Carbon monoxide detecter location/question

Richard · Feb 8, 2005

After reading the vented/ventless heater thread (I have two ventLESS fireplaces in my house)

I like the idea about the Co detecter.

My question, does Carbon monoxide, rise, fall, or "blend" into the air?

If I get a detecter, would it be better to have it placed up high, down low or would it really matter?

/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Junkman · Feb 8, 2005

I believe that it just mixes in and then you inhale it. I do know from my EMT classes about 35 years ago that the body has a greater affinity to absorb carbon monoxide than it does oxygen, so that is why it is so deadly in small concentrations. What does the instructions that came with the unit say? As for other gasses, natural gas rises, and propane falls, but both can cause major problems quickly, if there is an ignition source.

ronjhall · Feb 8, 2005

I just put a new one in. Instruction just suggested that it be put in the open and installed near a sleeping area.
Here is a site that should answer most questions about CO detectors. Click Here

ByronBob · Feb 8, 2005

Code in NY when I built my home was to put one above the furnace and one in the living quarters of the home. Being a multi unit style they're on the ceiling in the upstairs hallway and above the furnace in the basement.
They work. When the oven was installed I had a CO2 issue and they went off. Putting them on the ceiling can't be a bad place IMO.

SkyPup · Feb 8, 2005

Be sure to install one on the wall of the hallway leading to any bedrooms.....

DocHeb · Feb 8, 2005

In perfectly still air, CO will rise. With furnace blowers and air movement there is a fair amount of mixing that occurs. The instructions for the plug-in CO monitor I bought recommended it to be placed five feet from the floor in the master bedroom.

Richard · Feb 8, 2005

Thanks guys. I'll have to make effort to get one, I think the little lady will feel better.

Since our house is soooooo wide open (first floor is all one "airspace") and the bedroom, which has a 10,000 btu unit, is about 600 sq ft, my hunch is, with everything working properly, that it's less of an issue for me, than if we'd had enclosed rooms.

Oh, it's also a log house that has it's OWN version of "heat exchanger" as it exchanges more than I'd care with the outside air.

I DO need to get it chinked sometime /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

JimMorrissey · Feb 8, 2005

I've got one in my bedroom and in each kid's room (just replaced the 9v battery this afternoon in one of them). -Why risk anything happening. They're not cheap, but look what it's protecting.

Two UVM students died last week due to Co poisoning and four others were taken to the Emergency room. UVM hasn't determined the cause yet, but a University contracted property management company was responsible for the student's housing. They're in some big trouble. What an awful thing for the parents to be informed of out of the blue.