Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask if you have a carbon monoxide alarm and if no, why not?

115 replies

Letitsnow9 · 18/02/2015 19:10

Would Ibu to ask if any of you have gas but don't have an alarm? Saw a poster on here whose daughter died from carbon monoxide and our alarm saved our families life (we hadnt always had one, we used to have the colour changing dots which wouldn't of notified us like the alarm did). Ours was £20 but you can get them cheaper

OP posts:
MarvinKMooney · 19/02/2015 16:07

I've just been to check the one in the boiler cupboard and the 'expiry' sticker says Jan 2015. Confused

So pleased I checked. Have just ordered two on Amazon (one for the woodburner).

SqueezyCheeseWeasel · 19/02/2015 16:16

Not got one, purely just because it hasn't ever occurred to me to get one. I'm ordering a couple now though. Thanks for the heads up.

ratspeaker · 19/02/2015 16:38

I have 2.
One in the kitchen where the gas cooker and boiler are.
One in the same room as our open fire.
Both are fossil fuels which if they don't burn fully produce CO.

When we renovated the place my son and daughter now live in we installed CO alarm in kitchen and also one in the living room, although there isn't a fire in living room they have a calor gas fire which may be used in case of power cuts.
Again it's a fossil fuel

Amazon currently have CO alarms for under £12, well worth the money

CommanderShepard · 19/02/2015 16:38

A CO detector and smoke alarm on each floor.

abas I am so very sorry for your loss Flowers

LurkingHusband · 19/02/2015 16:43

CO alarm and 2 smoke alarms here.

A friend is a fireman - early into his career, he attended a fire at a student house - something had set the sofa on fire. The fire brigade got there, put the fire out with a hand held extinguisher. They then searched the house and found four students - teenagers - dead from smoke inhalation SadSadSad. They died in their sleep, either alarm would have saved them.

Ludways · 19/02/2015 16:46

We have one! When I was a teenager a whole family died in a house round the corner from where I lived, I wouldn't risk it. I have to drive past that house most days now and think of then often.

Gruntfuttock · 19/02/2015 16:54

caroldecker "Not here, also no smoke alarms or house insurance - I like the thrill of the ride" Grin

I just can't get my head round this post. Why on earth would anyone take the risk? "Thrill of the ride"? Confused

BeautyQueenFromMars · 19/02/2015 16:56

Ok, I was told that the type of boiler I have means I don't need a CM alarm/indicator. I can't remember who told me (it was a few years ago). I can't remember what boiler it is off the top of my head, so I will check and investigate fully online later, but could this information be incorrect? Will I need one no matter what boiler I have, because I have gas?

HicDraconis · 19/02/2015 17:39

We don't have one but we only have one gas appliance - sealed flame effect fire with flue / chimney type thing through to roof. No mains gas, it runs off bottles which are bolted to the side of the house. No neighbours near enough for CO leaks there to be an issue (they also have bottled gas if they have it at all).

So I don't think we need one. Smoke and heat alarms hard wired into house alarm on every floor though.

mummy2angel · 19/02/2015 17:46

I bought three after a close friend of mine, her mum and their family pet all died from carbon monoxide.

I also encouraged my mum and nan to buy one. To be honest before what happened to my friend it's not something I would have thought about getting, which is why threads like this are so important.

SpottyTeacakes · 19/02/2015 17:54

There's no gas at all in our village but our ndn's have an open fire, should we get one?

HaveTeaWillSurvive · 19/02/2015 17:59

Yes we've got two, one in DS room as it's over the garage and one just in the main hall. Similar to others I'm a stickler for it as my friends brother died from CM poisoning and now would never go without one. There's no excuse for risking your life like that.

Mrscog · 19/02/2015 18:05

We did in our last house, but not in our new, it's oil central heating, the boiler is outside and we have no open fire. We are also very detached. I am very safety conscious but I cannot see any benefit in our situation!

I did however point out to some relations that they should install one in their holiday rental which they have :) so I'm honestly not blasé about these things.

ratspeaker · 19/02/2015 18:29

BeautyQueenFromMars and HicDraconis if you have gas, even if it's bottled you need a CO alarm ,whether its for cooking or heating it doesn't matter, its still being burned. Unless the maybe when the boiler is sited outside. But personally I'd rather err on the side of caution.

fossil fuels including gas, coal, wood, bottled gas, charcoal bbqs , petrol etc,
are dangerous if they dont burn properly, they will produce CO. The CO can be produced through inadequate ventilation, blocked flues, burning something like a bbq in a tent or caravan

CO binds to the haemoglobin in the blood which means your body doesn't get enough Oxygen

A fire alarm is not the same as a carbon monoxide alarm

Dawndonnaagain · 19/02/2015 18:53

Have just replaced the one that started intermittent beeping thereby letting us know the battery was running out. We have had one in every house since 1994.

