Homeowner wants real CO detector

Daniel Silver

Hello, I am a homeowner and I love reading these posts diligently. I want to thank you for bringing the CO detector issue to the forefront in a number of posts I have seen. I dont exactly have a "tight" home, but reading these posts scares the heck out of me, particularly because I just installed a new boiler that probably has more potential for CO emissions arising out of the new installation, than the old one that had been working for 75 years.

Do you recommend that I purchase a CO-Expert monitor (for the admittedly inflated price to consumers of $189) and install in the ceiling near my bedrooms? Are there any other expert brands out there capable of real CO detection?
I would like to have the best protection possible and I do not trust the commercially available products after reading these posts. What about fire alams--do these have the same problem, or will the commercial ones do the trick if they pass the old match test. Thanks.

Uni R

A bargain...

DAS, it's a bargain if you shop around for it.

$100

Daniel Silver

That is a good price....

Considering that CO-Experts sells to consumers for nearly double that price. Is this thing too sensitive for home installations or is it reasonable that 10PPM is too much CO near a bedroom in a home?

Thanks.

JimGPE_3

Okay

I get it that the Nighthawk detector that is sitting 3' from my right elbow is no good at ALARMING at safe levels, but if you hit the peak level button it will read out in numbers considerably below the alarm level. It will read out 14 ppm for instance (I got that reading when someone left a car idling outside my door).

Are THOSE numbers correct? If I remember from time to time to quiry it will it tell me the actual peak level with accuracy of, say, +/- 5ppm? I'm only here when I'm awake - this is my office, so I don't really need it to ALARM at that level, just tell me when I hit it.

Mark Hunt

DAS


The CO experts alarm is worth 100 times that amount when you consider what it does.

Any CO alarm should be placed near sleeping areas so it can wake you up if there is a problem.

Once you have a low level detector, you need to get educated on how to respond to the readings you may see.
I would also recommend that you find a contractor in your area that understands CO and combustion and venting. If something does go wrong with your appliance, who will be able to correctly diagnose and remedy the problem?

To start though, I would rather you have the protection first.

Buy the CO Experts alarm. $100 is a bargain.

Mark H

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Mark Hunt

Well


you already identified one possible source for CO.

We recently had an office building in our area evacuated for high levels of CO. (No-one was able to say how high though. That was weird??)

What prompted you to bring a CO detector to work? Or does the company provide them?

I know a guy that packs his low level detector to take with him whenever he is away from home.

How often do you currently check the alarm in your office?



Mark H

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JimGPE_16

Often

Whenever I think of it, which is a few times a day. As I said, it actually sits on my desk, about three feet from my elbow.

I bought it for the company because I know we blew out one rooftop heat exchanger last year, and I wanted to make sure the other one wasn't going, too.

So are the numbers I can see by hitting the peak button accurate?

Mark Hunt

I can't say


for sure. My experience is that the sensors used in over the counter alarms are not very accurate. They are designed for much higher levels of CO.

Who services the RTU's?

Mark H

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Rudy

JMHO

DAS, years ago I paid $79 (each) for two Nighthawks (because they were rated #1 by Consumers Reports) and realize now I might have well taken a handful of $20’s and flushed ‘em.

I have had two low level alarms in my own home and have traveled with one - for over two years (and I test them regularly with calibration gas to make sure they are working).

The two in the house have never alarmed but have had readings a couple of times when I had to fire up the wood burner (around 10 ppm).

The one I travel with has gone off in numerous HVAC supply houses (from propane powered fork lifts), twice in hotels (once from a propane powered floor buffer, the other – no idea) and a bunch of times driving (I now try and stop a good 8 feet behind vehicles at a stop light).

As far as home smoke alarms, that’s why I put up my second low level CO alarm. Remember when home smoke alarms first came out. You hung one up, then took a shower or cooked – what happened? They alarmed, didn’t they.

Think about the newer ones you have in your home now, they don’t alarm like the old ones did. I may be wrong but I have to assume that to reduce the incidence of false alarms, the manufacturers have dumbed them down to the point where it takes a raging blaze to set them off.

Also consider a state fire marshal’s study that found 75% of the folks who die in home fires don’t die from burns, they die from ‘smoke inhalation’ – a large part of which is CO.

Even though low-level alarms are not approved for fire protection, common sense tells me they will alarm way before a smoke alarm in the event of a fire. I still have 3 smoke alarms in my own home but I’m betting the low level CO alarms will provide more warning.

And, JimGPE, as for the reading in the display of your Nighthawk, look at the GRI report on the Performance and Reliability of CO Alarms:
http://www.gastechnology.org/webroot/downloads/en/4ReportsPubs/TechReports/020112.pdf

The conclusions on the accuracy of the digital readouts were that they “seemingly displayed random numbers”…..

I've exposed my most recently purchased Nighthawk (less than 3 years old) to 100 ppm CO calibration gas hundreds of times, it has 'recalled everything from '2' to '49'.

It also does generally alarm - after 4 to 6 hours - like it's supposed to according to the standards.....

I wouldn’t depend on any UL 2034 approved CO or smoke alarm to provide me all but very minimal ….. and very possibly, no protection, from either CO or smoke from a home fire…

And, don’t get me wrong, I certainly don’t blame the manufacturers (nor to some extent UL), they have to provide the one and only ‘feature’ most consumers are looking for today – ‘cheap’…

What does urk me is that most areas that require home CO alarms be installed, mandate UL approved alarms, which suggests that an alarm which supercedes the UL standards is not acceptable.

Fortunately, in my own home, I am, "the authority having jurisdiction"

Larry (from OSHA)

about random numbers

I was in a facility that had some serious CO problems. About 175 ppm if I recall correctly, and there was a Nighthawk on the wall reading 18. So much for accurate readings. The source, by the way appeared to be a combination of forklifts, welding, and a flame cutting table.

Larry (from OSHA)