We use natural gas daily in our homes for cooking, heating, and keeping ourselves warm during cold weather. Even though it’s impossible to imagine our lives without gas nowadays, it also poses a serious threat to our homes and lives if we don’t use it carefully. How is gas a threat to us, you may ask? Well, obviously, through ‘Gas Leakage.’ It can engulf our entire home in fire and destroy valuable items if we are not careful.
These leakages normally occur when a device is not turned off properly or due to faulty pipelines or poorly maintained gas appliances. There are several things that you can do to know whenever gas leaks occur and take action accordingly. To begin with, you need to install carbon monoxide and gas detectors. They can immediately detect if there is a leak and modern smart detectors also switch off the gas supply to minimize the risk.
What is the mechanism, and why should every household have such smart gas detectors? Let’s understand that in detail.
What Are Smart Gas Detectors?
Within several seconds, the smart gas detectors notice any possible gas leaks and thus inform the homeowners, who may act accordingly where that is the case. They can sense natural gas (mainly methane) and LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas).
Wi-Fi-operated smart gas detectors can also alert you of a gas leakage even when you are away from home. It works with Google Home and Alexa systems, or you can download and install the company’s mobile app to get the latest updates.
Other characteristics of gas detectors are LED display, simple installation, multiple modes of alarm, smart connectivity, and strong battery backup. Thanks to these features, gas detectors are dependable gas leak detection devices, thus ensuring the safety of homeowners. Let’s look into how to select a smart gas detector for your house.
Choosing a Smart Gas Detector for Home
Different types of gas detectors are currently available in the market, and you have so many options. However, here are a few important factors to remember when purchasing one:
1. What Type of Gas You Want to Detect
As mentioned, gas detectors can detect leaks of natural gas, LPG, and propane gas. You need to choose which is best for your property since we use natural gas in our homes, so this option is the most appropriate. Always choose the detector that detects flammable gases for your home.
2. Connectivity in Home
Some gas detectors are compatible with Google, Alexa, and other smart home systems through Wi-Fi and are a little expensive. If you have such a system in your home, always choose gas detectors that are compatible with them. If you don’t have a smart system, there is no need to worry; every smart gas detector uses a mobile app, and you will always be alerted whenever a leak occurs.
3. Installation and Placement
Always choose gas detectors that are easy to install and don’t require any technical assistance. These include installation on wall mounts or adhesive strips on walls. Those that require a constant power supply must be inserted in sockets and nowhere else. They are best for your kitchen and TV lounge, where most gas appliances are installed.
4. Easily Expandable Systems
If you own a big property and want to monitor gas leaks at multiple spots, consider buying detectors that can cover multiple rooms and be integrated with a single smart system (Google/Alexa). This allows you to cover various areas within your home without manually inspecting them.
5. Certifications and Compliance
Check whether the company you are purchasing the smart detectors is reliable. Check their website to ensure they had the necessary certificates and approvals from relevant organizations when they built these detectors. You can also ask your family and friends for recommendations if they have purchased gas detectors for their home.
6. Warranty and Customer Support
Check whether the manufacturer provides a warranty for the gas detectors or not. If they don’t, we recommend you don’t buy from them in the first place. The detectors might become faulty too soon, a waste of money. Those with a warranty often indicate confidence in their product quality.
Helpful Tips When Installing Gas Detector at Home
Here are a few tips when installing a smart gas detector in your home.
- Read the instructions carefully before using the gas leak detector and become familiar with its performance and operation.
- Inspect the battery to determine whether it is sufficient. If the battery is insufficient, it should be replaced immediately.
- Inspect the air intake filter for debris that requires cleaning or replacement.
- At the time of startup, the self-check should be performed. The self-check should listen to the graded alarm sound, light, and vibration alarm. Whenever a product does not meet the set requirements, it should be discarded and modified immediately.
Additional Tips for Safety from Gas Leaks
Even though gas detectors help in the early detection of gas leaks so you can take action promptly, you may never know when these detectors might become faulty. Many people don’t have the latest smart detectors installed or are inaccessible to them. That’s why following additional safety tips to protect your home is always important. Here are a few:
- Have your gas appliances inspected annually by a gas engineer from a reliable company and ask them to issue you a gas safety certificate for your property. If you haven’t had such inspections done before, you can do one now. Go to the website Gas Safetycerts.com and book an inspection right now.
- Clean your chimneys of any dust and debris collected over time to prevent harmful gases from accumulating in the house. If possible, the cleaning must be done at least once a month, especially around the holiday season when we heavily use fireplaces to keep our homes warm.
- Always manually check your valves from the main gas connection to ensure no gas leakage. Check your gas meter to ensure it’s working properly and not showing any abnormal readings that indicate leakage.
Conclusion
Using smart gas meters is an effective and reliable method to detect gas leakages promptly. If you don’t have a gas meter installed in your home, do so now. Remember the important factors highlighted when choosing a meter and from a shop. Also, never rely on these meters 100% of the time. Always check your gas appliances for any faults and clean your chimneys to avoid the accumulation of harmful gases.