Carbon Monoxide

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mark123

Member
Hearth Supporter
Jan 27, 2009
174
PEI, Canada
I recently installed a carbon monoxide monitor in my relatively sealed boiler room. I installed it approx 18" off floor and 2' away from my "wood gun" boiler. The alarm has gone off twice in the last month, 56 ppm and 71 ppm. 25 is the safe limit for workplaces around here. I have a large garage door next to boiler so each time it was very easy to flush the room out by opening it. Would this be due to smoke leaking out the odd time. Do many of you have an alarm?
 
I don't have a wood gun but where does you combustion or makeup air come from? Any smoke leakage into "a relatively sealed boiler room" would probably set a co alarm off. In this case co is unburned fuel! You should have a fresh air intake.
 
I have a CO detector in my shop on the wall opposite the wall where the Tarm is installed. It never has gone off. The Tarm and controls are set up to automatically open a slider window 6" with an actuator when the boiler is operating and shut the window when the Tarm shuts down.
 
I don't have a wood gun but where does you combustion or makeup air come from? Any smoke leakage into "a relatively sealed boiler room" would probably set a co alarm off. In this case co is unburned fuel! You should have a fresh air intake.

I do have a 6" ducted and sealed to the boiler fresh air intake.
 
Ok, so we cleared that up!, possibly a flue connection or cover plate?

My woodgun does need the door seal replaced, ( I have the seal and am waiting for a mild day) sometimes when it starts chugging from burning cardboard or too much paper a little bit of smoke escapes but when the CO alarm went off there wasn't a strong smoke smell in the room. I just don't want people to stat dying in my house.
 
CO, in its purest form, is colorless, odorless, and tasteless. It is produced from incomplete combustion. It is approximately the same specific gravity as air so it will naturally follow the air currents. Just a curiosity tho, they are generally placed near ceiling height. Why 18" above ground?
 
CO, in its purest form, is colorless, odorless, and tasteless. It is produced from incomplete combustion. It is approximately the same specific gravity as air so it will naturally follow the air currents. Just a curiosity tho, they are generally placed near ceiling height. Why 18" above ground?

Glad you brought that up, I guess I didn't really do my research. I remember seeing something on TV about somebody dying from CO that accumulated in a pit from a gas powered water pump so I assumed it was heavier than air. I just did some googling and found that they are not supposed to be within 15 feet of a fuel burning heating appliance (I have it 2' away) and that CO is slightly lighter than air and will usually be warmer if being produced from a heating appliance making it rise even more. http://www.carbonmonoxidekills.com/19/carbon-monoxide-detector-placement
 
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