Smoke Alarm, CO Alarm and Filter Schedule
Smoke alarms, carbon monoxide (CO) alarms and HVAC filters are the small jobs that are easiest to forget, because nothing looks wrong until it is. This page puts them on one schedule you can copy onto a calendar.
Where this page stops. Testing alarms, swapping batteries and changing a filter are homeowner jobs. Installing or rewiring hard-wired alarms is electrical work, and servicing a furnace, boiler or gas appliance is a job for a licensed technician. Call a licensed pro for those.
The short version
| How often | Job |
|---|---|
| Every month | Press the test button on every smoke and CO alarm |
| Every month | Look at the HVAC filter; change it if it is dirty |
| Once a year | Replace replaceable alarm batteries (9-volt or backup) |
| Once a year | Book a heating check in the fall and a cooling check in the spring |
| Every 10 years | Replace each smoke alarm (count from the date printed on it) |
| When the maker says | Replace each CO alarm (date is printed on the alarm) |
Smoke alarms
Test monthly. Press and hold the test button until the alarm sounds. If it is quiet or weak, change the battery and test again. If it still fails, replace the alarm.
Batteries once a year. If your alarm uses a 9-volt battery, or is hard-wired with a backup battery, replace that battery at least once a year. Some alarms have a sealed 10-year battery. Those have no battery to change; you replace the whole unit at the end of its life.
Replace the whole alarm every 10 years. Take the alarm down and look at the back for a date of manufacture. Count 10 years from that date, not from when you moved in. If there is no date, treat it as due.
Where they go. Inside each bedroom, outside each sleeping area, and on every level of the home, including the basement. Mount them on the ceiling or high on a wall.
Cooking false alarms. Do not pull the battery. Open a window, use the hush button, or fan the air near the alarm.
Hard-wired alarms are connected to your home's wiring. Replacing one with the same model is sometimes a plug-in swap, but if you are not sure, or if wires are involved, call a licensed electrician.
Carbon monoxide alarms
Test monthly with the test button, the same day you test smoke alarms.
Where they go. On every level of the home and outside sleeping areas. Alarms with a battery backup keep working in a power cut.
Replacement. CO alarms wear out too. The maker prints a replace-by date or a lifespan on the alarm or in the manual. Write it down when you install it.
If a CO alarm sounds: get everyone outside to fresh air right away, then call 911 from outside. Do not go back in to look for the cause. Headache, dizziness, nausea, sleepiness and confusion can be signs of CO poisoning.
HVAC filters
Look at it every month. Slide the filter out and hold it up to a light. If you cannot see light through it, or it is grey with dust, change it. Use the size printed on the edge of the old one.
Expect to change it more often during heavy heating or cooling months, with pets, or during dusty work in the house.
Write the date on the frame with a marker when you put a new one in. Next month you will know how long it lasted.
Book a yearly check. A licensed technician should look at the furnace or boiler before heating season and at the AC or heat pump before cooling season. Booking early, in late summer and late winter, usually means shorter waits.
An easy way to remember
Pick one day each month (the 1st works) for alarms and the filter. Use the clock change, or another fixed date you will remember, for the yearly battery swap. Keep one sheet with the date of every test, battery and filter, so you do not have to guess.
A tracker for all of it
Home Year includes a filter, battery and smoke-alarm tracker page, plus a checklist for every month and season, appliance and warranty pages and a maintenance log. It comes as a printable PDF and an editable spreadsheet. $12, one time.