I thought I was super-diligent about having and maintaining my CO monitors. When I was in college, a girl who lived in one of the buildings my landlord owned died of CO poisoning (look up the Reddy human trafficking scandal, it's a fucked up story).
Anyway, as a woman living alone, I made sure to always have CO monitors in my home. Because god knows how long it would take for people to notice I was gone?
Fast forward about 10 years, and my CO monitor goes off. I opened the windows, called the fire department, and we evacuated the house. The FD comes in, checks out the house, gives us the green light that it's safe to come back inside. FD tell us the CO monitor, which was maybe 7 years old at the time, needed replacing. Even though I was diligent about replacing the batteries in my smoke and CO alarms every 6 months, those things have a real expiration date, and unless you get one that's guaranteed for 10 years, you need to change them out every 5 years.
Hello, I apologize if this post isn't suited for this sub, but I just need some advice.
I recently moved into a house, with another person who already lived there (and owns it). In total, there's 4 people now, including me. There's no fire alarms or CO detectors. None. So, I'm gonna put them up, because clearly the owner doesn't care about safety.
My question is, how many fire alarms and CO detectors do I need, and approximately where should they be placed? I don't know much about this. The house is two floors, with one bedroom on the first floor, a kitchen, and two living areas. The second floor has two bedrooms. Also, I'm not sure if it matters, but we have gas heating, and this house is from the 50s or 60s.
Thank you for any advice on this. I truly appreciate it.
I’ve been a gas company employee for 20 years and was a firefighter for 10. I’ve run plenty of CO calls and gas leak calls. I have a few things to say based on experience.
First off, a chirp is NOT an alarm. Usually a battery or the unit has failed. Many units will chirp when their useful life is over. Read the unit and it should tell you what the alarm means. Does this mean pull the batteries and go back to sleep? NO! Go get a replacement ASAP. This is a good reason to have multiple units. Secondly, ANY home can get CO(not CO2) levels. A gas appliance that is running properly should read less than 100 ppm in the exhaust. A car on the other hand can put out thousands of ppm in the exhaust. I’ve been on multiple calls with high CO in a home because of the car idling in the garage. If you’re going to warm up your car, pull it out. Opening the garage door isn’t enough. In 20 years I have not once had CO in a home from a cracked heat exchanger. Most modern furnaces have a blower that sucks air through the heat exchanger. Those models I could drill a hole though and it would suck air from the home before it would leak into the home. That being said there are defective furnaces that I have seen that had the homeowner not had a CO alarm they’d be dead. This is because of poor combustion usually caused by more than a crack. I’ve replaced hundreds of furnaces with cracked heat exchangers that never caused CO in a home. Boilers as well as furnaces can soot leading to poor flames with high CO. Wood fireplaces are likely sources too. Not only do they burn poorly, but they require large volumes of air to burn and flow out the chimney. This air leaving the house needs to come from somewhere. A typical fresh air intake, if there is one, will not keep up. I’ve seen multiple cases where the gas appliance won’t vent because a wood fireplace is sucking outside air down the gas appliances chimney.
As for placement, in my experience it doesn’t matter in most homes where it is to make it alarm. If I’m in an average home reading 100ppm max I can find 50ppm through the whole home. What matters is that you want the alarm to be heard. Especially if you’re asleep. Put them in or near bedrooms, multiples if needed. Detectors are also sensitive to rapid atmosphere changes. Avoid being near bathrooms and kitchens as humidity can set them off.
As for which unit to buy. I’ve had many legit calls where the cheap CO detector worked fine. One thing to note that most people don’t realize is that detectors, at least that I’ve seen, have a buildup and minimum level before they alarm. I think nighthawks are 400ppm over 15 minutes. Google will tell you what 400ppm does to you over 15 minutes. If you are feeling sick get outside until someone checks your home with good equipment. I should add that natural gas is non toxic. If your ill it’s not from gas. The smell might make your stomach uneasy but it won’t make you sick.
Since it’s November I’ll add that gas ranges are a unique hazard. Unlike water heaters and heating equipment most don’t have sensors to shut off the gas if the flame goes out and don’t have a direct vent. Maybe just a range hood that may or may not even vent outside. Think about it, it’s a flame with your house as the exhaust. I’ve been on multiple calls where homes are full of gas because a burner was fully turned off before leaving for the day or going to sleep. I’ve also seen where tin foil has been placed on the bottom of the oven and starved the flame for air causing CO in a home. This time of year especially you can be running the oven for hours longer than usual CO is a risk.
As for the odor. Poor flames can stink. Techs will know the smell of aldehydes well. However, CO DOES NOT SMELL. You’d be surprised how many people have argued with me when I tell them we need to evacuate their house and call the fire dept. Everything seems fine aside from the $2000 alarm going off in my hand.
This has been my experience. I only share hoping it can help. I’ve been there when loved ones are lost from this shit. It’s a real danger. There are obviously many variables and this doesn’t apply to them all. There are always exceptions. Best bet, just get an alarm.