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Do you have a carbon monoxide detector?

Do you have a carbon monoxide detector?

  • Yes

  • No

Results are only viewable after voting.
John Connor

John Connor

Lifer
So I've been fortifying the house recently. Bought the upgraded dual sensor smoke detectors that are both optical and (what's the damn word now?) radiological or something. My mind draws a blank atm. I guess the great thing with optical is that they can detect a smoldering fire.

Then I placed fire extinguishers in strategic parts of the house.

Now I don't have any carbon monoxide detectors. I was curious last night just how my furnace worked and learned about the heat exchanger. Then I learned they can become cracked and that is where you can get carbon monoxide in your house. So right after I read that I jumped on ebay and bought three detectors for $20. I hope they do the job.

Now I'm wondering how I test them? I know cigarettes have carbon monoxide. I might just light one near the detector and see if it goes off.
 
I am not sure you should test it with actual material. Read on whether the sensors get saturated. You should always buy new. If you have a gas line in the house used for any type of heating, then you need a CO detector.
 
John Connor said:
Now I'm wondering how I test them? I know cigarettes have carbon monoxide. I might just light one near the detector and see if it goes off.
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Yes. Bought one after we put in the "ventless" gas logs.

You could try it on the tail pipe of the car but that voids the warranty.
lxskllr said:
I don't have one. There's worse ways to go than sleeping to death.
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Right when the wife and I started dating, she was sick with a respiratory thing. Went on for a month (she's anti Dr.). One night, she woke up to a blue haze in her house and had to crawl to the door for fresh air. I called my bro, the plumber, and asked him about it. He said, "That yellow house on the corner of xyz? Yeah, the vent pipe for the oil heater is full of holes. Saw it when I was doing some work for them a while back. Guess they didn't fix it before they sold it." Soooo glad she got that home inspection done before she bought it.🙄
 
I have one, I'm probably due to change it actually, they're only good for like 5 years and I've been in my house a bit longer than that.

I eventually want to setup some kind of linked smoke and CO detector that can trigger an alarm in my home monitoring system. These devices are great if you're home, but don't do no good if you're not home and something happens. At least if I'm away I could get an alert then go deal with whatever the issue is, get my cat out if needed etc. That's where automatic door unlock could be nice too so fire dept can go in without having to break the door if I can't make it fast enough.
 
I have one. They're only good for five years, I believe. Mine is in the room nearest the furnace and water heater.
 
Red Squirrel said:
That's where automatic door unlock could be nice too so fire dept can go in without having to break the door if I can't make it fast enough.
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I bought a key box I stuck in the backyard shed for this reason as well as getting locked out. The key box is one of those types with 10 push in buttons. The optimum password is five numbers. Since you can't use the same number twice.

I used non-standard wood screws to fasten it to a stud in the shed instead of the crappy small screws they give you.

The thing has already payed for its self. Locked my self out and thankfully I had the spare key. I used to keep my lock pick set out in the shed, but I figured this would be a hell of a lot better. I sure as hell didn't want to pick my lock in the cold.

keysafe%20original%20slimline.jpg
 
Red Squirrel said:
I have one, I'm probably due to change it actually, they're only good for like 5 years and I've been in my house a bit longer than that.

I eventually want to setup some kind of linked smoke and CO detector that can trigger an alarm in my home monitoring system. These devices are great if you're home, but don't do no good if you're not home and something happens. At least if I'm away I could get an alert then go deal with whatever the issue is, get my cat out if needed etc. That's where automatic door unlock could be nice too so fire dept can go in without having to break the door if I can't make it fast enough.
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I'm reasonably confident that my insurance will cover the door along with everything else... if firemen need access to the house, door preservation is not on my list of concerns.
 
I used a wood stove (I now use a coal stove) so I bought one.

It went off once when I was burning wood because I made a mistake with the wood stove. Had to open up the house (all windows, doors) etc to let it air out.
 
Yes, I have one. And it has "saved" us twice. Once, a starling managed to fly down our chimney, into the flue pipe going to the coal stove, and down to the vent for the coal stove. The coal stove is fairly high efficiency - there are two vents coming out of it that are, roughly, starling sized. With one clogged off, we ended up with a carbon monoxide detector going off. The source of the problem/bird wasn't discovered until I tore everything apart, looking for a problem.

