How To Change Batteries In A Smoke Detector

How To Change Smoke Detector Batteries

With all the things you have to juggle in your life, it’s hard to remember to change the batteries in your smoke detector. If you ever do remember and want to know how to, in this video we’ll show you how to replace the batteries in your smoke detector . . . come on.

This shouldn’t take too long. When it comes to replacing the -- oh, that flashing up there -- just click on that PROJECT button if you want to jump right to the project and skip all of my talking. Nice touch Cam!

When it comes to changing the batteries in your smoke detector, manufacturers actually -- you know what. I just happen to have a smoke detector owner’s user guide . . . whatever. If you look inside, you’d think it would be in the Battery Installation section, but it’s not. It’s in the Maintenance section. It says that, “A fresh battery should last for one year under normal operating conditions.” A lot of people in the industry say that Daylight Savings Time (DST) is a great time to actually change that battery. So every November, you should think about changing it.

I know most of you probably wait ‘til it just starts chirping. But all joking aside, it’s a great idea to replace smoke detector batteries once a year. And it doesn’t take a lot of tools. The only thing you’re going to need is a ladder and if your smoke detectors are really old, you might need a screwdriver.

So, let me show you how. The batteries can be in a couple of different places, I’ll show you some of the most common.

Some of them have a door on the front like this one. All you need to do is slide the door to the side, take the battery out, put a new one in and close the door. Just make sure you pay attention to the positive and negative terminals. There should be some kind of marking inside.

This one has a door on the side. There’s a little latch on the side that releases the door. Open it, remove the old battery, install the new one and close the door.

There’s a few more common places that batteries might be. I’ve got some smoke detectors in the other room that I want to show you. Come on. Now these are some smoke detectors that our technicians removed from a job and they are different examples of how batteries can be in the detectors. So, I wanted to show you those.

This one right here is actually a battery-only smoke detector. The door actually pulls out. You take the old battery out, put a new one in, close the door, and you’re good to go on that one.

Now, these two are a little different because you actually need to unscrew them counter-clockwise, pull them down from the wall to reveal the doors where the batteries are hidden. This one there’s actually a screw. This is where you would need a screwdriver on some of the smoke detectors. But there’s a screw right there. You take that out and you pop this door down, and it reveals the battery. Take the old battery out, put the new one in, close the door and screw it back up in the ceiling. And that one’s good.

This one, unscrew it and pull it down. It has a door that you actually have to pry open and you remove the battery. Replace it with a new one, close the door and put it up in the ceiling.

How Often Should I Replace My Smoke Detector?

Since we talked earlier about pulling smoke detectors down, this is actually a good time to mention that manufacturers recommend replacing the smoke detector after 10 years. Not just the batteries every year, replace the whole detector after 10 years. The reason is because they start to go bad and they’re not working as good.

Where Can I Find The Date It Was Manufactured?

A lot of people wonder where do I actually find the date of when it was manufactured because it’s the date of when the smoke detector was made, not the date when it’s installed. When you pull it down off the wall, on the back there should be a date somewhere that shows when the thing was made. Replace it if it’s older 10 years. If you need some help knowing how to do that, we put a video together about how to replace your smoke detector. It’s pretty easy to follow, step by step, you should be able to do it yourself. But, if you ever feel like you’ve gotten in over your head, STOP and call an electrician you trust for some help.

Now, if you’ve found this information helpful and informative, give us a thumbs up. It lets us know that you like the videos we’re making. If you need to know how to do anything else with your electrical, plumbing, heating or air conditioning system works, leave your suggestions in the comments below.

And don’t forget to subscribe, so you get notifications when our new videos come out.