What Carbon Monoxide Detectors Will and Won’t Do
Carbon Monoxide Alarms
What they can and cannot do:
- CAN – sense unacceptable levels of CO in the air
- CAN – provide early warning, before a healthy adult might show symptoms
- CAN – act as round-the-clock monitor of CO
- CAN – only sense CO that reaches it – Where you hang a detector is important
- CAN – breakdown like any other electronic device
- CANNOT – work without electrical power (batteries, AC)
- CANNOT – sense smoke, natural gas, propane, etc. (It is not a smoke detector!)
Detector Placement
Where to put (or not put) your detector:
- PUT – near a bedroom, or other room where people spend most of their time; where its alarm can be heard.
- READ the instructions that come with your Detector.
- DO NOT PUT – in garage, furnace room, near cooking stove, etc.
- DO NOT PUT – in dead air space, corner of room, near floor, in peak of vaulted ceiling.
- DO NOT PUT – near open windows or doors.
- DO NOT PUT – in excessively hot or cold areas, or excessively damp or dry areas.
- DO NOT PUT – a cloth or plastic cover over the detector.