Carbon monoxide emergencies related to wood fired appliances

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What factor limits the lifespan? There are no moving parts. Half-life of the radioactive sensor or something?

Combination of sensor life and build up of dust in the sensor path - as I understand it, anyway.

I've had smoke detectors last 20+ yrs and still test fine but after the publicity on life span, I replaced them. The white plastic case goes ivory, then yellow, so you know it's far too old.

Tarzan, that's what I found in my research. Slightly higher up where the heated air is but not right near the ceiling, not in drafts, not near where kids can touch it, etc.
 
Actually I was about to post on placement of CO detectors. When I bought my first one 6 yrs. ago there was no info on placement. I checked again recently and the best is a few feet from the top of the ceiling and not too close to the burning appliance. CO is lighter than air but very close to it and will mix in with the air and rise as heated air rises. If you have a unit with a digital read-out, it should be at eye level.

That's the info I have read but willing to listen to experts as half the stuff on the internet is BS these days. ;hm

That's pretty much the advice I offer . . .

Digital read outs are nice . . . but I never bothered with them. As long as the CO detector activates when the PPM threshold is reached I am fine with that . . . but as others might say, sometimes it may be nice to know what the detector is reading at a certain time.

Typically one CO detector is fine . . . but it never hurts to have another in a home.

As CO cools, it typically will reach all levels of air in the home . . . smoke detectors must be up high . . . CO detectors may be up high or down low.
 
Should I install a CO monitor in the room with the woodstove. I already have 2 in the house. One in the bedroom and one in the room where the furnace is located.

Any recommendations on brands/models?

Far be for me to not recommend buying more safety devices . . . but honestly . . . you should be fine.

I have two CO detectors in my home -- one near the oil boiler and the other in the kitchen.

CO typically takes a while to build up to dangerous levels . . . think minutes, hours or even days unless there is a very unusual event and even then just one in a home will typically activate pretty quickly regardless of where it is located (unless it is buried in a back closet somewhere.) Smoke detectors are a bit different though . . . smoke can kill in minutes which is why placement is so very important.

Brands and models . . . pat answer is to say be sure it is UL approved . . . truthfully I'm often stuck with BRK (i.e. First Alert) . . . I know some folks have used Kidde Nighthawks (they were one of the first companies to use the digital read outs). If memory serves me right, Kidde did have some recalls on their CO detectors not too long ago . . . but I would not let that dissuade me from the brand . . . in the CO detector infancy First Alert had a bio-mimetic detector that had a sensor/battery that was notorious for being faulty.)
 
The ceiling thing just isn't all that critical. CO disperses into the air quickly and will be pretty much the same level waist high, head high, ceiling high etc.
 
Not CO, but I haven't much luck with the Photo type smokes; spider webs deep in the sensor box-I autoposied one.
 
After seeing this thread I just stopped by the store and bought replacements for all my smoke detectors, and a new CO to go in the stove room. Turns out only one of my smoke detectors was even working.. I may have been lazy about batteries.
 
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Glad to hear it ninja! We want everyone to be visiting the board tomorrow instead of a hospital or morgue!
 
I'm lucky to have read the forum this morning - and esp grateful to the OP who took the time to lend his professional experience to a noob like myself. Why? Here's what happened:

Last night it dropped into the lower 20's here in OKC. I've had my VC Encore burning for less than a week and I can count on one hand my experience at running a wood stove. None the less, I had it burning really well and so I stoked it up turned the air down set up a box fan to circulate the heat and went to bed.

Strangely, I did feel somewhat cruddy at bedtime. Sort of like something between a mild hangover and the onset of a cold. Tired, sort of woozy and sort of chilly. I got to sleep just fine though, and woke up still feeling just not right. I wasn't sick, per se, so I thought about it more and realized my symptoms fit my reaction to hypoxia. Wow. Make the connection: there's a 2.3 cu ft wood stove burning away one room over and a 19" fan blowing straight from there into the bedroom.

After I got going, I spent my morning looking over the forum here again and wouldn't ya know it - here's THIS thread on CO detectors. Stupid me!! Bought a wood stove, set it up and had it burning without any protection at all. Simply ignorance, but not any longer.

I now have two good CO units in the house well placed to alert if needed.

Still unsure why my brand new stove might be leaking CO into the air... I'll know more by tonight.
 
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I want to thank everyone for the knowledge i have received in the last year from this forum! I have learned so much from a lot of you from installation to drying wood and learning how to run a stove properly. I'm still at the begining stages of all this and feel i have so much more yet to learn but after reading this post i ran right out yesterday morning and bought the nest smoke and co protect. I live only about 4 min away from my work so i wanted something that if there was a problem i would be alerted via cell phone it also will send a message to my Neighbors whats going on. Being new to wood burning i do worry about my Wife and Dog when I'm not here So to me this investment was a no brainer! I want to thank you all again, You never know how many lives might have been saved because of this forum and treads like this.
 
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Ninjatech, Littlericky, OKBill . . . you have no idea of how much I appreciate the posts.

As you may or may not know, fire and injury prevention is my career. Been doing this since 1995 (firefighter since 1990) and it's incredibly rewarding when I (or any other safety educator) hears of folks that "heed the call" and take action and then let us know . . . mainly since our job is one where you rarely hear of the successes (i.e. "I just installed a CO detector" or "I now know what to do if there is a chimney fire") and instead we pretty much are constantly faced with our failures (i.e. A recent fire where a home owner set their house on fire by disposing of their hot ashes outside, multiple fire fatalities in Portland, etc.)

