The clocks went back last night — did you test your smoke and carbon monoxide alarms while you were at it?

Daylight saving time ended at 2 a.m. today, Sunday, November 1 — and fire departments use clock-change weekend to remind every household to test smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and change replaceable batteries. A 10-minute checklist: test every alarm, check the manufacture date on the back, and replace every smoke alarm 10 years after that date.

You remembered the microwave clock, maybe the car clock too — but the little round alarm on the hallway ceiling, the one that only chirps at 3 a.m., never crossed your mind. Short answer: test them tonight.Fire departments use clock-change weekend for one simple reminder — “change your clocks, change your batteries” — because it is the one date almost every household already notices. Daylight saving time ended at 2 a.m. today, Sunday, November 1, so tonight is the perfect moment.

Working smoke alarms cut the risk of dying in a reported home fire by more than half, and according to the National Fire Protection Association almost three out of five home fire deaths happen in homes with no alarm or no working alarm — most often because the battery was dead, missing, or disconnected. Carbon monoxide is the quieter danger: you cannot see or smell it, so a working CO alarm is the only early warning you get.Your 10-minute checklist:1. Press and hold the test button on every smoke alarm until it sounds.

No sound after a battery change means replace the alarm.2. If an alarm takes replaceable batteries, put fresh ones in now, and again right away any time it starts chirping.3. If an alarm is a sealed 10-year model, do NOT open it — just test it, and replace the whole alarm when it reaches the end of its life or chirps and will not reset.4.

Check the date stamped on the back: replace every smoke alarm 10 years after its manufacture date, even hardwired ones.5. Test your CO alarms the same way, and make sure you have CO alarms on every level and outside each sleeping area — and smoke alarms inside bedrooms, outside sleeping areas, and on every level including the basement.6. Set a monthly phone reminder to press the test buttons again.Pro tip: Write today’s date on a small piece of tape on each alarm after you test it, so next time you can see at a glance when it was last checked.Expired alarm?

Look for a replacement 10-year sealed smoke alarm or a combined smoke and carbon monoxide detector.Ad’s take: Ten minutes with a step stool tonight beats wishing you had done it later. I test mine, check the date on the back, and I am done before the coffee gets cold.