Carbon Monoxide Alarm - What's a safe PPM reading?

Carbon Monoxide Alarm - What's a safe PPM reading?

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bitchstewie

Original Poster:

51,983 posts

212 months

Sunday 25th February
quotequote all
The Carbon Monoxide detector in the lounge started blipping a red light every minute for a 100ppm detection the other day.

The alarm didn't go off.

Fire installer/gas engineer came out and tested the fire and the flue is clear and drawing from well outside of the fire so he's confident there's nothing untoward with the fire or the flue/chimney.

I got another alarm which is a Kidde one with a LCD display on the front showing the CO level.

https://www.kidde.com/fire-safety/en/uk/products/f...

Only thing is it's at 0 because it's new but whilst the manual says what a "low" level is it doesn't really say whether it should be permanently on 0 or what "normal" would be if it's in a room with a gas fire in it.

bitchstewie

Original Poster:

51,983 posts

212 months

Sunday 25th February
quotequote all
kambites said:
WHO recommend indoor CO levels never exceed an average of 9mm for any eight-hour period or 25 ppm for any one-hour period. The hard upper limit for even short-term exposure in a workplace in the UK is 200ppm.

I wouldn't be happy with 100ppm in my house, but are you sure the original alarm wasn't broken?
Thanks that's the kind of thing where the manual wasn't clear.

The alarm is a couple of months old and the fire hasn't changed and it's only done it the once so it's quite possible it's the alarm which is the reason for buying a new one that shows a bit more info as well as having the local fireplace installers come out to double-check things from their side.

But I don't know whether I should expect the LCD to permanently show 0 or quite what "normal" is smile

bitchstewie

Original Poster:

51,983 posts

212 months

Sunday 25th February
quotequote all
It's up high on a shelf about a foot from the ceiling.

Didn't try changing the batteries as they and the alarm are brand new and tbh I'd sooner put the thing in the bin than risk it.