Smoke alarms should be installed according to the manufacturer's instructions. Studies suggest that a significant percentage of smoke alarms in use do not work because of dead or missing batteries. The OFM and the Ontario fire service have been stressing the importance of smoke alarm maintenance through various public education initiatives. This effort is now backed by requirements in the Ontario Fire Code which mandate smoke alarm maintenance. The Standard for Smoke Alarms has also been amended and now requires smoke alarms to have a visual indicator to flag a missing battery, for example, the inability to close the smoke alarm cover when a battery is removed.
Nuisance alarms are a frequent reason for removing batteries.
As a result, the use of smoke alarms with a hush or silence feature is being promoted in public safety programs. In addition, smoke alarms with long life batteries are now available on the market. Long life smoke alarms have been designed to use lithium batteries where the battery life is predicted to last 10 years with the normal low battery drain of ionization type smoke alarms. The smoke alarms are still designed to provide a low battery audible signal as the battery charge is reduced to a level that may make the smoke alarm inoperable. It should be noted that although these batteries are designed to last 10 years, ongoing testing and maintenance is required as per manufacturers' instructions.