41:11Just again, practice with your family.
- 41:13Please make fire safety a priority at home this month and all year, but definitely take the time this month.
- 41:18That makes sense.
- 41:19That makes sense.
- 41:20Jason, you got anything else?
- 41:22The one thing that I did want to mention is everyone thinks we're just smoke and co and extinguishers.
- 41:26But you had mentioned radon earlier, and we actually just launched a new radon detector.
- 41:30So.
- 41:32Yeah, I haven't gotten one yet, but being in New England, that's an issue for us up here as well.
- 41:36So something I wanted to check out.
- 41:38So it was pretty when you mentioned it.
- 41:39I wanted to say that, but it's.
- 41:41We do have a radon detector that we're offering as well.
- 41:43Oh, that is so smart.
- 41:45But here it's so hit and miss.
- 41:47I could be.
- 41:47I could test my house and it could be perfect.
- 41:50And then next door, it could be horrible, but.
- 41:52And you took words out of my mouth.
- 41:55We had an issue in our town.
- 41:56I won't get into it, but with the I live next door river.
- 42:00And it got infected in sewer wells and different things.
- 42:03My neighbors was a mess.
- 42:04And so that scared me.
- 42:05And I did the old where you put the radar and mailed away and get it now back.
- 42:09But now we actually have a plug in radar radon detector.
- 42:12Nice.
- 42:13Yeah.
- 42:13It's so smart.
- 42:13And it's one of those things that.
- 42:15That can be a serious health risk as well.
- 42:17So make sure, guys, that you take a look at that.
- 42:19And if you had a test, and this is something I learned talking to one of the radon experts years ago, that if you have any seismic activity, like a little 3.0 earthquake, that could have shifted things around and
- 42:29all of a sudden where you didn't have it, now you have it.
- 42:32So stay on top of it, guys.
- 42:33If you're out on the west coast like we are out here, where we get that stuff, all it means you just got to keep testing.
- 42:39Yeah.
- 42:40And then the one other thing I wanted to mention is anybody who has gas in their home, I believe Steph mentioned it earlier, we actually do have a gas detector as well.
- 42:46And that's an FPA 715 is on the books with a lot of states, so that's going to start getting adopted.
- 42:52So if you do have gas in your home, I highly recommend doing an investment in a gas alarm.
- 42:56Gas or propane?
- 42:58Yeah.
- 42:58We're not trying to unlock new fears, but we are trying to get people to think about their safety.
- 43:03The home should be the number one place you feel the most comfortable.
- 43:06Right.
- 43:06So we're just doing everything we can to help people have that added peace of mind with all this.
- 43:11Different detection options.
- 43:12Yeah, I have one of those gas that came with my rv.
- 43:16The problem is, I don't like about it is that anytime my girlfriend wants to use the hairspray, it sets it off because the propellant in the hairspray is the same.
- 43:25So be careful.
- 43:28Don't put that in the bathroom with the hairspray.
- 43:30So that will set it off.
- 43:33Yeah, good point.
- 43:35All right, guys, how do people find more information about you guys and be able to go to the website and learn about all the new stuff that you guys have coming out?
- 43:42Everybody can visit kidda.com k I d d e.com and for fire safety education and carbon monoxide education, go to cause4alarm.org you'll see Jason has that logo on his shirt there.
- 43:57So Potalarm.org is another great option for you.
- 44:00We actually have an augmented reality tool.
- 44:04It is free that you can play with on your mobile device.
- 44:07So your cell phone or a tablet.
- 44:08But go check it out and it will teach you how to practice a fire escape plan with your family.
- 44:13And you'll actually be able to see what A fire could potentially look like in your own home.
- 44:17Wow, that's a remarkable tool.
- 44:20And then the other thing too is if you do have a question about what the different beeps mean or anything like that, we actually have a really good tool on YouTube where we have our own YouTube channel which
- 44:29you can figure out what the different beeps mean or if you have questions, we might have explained it in a video.
- 44:35So it's a really good resource for people who do have some questions and concerns.
- 44:39They can go check out our YouTube page.
- 44:41Nice.
- 44:42And guys out there, all, everybody in the audience, if you have, if you don't have the ability to swap out those, get up on a ladder, call your local fire department, don't call 91 1, call their non emergency
- 44:52number.
- 44:53I am sure they'll send somebody out when they have some time to give you a hand.
- 44:57I have never heard a no from any of them.
- 45:00So lean on them if you can't do it yourself.
- 45:03Absolutely.
- 45:04They would much rather come to your house and check your alarms and replace your alarm than show up for a fire.
- 45:10Amen.
- 45:11Well guys, thanks so much for coming on the show today.
- 45:14Stephanie, Jason, I really appreciate it.
- 45:15You guys are amazing and great information for everybody out there there this October when everybody's paying attention to fire.
- 45:23Thank you so much, Eric.
- 45:24Thank you.
- 45:26Thanks guys.
- 45:26You've been listening to around the House.
- 45:46Now.