You folks have truly made my day. Thank you.
 
I echo what jake has said. I can't tell you bill if you were feeling ill because of bad tacos you had for lunch or if in fact you have co in your home. But I will say it was well worth the 5 min it took (ok maybe 10 min I hunt and peck lol) if indeed you are having a problem with your stove. Let us know, hopefully it will be another wake up call to those that think it can't happen to them.

Thanks,
DH
 
That had not occurred to us, Dude. Getting some CO sensors at lunch...
 
If wood heat is my only source of ignition in the home (electric appliances) what is the CO threat?

My detector plugs in, so it is 24" or so off the floor mounted to the wall? Is this acceptable?
 
Ninjatech, Littlericky, OKBill . . . you have no idea of how much I appreciate the posts.

I'm sure I speak for everyone, but we appreciate you taking your time to remind us. Its something I have known I have needed to do for a long time, I knew all the detectors were old but I never realized that they do have a set lifespan and need to be replaced. I have also had the thought a few times "i really should check those batteries..." and just never did. I had three smokes, but only one worked, no CO before. Its nice to be reminded that burning wood is more than just throwing wood in and enjoying the heat. Its throwing wood in and enjoying the heat while doing it safely and with the peace of mind that if something does go wrong I have a much better chance of not being six under.

I will throw one more safety thing out there. Fire extinguishers! Yall got them?
 
Ok, so now this has me thinking. While I will absolutely heed this advice and stop at the box store on my way home for a couple CO alarms...what are the preventative measures? I burn at night, keeping the heat pump off until the stove has brought the house past the temp at which the furnance would kick in. When I head off to sleep the house is usually a good 6-7 degrees above the temp that the thermostat is set, and I turn it back on. When I wake in the morning the furnance is the doing the heating as the stove has cooled off. I'm still a noob when it comes to wood burning (obviously since I never thought of a CO alarm), but a short thought exercise leads me to believe the only preventative options are to 1) not burn wood or 2) keep the thermostat off and get up in the middle of the night for an hour and a half to monitor the stove through a reload.

Are these rare instances? It doesn't seem like it. Are there other ways to keep this from happening?
 
While we don't burn cordwood, pellet stoves are wood burning nonetheless and can also produce CO. I have replaced all my smoke detectors with combination smoke / CO detectors. I've also added an additional one on the wall just above the stove. One saving grace about pellet stoves is that a failure will usually cause the stove to shutdown.
 
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If wood heat is my only source of ignition in the home (electric appliances) what is the CO threat?

My detector plugs in, so it is 24" or so off the floor mounted to the wall? Is this acceptable?

Anything that burns can produce CO . . . in the case of woodheat the most likely problem with CO would be if there was an issue with the draft and venting. In the case of an oil furnace, gas boiler, etc. it may be a mechanical malfunction (i.e. cracked heat exchanger) or a venting issue.

To answer your second question . . . yes . . . the CO installation would be acceptable . . . assuming you do not have any specific requirements in your home town or state.
 
If wood heat is my only source of ignition in the home (electric appliances) what is the CO threat?

Maybe I get your question wrong but CO is not like natural gas where you would expect an explosion. CO is a poisonous gas that is colorless and odorless and already lethally toxic at pretty low levels. Prolonged exposure at lower levels over several hours is also a problem as it accumulates in your body and keeps your red blood cells from binding oxygen.
 
In case there is some confusion CO = carbon monoxide. Colorless, odorless, mixes easily with air and can kill. People who have CO poisoning get drowsy then go to sleep, often to never wake up again. The big problem with CO is that most people do not know they are being poisoned and usually do not recognize the symptoms in time to do anything about it.
 
Thinking a lot about fire safety this week . . .

A few weeks back Portland had a major fire (pretty sure woodstoves were not related, but five folks died and another was in critical condition.)

Then earlier this week a guy died up in The County while attempting to start a fire using gasoline.

And yesterday, another major fire . . . three kids and a mother died (again, not sure of the cause at this time), but the preliminary investigation has determined that the smoke detector was present, but the battery was yanked out.

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So I'm going to preach (probably to the choir).

Make sure you have working smoke detectors in your home. Make sure the batteries were changed out when you changed the clocks earlier this month. If the detectors are older than 10 years replace them. If you have a lot of false alarms, try moving the location of the detector, try using a photo-electric style (in fact I like using a combination or combination of photo-electric and ionization detectors) or purchase a smoke detector with a push-to-silence button (this silences the detector with a false alarm, but automatically resets itself in 5 minutes which prevents you from disabling a detector and then forgetting to put the battery back in.)

CO detectors: get them.

ABC dry chemical extinguisher: Not a bad idea to have one on hand.

Escape Plan: If you have young ones, practice it. If you have teens they'll probably be reluctant to practice the plan, but at least discuss it so everyone knows what to do AND where to meet outside in case of fire.

OK, enough ranting . . . as I said . . . it's been a rough month up here in Maine. I am pleased to say that at least none of these fatalities happened in my home town or where I work . . . but honestly . . . I sometimes think it's just a matter of time before another one happens here.
 
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