Carbon Monoxide Alarms

[Rob Foster]

I have been told that all CO alarms are unsafe after 2 years. The chemicals in the sensor degrade and are unreliable after two years. The scary bit is when the test button is pressed it only indicates battery status not the ablity of the unit to detect CO. There is no reliable way to test as cans of CO are not available. Is this right and if so all CO alarms should be stamped with a dispose of date. Rob Foster aka centralheatking

 

[Tim Court]

Truth is both smoke and CO detectors have a shelf life - around 10 years and 5 years respectively.
And (very) good practice is to renew the batteries, where fitted, every 12 months.
Next time you buy, make sure you are not buying old stock!
You can get good branded but cheap units on eBay that are 2, 3, 4 years old...
God help Average Joe and his old mum...

 

[Tim Court]

What I meant by the eBay reference is that it is entirely possible that Average Joe could buy a perfectly good brand on eBay at a seemingly great price not realising the thing is 2, 3, 4, years old - which is the reason it is so cheap...

 

[Captain.rick]

exactly where I was coming from....centralheatking

Yeah I agree.