What brand of carbon monoxide detector are you using in your home? Are you using a plug-in with battery backup model or a battery powered model? We have always had a Kidde NightHawk but have read that Senco makes a better unit, does anyone have a Senco?
CO detectors
- Thread starter 74 Laguna
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I have a nighthawk with the two digit CO concentration display. It has both battery and AC power. I had an older nighthawk and I was very happy with it over the 9 years that we used it.
Have 4 bed room houseboat. Marine CO detector in all.
Bob
Bob
Yes.
Now that I've got that out of my system, I've got both the plug-in kind and an old First Alert battery-operated one, the kind where you get a new sensor and battery in one package and the "detector" is just a housing for the cartridge.
They seem to work well, in fact the battery model is so sensitive that when I was living in my townhouse, I had pulled my truck out into the driveway, remembered I forgot something inside and went in to get it, leaving my truck running. The wind must have been just right and exhaust blew into the house because in about a minute, the detector started to go off.
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I've got a Nighthawk ..dunno which model. No battery backup. Drives the dogs nuts when the power blips out. It's well damped for spike signals. That is, it's not going to twitch with every shift of the wind. It needs a sustained level that's going to constitute a harzard over 15 minutes of duration (that doesn't mean that it takes 15 minutes to respond - just at a sustained level where 15 minutes of exposure is considered a problem. - that's if I interpreted the literature correctly).
I think it integrates the CO concentration with respect to time so as to simulate the accumulation in the human bloodstream.
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I didn't dwell on it too long. I had someone blow exhaled cigarette smoke on it to watch how it reacted (it has CO in it). What I didn't want is a situation like my shop owner had where the thing bleeped with every whiff of CO. It dampened the signal to the point where it took about 30-45 seconds to integrate the concentration of CO to be at the alarm level ..and then quickly went out of alarm when the smoke was removed.
I also have a Nighthawk, AC with battery backup.I've had it ~9 years. I've got gas heat, water heater, cooktop. It's never gone off.
My wife got CO poisoning in an apartment we lived in ca. '97. Headaches for a week then she was so bad she got sent home from work. Fire department came and condemned the responsible space heater. Measured something like 150PPM of CO.
I've set ours off several times, ashes from wood stove in metal can next to stove
, car or riding tractor in attached garage, etc. That's why I like the digital readout, it helps me to recognize even small sources of CO.
I think the value of these far exceeds the cost.
I've set ours off several times, ashes from wood stove in metal can next to stove
I think the value of these far exceeds the cost.
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I bought ours when we started taking care of my grandson once a week. We have oil heat and I saw one too many documentaries that showed stuff like your wife's situation. One I recall the whole family died. They had the heater checked out ..but the duration of the test wasn't long enough. The chimney had been clogged with something like 30 inches of loose bird nesting. They all went about their business ..feeling ill ..and finally the levels accumulated in their bloodstream enough to kill them.
So, for about $40 ..
So, for about $40 ..
I am looking at CO detectors for our house now. We didn't install any when we built it.
The digital display is a must.
What are the meaningful differences between UL 2034 and UL 2075, tested vs. listed?
What is the proper mounting height? I assume breathing level (5').
How many should be installed? We have a gas dryer on one end of the house, so one outside the laundry room. We also have a gas cooktop, so I assume one outside the kitchen area which is also just outside the master bedroom. What about one in the garage? The gas water heater is out there as well. Maybe one just inside the garage door?
All Kidde products are made in China so they are out.
Macurco (owned by 3M since 2006) are supposedly made in the USA.
I don't know where Senco CO alarms are manufactured.
American Sensors, First Alert, and BRK Electronics (same parent company, Dicon Global, for all 3) are all made in Mexico.
Costar is part of Quantum Group in San Diego (http://www.qginc.com/). I don't know where their products are manufactured. However, to find a list of distributors, send an email to a Yahoo email address. This doesn't inspire confidence.
The digital display is a must.
