to need advice about my carbon monoxide alarm going off today?

[Rae34]

I recently purchased my first home so new to dealing with these sorts of issues. This morning I turned the heating on for 10 minutes just to hear the place up. My carbon monoxide alarm then went off. I aired everywhere out and left the room with my cat/stayed in that room.

I phoned the emergency grid helpline & a company came out quickly. They said they couldn't see anything obvious but to be sure . They have now turned off all of my hot water & gas appliances and put 'do not turn on' stickers on them.

They advised i would need to get these turned back on by a gas safety engineer that I will need to pay for. I phoned a gas safety engineer, explained & they said they think it is strange this person turned everything off when nothing was found. But they will come out.

AIBU to have no clue what is right and wrong here?

@Mischance yes I didn’t realise this happened with ash until a family was in the news years ago brought a bbq (not lit but still warm) into their tent and they all died in their sleep due to carbon monoxide

@Marvelwife123 god that is awful. It has been an educational day in terms of all the things that it can come from.

I just spoke to my dad and he says he doesn't own one!

Maybe I'll get a second one just for more peace of mind. Thanks all! I feel a bit calmer now.

My mum and dad had a brand new cooker that kept setting theirs off. Took 4 visits to spot what it was. Bloke said they were very lucky. Get another alarm and ventilate as much as you can just to be safe

Glad all was well in the end OP, you 100% did the right thing of getting it checked out :)

We have multiple CO detectors for this reason and put them in the living areas and close to the gas appliances - one in the basement with the furnace, one in the laundry room by the gas tumble dryer, and two more near the bedrooms.

I'm in New York and you can't sell a house here without at least one installed.

I've just lent our CO alarm to my new next door neighbour who moved in on Friday to a house that has been empty for 18 months (previous owner died) and who had no certificates etc and has no idea what condition the boiler is in.

You are supposed to have one in each room where there is a gas appliance.

As an aside, Op - yearly gas Safe inspections are only compulsory for rentals but nothing stopping you having it done in your own home. Ask around for a competent engineer and get it combined with a service.

Hi there, there could be any number of reasons that an alarm went off previously and now doesn't, despite finding no faults. Firstly, it could be that your flues are all to standard, but that weather conditions caused fumes to be pushed back into the property. It could be a non-gas appliance - do you have any solid fuel or oil appliances, they create CO too. It could have been from large candles (the wooden wick ones are particularly dangerous in enclosed spaces), or as another poster said, from embers left in an ash bucket or badly burned food left in a kitchen. There are so many causes. Was the gas engineer Gas Safe Registered to work on the particular appliances they were checking? Not all registered engineers can work on all appliances, and their registration on the Gas Safe website should tell you if they are qualified for your situation. If not, they may miss any number of problems. Did they actually check specifically for CO with a flue gas analyser or a CO detector that gives a parts per million (ppm) readout? It is a very complicated subject and difficult to diagnose without knowing your circumstances, but please NEVER ignore a CO alarm, and it is a good idea to have more than one - one with a digital display of how many ppm is best, bought from a reputable supplier, not an online bargain, and to EN50291 if it is for a domestic property. It is surprising that your registered engineer thought the gas emergency service disconnecting your appliances was odd - this is their standard proceedure. They do not test specific appliances when they attend a callout, but cannot leave them connected just in case and this always causes problems for the resident. I would have thought a Gas Safe registered engineer would know this. I don't mean to scare anyone, but please take fuel safety seriously - there is not enough awareness of the dangers from all fuels, not just gas. If your engineer is qualified correctly then I would advise to just buy another alarm, position it as per manufacturers instructions and read as muchh as you can about CO just to put your mind at rest.