CO Detector... Where is Yours Physically Located?

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MarkF48

MarkF48

Feeling the Heat
Nov 14, 2011
270
Central MA
When I installed my stove I had mounted the CO detector behind the stove about 5' up on the wall offset about 2' from the center of the stove. My thought was that this would be a good location for early detection of any CO as it was nearby to the stoves exhaust piping.
When I had the stove inspected the inspector said he would rather see the detector not near the stove and suggested a wall across the room which is about 20' from the stove which is adjacent to a set of stairs going to the second floor. I did move it as he suggested and I have always wondered about his recommendation on the CO detector location. In our town the building inspector is used for inspections of wood and pellet stoves rather than someone from the fire department. The fire department does however do inspections and certifications on gas and oil fired equipment installs.
 
MarkF48 said:
When I installed my stove I had mounted the CO detector behind the stove about 5' up on the wall offset about 2' from the center of the stove. My thought was that this would be a good location for early detection of any CO as it was nearby to the stoves exhaust piping.
When I had the stove inspected the inspector said he would rather see the detector not near the stove and suggested a wall across the room which is about 20' from the stove which is adjacent to a set of stairs going to the second floor. I did move it as he suggested and I have always wondered about his recommendation on the CO detector location. In our town the building inspector is used for inspections of wood and pellet stoves rather than someone from the fire department. The fire department does however do inspections and certifications on gas and oil fired equipment installs.
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Where you have it now matches the recommendation that I have heard.
I have three CO detectors. One about 15 feet from the MVAE, one about 12 feet from the PDVC and the third in the bedroom area.
 
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Good thread, good info!
 
Keep one where you live and sleep, not necessarily right by the stove. You want to hear if there's CO near the bedrooms at 3am, and I suspect a location right by the stove might mean many false alarms and/or shortened life due to heat.

We have 6 hard-wired and networked CO alarms in our house, two each first and second floors, one in basement, one on third floor. This is in addition to the 13 smoke alarms on our monitored home security system.
 
I have my stove in a finished basement. The Combo CO/smoke det is in the bedroom down there and the smoke det is out in the room with the stove.
 
I have my CO detector in the master bedroom, right next to the smoke detector.

Dave
 
Mine is a wall mount and it is about 4 feet above my pillow.

One of the fire detectors may be a combo unit, but I'd have to go look.
I'll do that on Jan 01 when I replace the batteries.
Course by then I'll forget about this thread.
 
I have three. One is in the family room, across from the stove, on the wall, under my thermostat. It's 20 feet away from the stove. I also have one in my bedroom and one in my granddaughter's room. Smoke detectors in every room of the house and in the basement too.
 
Our CO detector is in the upstairs hallway outside of the bedrooms.
 
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One on the ceiling about 15' from the stove, another outside the bedroom.
 
Had mine for 12 years now..still going strong ..
 
I have 3, 2 are about 10-15 ft from their respective stove and the third is in the hallway outside the bedroom doors.
 
Vinelife said:
Had mine for 12 years now..still going strong ..
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Most of the old ones have a five year life span. The newer ones up to ten years. Check your manual.
 
I mainly heat with my pellet stove but also have an oil burner and a LP fireplace.

I have digital display co alarms in basement, 1st floor living room and 2nd floor hallway. Now for smoke detectors I have one in every room including attic, total of 11, six of them are tied into a monitoring service. I also have a gas monitor/alarm in basement.
 
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Joful said:
I wouldn't assume that. You're way outside the engineered lifespan of most co detectors.
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Yep. Check the specs, and replace at end of rated life. Appearing to function (i.e. not visibly broken) and actually functioning to spec are very different things.

As for location, one in same room as each stove, and one in each sleeping area of home, including any where people may nap, such as recliner / sofa areas.
 
I have 3. One in my finished basement hooked to my monitored alarm system (basically for the propane furnace). One in the adjacent room to my insert (open floor plan). The final one in our bedroom.

Basically have one on each floor of the home.
 
