Inspect Your Batteries Day is observed on the second Sunday of March, which will occur on March 12 this year. While it may appear that this holiday was created by a battery company to increase sales, it was actually created to raise awareness about testing the batteries in your various appliances and ensuring they are in functioning order. These devices notify you of a potentially life-threatening situation and enable you to evacuate your family. To assure proper operation, they must be routinely tested (typically by pressing a button). Check Your Batteries Day functions as a reminder to ensure that the batteries in our homes are fully functional.
The background of Check Your Batteries Day
No one is certain about the origin of Check Your Batteries Day or who first observed it. Check Your Batteries Day, which occurs during Daylight Savings Time, seeks to raise awareness about the importance of testing and maintaining functional batteries in, among other things, smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, radon detectors, and other electronic devices. These devices will notify us of a potentially life-threatening situation, giving us the time we need to get ourselves and our families to a secure location. In order to ensure that these devices are functioning correctly, it is essential to inspect them frequently.
These detectors have the potential to save lives if used correctly. Prior to the invention of these electronic devices, it was nearly impossible to detect smoke and carbon monoxide, and it was often too late once the problem had occurred. In the late 1890s, smoke detectors were introduced to the market for the first time. Since George Andrew Darby and Walter Jaeger invented and patented the smoke detector in the early 1900s and Duane Pearsall improved this design in the 1960s, smoke detectors have responded to fires more rapidly than heat detectors. In recent years, smoke, carbon monoxide, and radon detectors have saved many lives, and replacing the batteries in these devices can help save even more.
It is recommended that you change the batteries in your smoke alarm once per month and replace it every ten years in order to save money and protect your family. The average time needed to evacuate a building has decreased due to the installation of smoke detectors. Consequently, you should replace the batteries in your smoke alarms this month.