About 2 weeks ago, ash had accumulated in the flue, partially obstructing it. I clean everything out about 3 times per winter - it's never done this in 10 years. I'm not sure if it had something to do with a batch of coal, or what - I've never had that much fly ash in the past. Alarm went off - ear piercing, compared to our smoke detectors. I unplugged it, removed the battery, and went to work figuring out the problem. 10 minutes later, I had everything together again, a few windows open to allow a breeze to flow through the house, and, since I was working directly in the exhaust while disconnecting pipes and cleaning them, a headache. I doubt that it would have reached lethal levels before we woke up in the morning - and the fumes definitely have enough of an odor (CO is odorless though) that we would have detected the problem in the morning.
 
All houses have them here, at least thats what the law says....

I have 2... Bought a second to put in the basement since my furnace was old and problematic and I didnt trust the heat exchanger.
 
I'm not even sure we have a working smoke detector. I know it's horribly dumb, but the damn things go off every time anyone looks at the stove, or thinks about building a fire in the fireplace, or waves their hand in the air, or whatever. Seriously, I've never been in a fire. I don't know whether I would wake up and get out. I probably won't be in a fire, given the odds, but who knows? About the only thing I know for sure is that smoke alarms are like car alarms. When was the last time you heard a car alarm and rushed out to see who was burglarizing your neighbor's vehicle? If there was a fire and I had minutes to get out of the house or die screaming, and the smoke alarm went off and woke me up, what would happen is I would think "One of the kids is cooking," and go back to sleep.
 
Two in combo smoke detectors and one plug in (with batt backup) in the bedroom near floor level. Probably going to swap one of the standard units out for a HomeKit enabled smoke/co unit so I can get alerts and silence it without standing on crap.
 
Markbnj said:
I'm not even sure we have a working smoke detector. I know it's horribly dumb, but the damn things go off every time anyone looks at the stove, or thinks about building a fire in the fireplace, or waves their hand in the air, or whatever. Seriously, I've never been in a fire. I don't know whether I would wake up and get out. I probably won't be in a fire, given the odds, but who knows? About the only thing I know for sure is that smoke alarms are like car alarms. When was the last time you heard a car alarm and rushed out to see who was burglarizing your neighbor's vehicle? If there was a fire and I had minutes to get out of the house or die screaming, and the smoke alarm went off and woke me up, what would happen is I would think "One of the kids is cooking," and go back to sleep.
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Install a hood vent, or, start using the one you have... should help a lot to let the smoke out of the house.
 
John Connor said:
That's a good law in Canada. You'd think it be law down here.
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It depends on the locality.
http://www.ncsl.org/research/enviro...carbon-monoxide-detectors-state-statutes.aspx

Fanatical Meat said:
Yes & its required in my State. You are a cheap fool if you choose not to have one. They're more than affordable to buy and basic to install.
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Indeed. My apartment was lacking both smoke and CO detectors when I first moved in. I'm sure I could have complained to the landlord over it, but I also figured, my life is worth at least $30, so I just went out and bought a dual smoke/CO detector myself.
 
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Markbnj said:
I'm not even sure we have a working smoke detector. I know it's horribly dumb, but the damn things go off every time anyone looks at the stove, or thinks about building a fire in the fireplace, or waves their hand in the air, or whatever. Seriously, I've never been in a fire. I don't know whether I would wake up and get out. I probably won't be in a fire, given the odds, but who knows? About the only thing I know for sure is that smoke alarms are like car alarms. When was the last time you heard a car alarm and rushed out to see who was burglarizing your neighbor's vehicle? If there was a fire and I had minutes to get out of the house or die screaming, and the smoke alarm went off and woke me up, what would happen is I would think "One of the kids is cooking," and go back to sleep.
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A smoke detector probably would have saved these 7 people: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/22/nyregion/7-children-die-in-brooklyn-fire.html

It sounds like you need a fan in your kitchen to keep cooking smoke from setting an alarm off in a nearby room.
 
gururu2 said:
I am not sure you should test it with actual material. Read on whether the sensors get saturated. You should always buy new. If you have a gas line in the house used for any type of heating, then you need a CO detector.
Click to expand...

Agreed. If your house/apartment is all-electric, then not so much.
 
Check with your homeowners insurance, sometimes they'll provide Nest Protect's for free. We got one through American Family, and I've seen that Liberty Mutual will do it also. Not only do you get that for free, they supposedly knock 5% off your premium for it.
 
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