What are the meaningful differences between UL 2034 and UL 2075, tested vs. listed?
What is the proper mounting height? I assume breathing level (5').
How many should be installed? We have a gas dryer on one end of the house, so one outside the laundry room. We also have a gas cooktop, so I assume one outside the kitchen area which is also just outside the master bedroom. What about one in the garage? The gas water heater is out there as well. Maybe one just inside the garage door?
All Kidde products are made in China so they are out.
Macurco (owned by 3M since 2006) are supposedly made in the USA.
I don't know where Senco CO alarms are manufactured.
American Sensors, First Alert, and BRK Electronics (same parent company, Dicon Global, for all 3) are all made in Mexico.
Costar is part of Quantum Group in San Diego (http://www.qginc.com/). I don't know where their products are manufactured. However, to find a list of distributors, send an email to a Yahoo email address. This doesn't inspire confidence.
Mine is made by American Sensor. Have had it 10 years now. Mine was made in Canada.
I have a brand new kiddie with the digital display.
Very disappointing now that I have the instructions.
Thing deliberately expires 7 years from when the batteries are first inserted. Personally feel they should last 15 years or so?
Digital display shows zero until there's enough CO to sound an alert... 25 parts per ??. It does "remember" as little as 10 parts per for retrieval afterwards by rescue personnell.
This was $40 at lowes, I got it locally as they sell it for $47 online and it got good reviews. I guess if it saves my bacon...
Very disappointing now that I have the instructions.
Thing deliberately expires 7 years from when the batteries are first inserted. Personally feel they should last 15 years or so?
Digital display shows zero until there's enough CO to sound an alert... 25 parts per ??. It does "remember" as little as 10 parts per for retrieval afterwards by rescue personnell.
This was $40 at lowes, I got it locally as they sell it for $47 online and it got good reviews. I guess if it saves my bacon...
Originally Posted By: Shannow
Never heard of home CO monitors before.
We certainly live in different worlds
Many areas in the States require one is in place prior to selling your house.
Garry, same thing here; house goes dark, CO detector goes BEEEEP!! , dog goes out of her mind. They let out a nice BEEP when power is restored too. Always nice to get woken up by that.
Joel
Never heard of home CO monitors before.
We certainly live in different worlds
Many areas in the States require one is in place prior to selling your house.
Garry, same thing here; house goes dark, CO detector goes BEEEEP!! , dog goes out of her mind. They let out a nice BEEP when power is restored too. Always nice to get woken up by that.
Joel
American Sensor is made in Canada? 
I have a nighthawk digital that I use to check for head gasket leaks. It also beeps when the power goes out. This is probably from cheap circuit design.
I have a nighthawk digital that I use to check for head gasket leaks. It also beeps when the power goes out. This is probably from cheap circuit design.
co detectors are mainly for houses with fuel fired heaters and stoves right?
actually never heard of them before.
actually never heard of them before.
We also have a split-system that has the option/aux heat to be heated with LP. The unit is in the unoccupied attic.
Originally Posted By: Master ACiD
co detectors are mainly for houses with fuel fired heaters and stoves right?
actually never heard of them before.
Yep, mostly in areas where gas heat is an option. As houses have become better insulated now, carbon monoxide poisoning is more of an issue than ever. I know any time we have a major power outage in the winter now, people get sick and even die from portable generator fumes, even though the generators are well out side the home. Sealed up homes, a little bit of back draft, bad things!
Joel
co detectors are mainly for houses with fuel fired heaters and stoves right?
actually never heard of them before.
Yep, mostly in areas where gas heat is an option. As houses have become better insulated now, carbon monoxide poisoning is more of an issue than ever. I know any time we have a major power outage in the winter now, people get sick and even die from portable generator fumes, even though the generators are well out side the home. Sealed up homes, a little bit of back draft, bad things!
Joel
yep, generator in garage, leakage between garage and home, chimney effect.
then there are the darwin award candidates who run generators in their basements.
then there are the darwin award candidates who run generators in their basements.
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