I bought a Sensorcon Inspector CO Meter in October for the upcoming burn season. This is a small, handheld device measuring about 2.5 x 2.5 x .5 inches. It was not expensive. I believe that there are other brands out there, but Sensorcon is the one I bought. I have had regular CO alarms from Honeywell and Kidde, along with my smoke detectors, but even though all of those have a display on them, I have come to find that what they display is not always completely informative. When it comes to Carbon Monoxide (CO) in my home, I want to be as completely informed as I can be. This is what led me to purchase this device.
This sensor provides real time, very precise, readings in parts per million (PPM) for CO in any environment. The range that is critical for humans is anything above 30 PPM. Most CO alarms will not sound an alarm until 30 PPM has been exceeded for some period of time. However, long term exposure to CO at any level cannot be a good thing for living creatures. The good news is that I have been all throughout my home while using my wood stove, pellet stove, and oil furnace, and the reading was zero PPM. However...
I experienced my first flame out, smoldering pellet situation with my pellet stove after 3 years of burning. We had high winds during a 15 degree f low temperature evening, and I lit off a cold pellet stove right before bed -- big mistake. I awoke to a smoke alarm going off. I grabbed my Inspector meter and proceeded carefully down the stairs to the living room where the alarm was sounding, and where the pellet stove is located. I grabbed the fire extinguisher outside the living room. I didn't see any large flames, but there was significant smoke in the room. I checked the monitor, it read 5 PPM. The pellet stove had shut off, and was dark, no flame. I could see smoke in the burn chamber. When I opened the burn chamber very slowly, my sensor alarm went off. The reading was 30 PPM. Mind you, one of the CO detectors is located right next to the pellet stove, and it didn't even make a chirp. I immediately closed the door over a large billow of smoke, and left the room. I went to another room, checked the sensor 1 PPM. I took deep breaths and went back into the living room to open windows and insert fans, then turned on my 2 Honeywell air cleaners. I then opened the hopper, smoke poured out -- no flames though. The Sensorcon CO sensor alarm sounded again at 30 PPM. Closed the hopper door, left the room, went outside for more deep breaths. Grabbed the ash can and ash vacuum. Took a bunch more deep breaths, went back to the stove, opened the hopper took a scoop of pellets and closed the door. Left the room, examined the pellets, no sign of ignition. More deep breaths, vacuumed out all pellets and ash from burn chamber. By now, the smoke had all been let out of the fireplace and was sucked out of the living room by the fans in the windows. The Sensorcon CO meter now read 4 PPM next to the fireplace and 0 to 2 throughout the rest of the house. The CO alarms never went off. I pressed their test buttons, and all indicated they were still on and functioning. Meanwhile I had also removed 3 smoke detectors from the house so I didn't have to deal with their noise.
I put the smoke detectors back in place and left the pellet stove off for the rest of the evening/morning. The next morning I did the usual cleaning, and re lit the stove. No problem. Sensorcon CO reading 0 PPM.
I would guess that odds are that nothing would have happened to me if I had just dealt with the smoke from the burn chamber without holding my breath and making multiple trips to a low CO area, but who knows what affect doing that may have had on me. I am glad that I had good information about what I was exposed to.
I would highly recommend a CO sensor to anyone with any kind of heater in their home. I know for me, CO is something I want to be as informed about as possible. If anyone has anything they would like to add, I am always looking for more information.
This sensor provides real time, very precise, readings in parts per million (PPM) for CO in any environment. The range that is critical for humans is anything above 30 PPM. Most CO alarms will not sound an alarm until 30 PPM has been exceeded for some period of time. However, long term exposure to CO at any level cannot be a good thing for living creatures. The good news is that I have been all throughout my home while using my wood stove, pellet stove, and oil furnace, and the reading was zero PPM. However...
I experienced my first flame out, smoldering pellet situation with my pellet stove after 3 years of burning. We had high winds during a 15 degree f low temperature evening, and I lit off a cold pellet stove right before bed -- big mistake. I awoke to a smoke alarm going off. I grabbed my Inspector meter and proceeded carefully down the stairs to the living room where the alarm was sounding, and where the pellet stove is located. I grabbed the fire extinguisher outside the living room. I didn't see any large flames, but there was significant smoke in the room. I checked the monitor, it read 5 PPM. The pellet stove had shut off, and was dark, no flame. I could see smoke in the burn chamber. When I opened the burn chamber very slowly, my sensor alarm went off. The reading was 30 PPM. Mind you, one of the CO detectors is located right next to the pellet stove, and it didn't even make a chirp. I immediately closed the door over a large billow of smoke, and left the room. I went to another room, checked the sensor 1 PPM. I took deep breaths and went back into the living room to open windows and insert fans, then turned on my 2 Honeywell air cleaners. I then opened the hopper, smoke poured out -- no flames though. The Sensorcon CO sensor alarm sounded again at 30 PPM. Closed the hopper door, left the room, went outside for more deep breaths. Grabbed the ash can and ash vacuum. Took a bunch more deep breaths, went back to the stove, opened the hopper took a scoop of pellets and closed the door. Left the room, examined the pellets, no sign of ignition. More deep breaths, vacuumed out all pellets and ash from burn chamber. By now, the smoke had all been let out of the fireplace and was sucked out of the living room by the fans in the windows. The Sensorcon CO meter now read 4 PPM next to the fireplace and 0 to 2 throughout the rest of the house. The CO alarms never went off. I pressed their test buttons, and all indicated they were still on and functioning. Meanwhile I had also removed 3 smoke detectors from the house so I didn't have to deal with their noise.
I put the smoke detectors back in place and left the pellet stove off for the rest of the evening/morning. The next morning I did the usual cleaning, and re lit the stove. No problem. Sensorcon CO reading 0 PPM.
I would guess that odds are that nothing would have happened to me if I had just dealt with the smoke from the burn chamber without holding my breath and making multiple trips to a low CO area, but who knows what affect doing that may have had on me. I am glad that I had good information about what I was exposed to.
I would highly recommend a CO sensor to anyone with any kind of heater in their home. I know for me, CO is something I want to be as informed about as possible. If anyone has anything they would like to add, I am always looking for more information.
