More important CO info

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Not sure if this is allowed or not, but copied from local news broadcast>> if not pull it or let me know>>Rich

Full story with Video

http://www1.whdh.com/features/articles/hank/BO14310/

Xc8p2dC_2

Detector testing

Not sure if this is allowed or not, but copied from local news broadcast>> if not pull it or let me know>>Rich

Full story with Video

http://www1.whdh.com/features/articles/hank/BO14310/

Tonight, a warning that could save lives. Carbon monoxide detectors are supposed to protect you and your family from the deadly gas. Now, a new Massachusetts law requires every home to have an alarm. But how well do they work? In a story you'll see on just one station Investigative Reporter Hank Phillippi Ryan put CO detectors to the test.

In about 40 minutes one room in this vacant house will be so dangerous it would kill anyone inside.

With the help of the New Hampshire fire marshal and these firefighters, we are filling the place with carbon monoxide.

Our question: how long will it take for these carbon monoxide alarms some years old, others brand new--to warn us of the invisible deadly gas?

We pushed each test button to confirm the units weren't broken or malfunctioning.

Hank
"Okay, so these work."

Then we moved behind a glass wall as firefighters put on respirators and started up a charcoal grill, a potent source of carbon monoxide.

This is the sound alarms should make when the levels get too high.

Alarm beeping.

The 80 decibel shriek means you've got to get out of the house.

The independent agency Underwriters Labs tests and sets the safety standards for alarms. They are designed to go off before anyone gets sick.

John Drengenberg, Underwriters Laboratories
"You're given adequate time to vacate and investigate what the problem is."

So minute by minute, we kept track of the rising carbon monoxide levels.

This alarm, made in 1995, goes off way too soon. It's not working properly.

Now, approaching 30 minutes firefighters monitors warn the levels are rising.

Suddenly, six alarms new and old start beeping.

For our test this nationally known expert calculated whether the alarms met the safety standards. He says 6 worked perfectly.

Paul Clifford, Carbon Monoxide Expert
"They alarmed in plenty of time to safe a person. That's great."

Back in the test room the firefighters alarms began screaming. Only their oxygen tanks kept them safe in a room rapidly filling with poisonous gas.

But three of our test alarms: two new and one 8 years old were quiet. According to UL standards, they failed.

The gas in the room soon climbed so high the firefighters equipment could no longer measure it. While other alarms blared 2 still did not work. And the testers had to come out.

Hank
"Were you surprised?"

Firefighter
"Yes, I thought they would all go off"

At that point--fire officials told us--we had to get out, too.

Firefighter
"It's time to go."

Soon being anywhere in the house would be dangerous.

Hank
"So the level in the room was lethal and yet these were not going off."

J. William Degnan, NH Fire Marshal
"Absolutely it would have put those people at risk that have those in their home."

Every alarm we tested carried the UL seal of approval. Did the duds have an electrical problem? Mechanical? Or something wrong with the CO sensor?

Hank
"How could that happen? Why would what happen?"

John Drengenberg, Underwriters Laboratories
"We are very interested in doing an investigation to see if there is a problem with these alarms."

There's no question these devices save lives:
Last month an alarm here in Brookline cleared this condo complex.

And in Lowell an alarm warned more than a hundred residents of the dangerous gas.
But since these alarms are basically mechanical it's important to know how they work and they can fail.

Paul Clifford/Carbon Monoxide Expert
"We've in our testing found that a significant portion of carbon monoxide detectors don't work as advertised."

In fact, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has recalled a million of them and has dozens of complaints of failures.


As a result, experts there advise:

* Make sure you know where to put them
* You may want to have more than one
* Check the batteries
* Replace any alarms that are more than five years old.

Mark Ross, Consumer Product Safety Commission
"They are not perfect. We want them to be better they still work very well. They are still important to have but we are always trying to improve them."

Making sure the message is clear CO detectors unquestionably save lives that's why the law says every home must have one. But our investigation proves you cant just put one up then forget about it.

New Massachusetts Law Requiring CO Alarms:

http://www.mass.gov/dfs/index.shtm

Consumer Product Safety Commission recommendations about CO alarms:


http://www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PUBS/5010.html
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/466.html

Carbon Monoxide Detectors that have been recalled:


http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml04/04534.html
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml99/99082.html
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml96/96181.html
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml96/96061.html


Underwriters Laboratories recommendations for CO alarms and CO dangers:


http://www.ul.com/consumers/co.html
http://www.ul.com/consumers/monoxide.html
http://www.ul.com/seasonal/firesafety/co.html

wsdave

WOW

Something is better than nothing BUT which "somethings" do we need to stay away from????
NOW I'm getting paranoid!!! ;-)
Dave

Mark Hunt

Unfortunately


there is no mention of at what level the alarms started working.

Also, the alarm made in 1995 "went off way too soon"??? I am suprised that it alarmed at all since CO sensors only last about 5 years. Again, no mention of what "way too soon" translates to in ppm.

UL listed CO alarms are designed to protect healthy adults from acute CO exposure, read the instructions that come with them.

My question to the folks at UL: If 69.9ppm CO is ok, how much cyanide is safe to drink?

Mark H

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