ZuleikaJambiere · 19/02/2015 19:09

I've very recently bought one but not put it up - we have a log burner and gas fuelled Aga downstairs and a gas boiler upstairs. Should it go as close as possible to the appliances, to detect CO2 as soon as it leaks, or closer to the bedrooms, so it'd wake us if necessary?

MrsDeVere · 19/02/2015 19:16

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PippiLicious · 19/02/2015 19:19

Even if you don't have gas you need one.

We have oil for heating/hot water but we also have a wood burner and 2 open fireplaces and we were advised by the local fire safety officer that they were essential (as well as smoke alarms).

Sparklingbrook · 19/02/2015 19:20

YY we have one. I think I saw something on the TV that prompted me a few years ago. We take it on holiday too.

Daffodilium · 19/02/2015 19:51

The amount of people on here that think it's only gas appliances that leak CO is worrying...

Any incendiary device is capable. That includes bbqs, wood burners, rayburns and other cookers, water heaters, open fires, blocked chimneys, paint fumes, or the one that caught me out, the wrong cap on the chimney top which meant the dying embers from my woodburner caused CO to leak into the bedroom I shared with my newborn, through the chimney breast.
Luckily the window was broken so there was a miniscule ventilation. I dismissed my dizziness and lethargy as new mum symptoms.
I'd never even heard of CO alarms before that, but I kept dreaming about my deceased Aunt telling me to get one so I did and it went off the first night. Myself and newborn would have died in our sleep if I'd ever asked the landlord to fix that broken window..it's ironic that his negligence in not fitting the correct chimney cowl which caused the CO leak, alongside the broken window, is what saved us.

Always have a ventilation source.

And don't rely on your landlord gas safety check. I'm with a relatively reputable letting agent but the gas man they send out doesn't even check the CO monitors are working, nor does he check the gas fire (I had it independantly confirmed as 'condemned'), there's no ventilation in the room which houses the gas boiler unless I keep a window unsecured at all times (not viable, really) and even then he takes about 30 seconds to do the check.

I believe some local fire stations or councils give free alarms out.

Ohbollocksandballs · 19/02/2015 20:07

I have 2 smoke alarms, one upstairs one down.

Ive just ordered a carbon monoxide alarm. The only gas appliances I have are boiler and hob, both in kitchen so at the risk of sounding a bit thick I'd put it in the kitchen wouldnt I?

specialsubject · 19/02/2015 20:21

Daffodil every single gas appliance in the property must be included in the gas safety check. That's the law. The legal protection is there to help you, so via the agent, demand that the law is complied with. The unsafe appliance must either be fixed or removed. Is this person on the gas safe register? Have you got your copy of the certificate?

a room sealed boiler does not need a ventilated room, and should be 'fail-safe' anyway. The CO alarm is there as the third line of defence.

I'm a landlord and was there when the last gas safe check was done. The boiler and gas fire are serviced at the same time, the whole thing takes about an hour and a half. Even without a service (which I would not consider acceptable) it does not take '30 seconds'. Something is badly wrong.

please complain TOMORROW. If you are still in the property with the woodburner, is there a HETAS installation certificate for it?

checking the CO monitor is a matter of ensuring correct flashing lights and that it is in date. Not part of the gas safe, you can do that.

BeautyQueenFromMars · 19/02/2015 20:25

Wow, ok, thank you (especially to ratspeaker), I shall be ordering a carbon monoxide alarm immediately.

We do have 3 smoke alarms, so at least that side of things is covered.

ethelb · 19/02/2015 20:29

Flossie a fire alarm is different to a carbon monoxide alarm.

We have one in the kitchen near the boiler.

caroldecker · 19/02/2015 21:27

my view is 40 people die a year from co2 poisoning and 1,713 pedestrians die a year, so i am 40 more times likely to die walking to the shops than sitting in my home without a detector.
I do, however, believe it should be compulsary for landlords to fit them in rented accomodation.

Swipe left for the next trending thread