The police warn that you should never open the door for such checks.
Smoke detector check
If you are to believe the police, a ‘check’ on smoke detectors in the house is the latest trend among chat tricks. ‘Is there someone from the police or municipality at your door to check your smoke detectors? Note: this is a chat trick. Don’t open the door and call 112,” they warned on Twitter.
A chat trick is an excuse scammers use to try to rob people. By pretending to be a police officer or municipal employee, they appear trustworthy, but they are not. The purpose of a chat trick is to steal money or valuables as soon as they are inside. In some cases, this is even accompanied by threats and/or violence. So be careful.
Why is a smoke detector mandatory from 1 July?
The law that takes effect on 1 July is clear: there should be one smoke detector per floor, which is important according to Moniek, who has been working for the fire service since 1996. “Smoke detectors save lives! That’s our cry. When you sleep, your nose sleeps, but your ears don’t. So if a fire breaks out next to your bed, you won’t smell it. But as soon as a smoke detector notices anything, it immediately beeps, warning you in time and giving you two to three minutes to leave your house.”
Differences in smoke detectors
The choice is huge in the world of smoke detectors. The good news is that you can’t buy a ‘bad’ one in the Netherlands. All smoke detectors sold in our country today – and other products for that matter – have a CE mark (from the Conformité Européenne) and then you’re in the right place. A super cheap smoke detector or an expensive one, they all work.
“What we recommend is a smoke detector with a battery that lasts ten years,” says Moniek. “In the past you had to replace such a ‘nine-volt’ battery every year and these smoke detectors only last ten years. We often see a smoke detector beeping at night and people taking the batteries out and three months later they still haven’t put in new batteries. With the smoke detectors with a battery, you actually have nothing to worry about for ten years.”
In the right place
Smoke detectors should hang flat against the ceiling and about forty centimeters from a corner. You should definitely not hide it in a corner or hang it on the wall. Smoke goes up first. When a smoke detector hangs against the wall, it will take a while before the smoke ends up there and your smoke detector activates. It may already be too late. It is also useful to hang the smoke detectors in the escape routes, so you know which escape routes are safe and which are not. An extra tip from Moniek: “Put an extra smoke detector in the nursery.”
Read here which locations are unsuitable to hang a smoke detector.
It sometimes happens to the best home baker: you let something burn. Can happen, but how do you get that air out of your house as quickly as possible? A handy trick:
Source: Law enforcement