Your business's most important safety devices are panic doors, emergency lights, and exit signs. While fire alarm systems communicate an emergency, fire sprinklers extinguish fires, and exits, emergency lights guide you and your employees to safety in an emergency. Emergency and exit path lighting are necessary in all commercial buildings and are particularly designed to save lives. If a power failure or other service interruption occurs, your employees will utilize the emergency and exit lights to get to safety.
However, there are times when these safety measures break down and need to be fixed. How do you fix emergency exit lights?
Emergency lighting systems allow occupants to navigate and safely exit the establishment in a fire or security-related emergency. Panic doors, emergency lights, and exit signs are safety devices that are just as crucial as fire alarm systems.
While the latter communicates a crisis, emergency exits, and pathway lights work together to guarantee building occupants evacuate safely.
Emergency exit lights are very simple. They have three major components that can cause them to stop illuminating: the low-voltage bulb, the main light bulb, and the reserve battery. Once you discover which of those three parts made your emergency exit light burn out, you can repair it.
If the primary bulb in your emergency exit light burns out, it won't turn on when it is connected to power. Generally, if the power in your establishment is on and your emergency exit light isn't, then the primary bulb has burned out.
Emergency exit lights also come with backup, low-voltage bulbs to illuminate the sign if the power goes out. If there's no power to your establishment, all of the lights are turned off, and your emergency exit light is still burned out, then it is likely that your low-voltage bulb has burned out. Before replacing this bulb, check the sign's battery first.
The third component of the emergency exit light is the reserve battery. This battery powers the low-voltage bulb in the event of a power outage. Before replacing a low-voltage bulb, it is a good idea to ensure the unit's batteries are charged. Otherwise, the low-voltage light will not come on, whether the lightbulb is in good shape or not.
If the light on your emergency exit sign is no longer working, there are two ways to fix it. The best approach is to identify and replace the broken component.
After you discover which component causes the light to go out, you can replace that defective component. To do this, you should remove the front panel of the sign and locate the bulb or battery causing the sign to malfunction. If you need help identifying the issue, you should call a fire protection professional to inspect and fix the problem.
Once you've checked your emergency exit light and replaced the batteries, and the light still isn't working, you'll know the bulb is the problem. Let us walk through the steps of replacing an emergency exit light bulb.
To reach your light, you'll need a ladder. You'll also want your replacement bulbs, a screwdriver, and gloves to ensure you're safely handling the bulbs.
Once your materials are handy, it's time to get to work. Search for a little gap on the side of the emergency exit light cover. Use your screwdriver to pop the cover open.
Take out the burned-out bulb—either the low-voltage or main bulb—and replace it with a new bulb of the same color, size, and wattage. In most emergency exit lights, you'll hear a clicking noise indicating the light is properly in position.
After replacing the bulb, you can put the cover back on the light, and you'll be ready!
The process of emergency exit light replacement is simple, but there are some steps you have to take to ensure you're replacing the right component. If you have never replaced an emergency exit light before, it can seem daunting, but following these simple steps, you should get your emergency exit light back up and running in only minutes.
An excellent way to avoid replacing burned-out emergency exit lights is to work with a committed fire protection specialists, like us at Texas Fire & Safety on a regular maintenance and service schedule. When technicians come out for maintenance and inspections, they can quickly replace emergency exit bulbs and guarantee that reserve batteries are always charged, so you never have to think about your emergency exit lights again.
To safely and effectively guide your building's occupants to safety in an emergency, your emergency exit lights must always be in working order. The only way to guarantee your signs are operating properly 24/7 is to conduct the required tests and maintenance, which is why the NPFA obliges these checks.
Based on the NFPA, at minimum, your exit signs must be tested monthly by pressing the test button for 30 seconds. If the sign works, it will stay on for 30 seconds. You must contact an exit light provider like us to have it serviced if it doesn't. During this test, you should also inspect your signs for any cracks in your casing and wipe them down to remove any debris or dust.
You can schedule a technician to visit your facility monthly for a visual inspection. During every visit, a fire safety technician:
Once a year, your technician performs more thorough tests to ensure your exit signs and emergency lights perform as they should in a real emergency. These tests are:
Discharge test: Also called a 90-minute test, a discharge test involves draining your battery life completely to simulate a loss-of-power situation. The technician then guarantees that the batteries will recharge fully once power is restored. During this test, the technician checks for battery corrosion or damage, cleans the lens and unit, and readjusts the beam for proper alignment.
Activation test: Also called the 30-second test, this is the moment when the technician watches the emergency lights while they are functioning. He interrupts the power supply to check if the lights continue to function properly. Currently, the technician measures the charging system voltage, line voltage, and battery output voltage.
You must store all your inspection and test records safely to demonstrate that you follow the rules and keep your inspections on time.
The NFPA requires that your emergency lights be tested for 90 minutes at least once annually. If your sign's battery complies with NFPA rules, the light should remain on without building power for the whole test duration.
Aside from the above checks, you will want to have an emergency exit light expert inspect the soundness of the battery, ensure the light fixtures are all secured tightly, and ensure that the lights meet NFPA and OSHA standards once a year. And if your lights are due for an upgrade or a replacement, they can help you select and install the correct light to satisfy all codes and save lives.