CO alarms... what to buy?

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Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 3:37 pm

The missus and I are about to move in together and I want to a fit a CO alarm as we are on gas but I dunno what to buy, I have looked on the Corgi site and they have an alarm on there but it doesn't say if it alerts you when the battery is low.... as trivial as it sounds it is one of the most important features.

Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 3:52 pm

.. that's an elementary feature .. I can't imagine alarms being built without a low battery alarm .. even the $10 ones is my home have that ..

http://www.google.nl/search?hl=nl&q=corgi+alarms+%22low+battery%22

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 2628

I bought FireAngel monitors

They "peep" just like smoke detectors when the battery is low

I've got one in the kitchen/living area as the boiler is in the utility cupboard just off the room and the kids sometimes sleep there when pals are over.
I have one in my room as its an open coal fire - they can get blocked as produce CO too, and it also shares a chimney with a neighbour who I'm sure never has their flame effect fire checked.

I bought the CO monitors from Tesco. Most big supermarkets in the UK have them next to the fire alarms these days

Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 4:41 pm

I use nighthawk in all our rental units. they have always done their job.

Master of Master Baiters Joined: 06 Feb 2008 Posts: 720

Belt and Braces Get a Canary Wink

Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 3:53 pm

I've got a Nighthawk as well, plug in model. Has a nice ear piercing alarm when tested. Shocked

Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 4:28 pm

Our Nighthawk screamed when a gust of must have blown down the chimney and knocked a cover off our central heater. The boy ran outside with the birdcage and the cats. I forgot what the peak reading was but when I saw it, it had stopped screaming but the reading was still very high with all the doors and windows open.

Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 5:02 pm

At least the canary will squark when its "battery" is low Smile

Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2008 3:44 am

So Connie L. Gus, you're using a double redundancy system. the Nighthawk and the bird? Modern technology backed up with the old canary in a cage down the mineshaft system huh?

Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2008 4:05 am

Sad story to report. The bird was sitting on a person's hand and just flopped over and bounced off the ground. She didn't open her wings, and just tumbled over. I tried mouth to beak and moving the wings back and forth with no results. After ten minutes, I went over to the Nighthawk and saw 00 on the display. I think a Nighthawk is better than a bird.

Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2008 4:14 am

^^^ so, what you are saying is the bird system works only once? Shocked

In all sincerity, sorry for the loss of your bird. Sad

Did you check it's battery? Wink

Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2008 8:53 am

[quote="ParaNoid]In all sincerity, sorry for the loss of your bird. Did you check it's battery?[/quote]

Oh those bird batteries, they're just so hard to insert. And you have to have them the right way round as well.

Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2008 10:00 am

Are CO alarms mandatory in certain houses/apartments? They aren't required in Australia as far as I know. The nearest I ever came to meeting my Maker was via a blocked chimney and CO poisoning. Luckily the phone rang just as I was about to fall asleep forever and I realised something wasn't right and instinctively opened all the windows and I went outside to breathe a lot of fresh air for a long time. I should have called the ambos but didn't. I just had the worst headache of my life for 24 hours and eventually felt better. It was a VERY close call and the scary part was it wasn't unpleasant at all.

Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2008 2:19 pm

The bird did not suffer at all. I miss it but will never have another. This thing was so trusting it lay infertile eggs in my hand. I was doing some work in a heat treating place and got a small dose of cyanide. I understand that the mechanism is similar to CO poisoning. I felt great, absolutely euphoric for 25 minutes. A trip to the hospital was worthless. I remember the 3 day headache. I would not live in a house without a CO meter. I had those stick to the dashboard cards in my cars for a while. I don't think they work.

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