FC A Basic Alarms Practice Test

When a smoke detector repeatedly fails to respond to routine tests, it isn’t reliably performing its life-safety role, and that gap could leave occupants unalerted in a real fire. The correct action is to service or replace the detector and verify operation afterward. This means checking power or battery, inspecting wiring if needed, and conducting a full functional test after any service or replacement to ensure it works correctly. If the unit can’t be repaired or has reached the end of its useful life, replace it with a like-for-like unit and test again to confirm proper operation. Ignoring the problem leaves a dangerous vulnerability. Simply increasing sensitivity doesn’t fix a faulty unit and can lead to more false alarms, while changing to a heat detector alters the type of protection and may not satisfy the applicable safety requirements where smoke detection is expected.