The Dos and Don’ts of Carbon Monoxide Detector Placement

Carbon monoxide, or CO, is undetectable without a CO detector. Prolonged exposure can cause serious lasting health problems, and high concentrations can kill in less than five minutes. Just about every modern home has the potential to leak carbon monoxide gas into the living space with appliances and situations that include furnaces, water heaters, gas stoves, fireplaces, wood-burning stoves, charcoal grills, and attached garages with vehicle exhaust. Protect yourself by learning proper carbon monoxide detector placement.

For Proper Carbon Monoxide Detector Placement, Place CO Detectors:

• Outside bedrooms so alarms wake people and alert them of danger.
• On every floor of your home, including the basement, by recommendation of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and Underwriters Laboratories (UL).
• Near or on the floor above the attached garage to detect any harmful leaks from vehicle exhaust.
• Near or on the ceiling, since carbon monoxide gas rises with the warm air that typically contains it.

Then, Do Not Place CO Detectors:

• Directly above or beside combustion appliances, since these sometimes give off a harmless amount of carbon monoxide upon startup that could cause false alarms.
• Within 15 feet of cooking and heating appliances.
• Near locations where bleach and other chemicals are stored.
• In bathrooms where humidity can cause false alarms.
• In the garage, kitchen, furnace room or other excessively dusty, dirty, greasy or humid locations.
• In direct sunlight or areas that experience high temperature fluctuations, such as crawlspaces, porches and unfinished attics.
• In areas where the air is turbulent, such as near ceiling fans and return and supply registers, since air turbulence may prevent leaking carbon monoxide from reaching the CO detector.

Clearly, suitable carbon monoxide detector placement is important to ensure the device warns you properly of dangerous CO leaks. Improper placement could negate the device’s effectiveness or cause false alarms that create unnecessary fear or annoyance.

For more information about protecting your family from exposure to carbon monoxide, please contact the professionals at Sobieski Services today. Our goal is to help educate our customers in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC & plumbing systems).

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