I spent some time googling and could not find out what ACTUALLY goes bad in a CO detector to render it 'bad'. Does anyone actually know? Usually when they start beeping, it's because the battery has died. Put in a new battery, rezero it and it continues to operate.
It looks like this is another one of those planed obsolescence deals like on pills, canned goods, etc. to ensure a continuing market.
 
Good question. Here are some answers:

Early field studies of alarm reliability, notably by Canada's Ontario Housing Corporation, confirm the essential accuracy of this estimate, restated as a 3 percent failure rate per year. This means a very small fraction of home smoke alarms will fail almost immediately, and 3 percent will fail by the end of the first year. After 30 years, nearly all the alarms will have failed.

Smoke alarm replacement is a value judgment. As only 3 percent of alarms are likely to fail in the first year, annual replacement would be very expensive; however, at 15 years, the chances are better than 50/50 that the alarm has failed, which is too big a risk to take.
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The Minnesota Department of Public Safety cite a nationwide study undertaken by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), which states that 97% of smoke alarms should still be functioning after one year, if supplied with power. After ten years it is 73%, whereas after 20 years, this figure stands at 54%. The study also indicated that 60% of the failures were due to flat or removed batteries or a disconnected power supply and the study offered possible reasons for this. Ageing alarms may experience sensitivity drifting, which may, in turn, result in an increased frequency of accidental activation and an increase in people removing the power supply It was thought that newer alarms with a ‘hush’ feature may contribute to remedying this
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Now, being an EE, I know that failure rates are NOT linear, as quoted. There will be a high number of failures in the first 30 or 60 days, followed by a lull, and then an increasing failure rate toward end of life. The NFPA has over-simplified this, but either way, I suspect it has been determined the failure rate at 10 years is substantial enough to warrant replacement. We have several members who are firefighters, and probably have more to contribute on this.
 
One hardwired in the hallway outside the downstairs bedroom, one hardwired upstairs in the hallway outside the upstairs bedrooms.
 
Joful said:
Good question. Here are some answers:



Now, being an EE, I know that failure rates are NOT linear, as quoted. There will be a high number of failures in the first 30 or 60 days, followed by a lull, and then an increasing failure rate toward end of life. The NFPA has over-simplified this, but either way, I suspect it has been determined the failure rate at 10 years is substantial enough to warrant replacement. We have several members who are firefighters, and probably have more to contribute on this.
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Note that 60% of the failures were from people taking out the batteries!!!! OMG!
So everything is based on someone's study of failure rates the first year and then extrapolating from there. Not exactly convincing. Also there's a test button to see if the measuring mechanism still works. If it does, then the thing is still good. If you want a real world test, hold it in front of your car exhaust for a minute or two.
 
IMO is it really worth risking your life for a $20 detector? I understand planned obsolescence, but there probably is some reasoning behind a lifespan on these units.

$20 per unit / 10 year lifespan = $2/yr

If your life (and your families) isn't worth $2/year, you have bigger issues to deal with.
 
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Most CO detector manufacturers recommend to replace the detector after 7 years. The reason is the sensors they use will fail in about 10 years according to UL testing. Most detectors will alert with a chirp sequence that indicates the 7 years is up.

Mass passed Nichol's Law requiring COs in residental occupancies about 7 years ago. We (the FD I work for) respond to many of tthese out of date detectors that are "activating".

As far as placement, one on each occupiable level. Occupiable level is a level of the home which people typically spend time. Also NOT in proximity to a burning appliance. However, in MA, there are other CMRs that cover this. Also a detector should be within 15 feet of a bedroom.
 
RCCARPS said:
IMO is it really worth risking your life for a $20 detector? I understand planned obsolescence, but there probably is some reasoning behind a lifespan on these units.

$20 per unit / 10 year lifespan = $2/yr

If your life (and your families) isn't worth $2/year, you have bigger issues to deal with.
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Certainly a point well taken. Mine is 4 years old and in the hallway between the livingroom with the stove and our bedroom. Just saying that there will be landfills full of these things that are perfectly functional.
 
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