Carbon Monoxide Detectors Work

I just happened to buy one of these last week in Atlantic reduced to 42 Euro...there's a button which I can press to hear the sound it will make if it detects CO...but how can I test it will pick up CO,is there some way I can be sure it can still detect CO other than going by the manufacturers say so?

Would putting it near the exhaust pipe of a running card do this? Isn't it CO from such fumes that can kill people (in the case of a suicide for example)?

But the exhaust may contain particulates which could impair the future effectiveness of the detector? Just a thought. Why not assume it works, you assume the light in the fridge turns off when you shut the door, don't you?

Yes but the light won't kill me!

I think people may be over reacting to the risk of CO poisoning here. Certainly there are a number of deaths from this each year, usually in the winter months. However there are many more deaths each year due to house fires, some of which could be have been avoided if functioning smoke alarms were in place.

An issue here too is the price of the detectors. I have one at home and one in the office. I've had them about a year now for peace of mind. They cost €50 each which is fine for me but for some families thats a lot of money. Fire detectors only cost about €10 upwards. If Carbon monoxide detectors were as cheap they should be fitted as standard just like fire alarms IMO- obviously not if there is no risk, as in no internal boiler etc though. I know in France for some bizarre reason fire alarms are very expensive and therefore not too many working class homes have them. Over the last few years on our visits to France we've steadily been supplying fire alarms to quite a few families over there who've asked us for them.

Well I made my purchase last night, €35 in Dunnes Stores. I left it in my kitchen last night for over an hour and in my sitting room for over an hour and satisfied that I didn't have high levels of Carbon Monoxide in either room, I brought the damn thing to bed with me just in case!! I'm very glad I purchased because it is something, like Vanilla said, that should be standard in a home. I was thinking about it for a while so this thread just made me go out and get one.

I was looking into these detectors recently since we're getting a gas boiler installed into a utility room. It seems the cheap detectors have a limited life time like one year after which they have to be replaced. The consensus seemed to be that regular servicing of heating equipment was a better than the false secuirty offered by these detectors. I'll probably still get one after the boiler has been installed just to be sure but I wouldn't want to rely on it alone.

Just to point out the Detector I bought last night has to be replaced in 2011 so it has a good shelf life. I would be all for regular servicing of equipment and chimney cleaning but I don't think I'm lulling myself in to a false sense of security, I think that I'm increasing my chances of detecting something that is next to impossible to detect otherwise.

I think the consensus on placing CO alarms is not clear as per this link.
[broken link removed]

This thread does tie into the one about vents in houses, would it not be true to say that adequate venting (when not blocked) could/should dissapate CO emissions produced at a low level? for years?
Is it very rare for a dramatic rise as described by the thread opener?

I think Carpenter makes a useful point ealier in that, in some cases, people overreact on the basis of the potential or worst case risk instead of assessing the actual risk involved. By all means people should purchase and install smoke, CO2, Radon etc. detectors but better to spend some time assessing the possible actual risks involved and acting on the basis of the outcome of such analyses. Better safe than sorry but no point on being paranoid or acting on automatic regardless of the actual risks involved.