How do I know if my CO alarm went off because of Carbon Monoxide?

[AnthonyB]

If your CO alarm goes off for for than just a very brief period realistically you should follow the official advice:

If your carbon monoxide alarm sounds or you suspect a leak:

• Stop using all appliances, switch them off, and open doors and windows to ventilate the property
• Evacuate the property immediately; stay calm and avoid raising your heart rate  
• Call the Gas Emergency number on 0800 111 999 to report the incident, or the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Gas Safety Advice Line on 0800 300 363
• Don't go back into the property; wait for advice from the emergency services
• Seek immediate medical help; you may not realise you've been affected by the carbon monoxide and going outside into fresh air won't treat any exposure by itself

[Guest Building extension]

Our carbon monoxide alarm went off last night - we are sure it was due to the large amount screed that has just been laid in the room as nothing else has changed. Ventilated the room and the levels dropped to 11 and alarm stopped beeping. So there must be something about newly laid screed that can set them off. 

[Guest George]

Not sure how active this thread is now but here goes...

We have two CO detectors in one room. One is correctly placed on the wall at the right height and gives a PPM digital reading as well as having the alarm.

The second was propped on a shelf, and doesn't give a reading.

4am the second one  (Angelcare, about 7y old) ,started beeping the alarm sound. Pressed the reset button and it stopped. The digital one did NOT beep and the display is reading 0ppm. 

We feel fine and dogs who were shut in that room both fine. We no longer have combustion-producing appliances in the house (totally electric), and the neighbour doesn't use his fireplace either. The alarms are from when we used solid fuel burners, two yrs ago.

 

The alarm that went off was sitting next to a butane hand torch though no leak from that was apparent.

Is it likely a fault with the alarm? It wasn't a low battery warning but the batteries in it are very old. I do trust the digital, mounted alarm more but unsure why this one would've gone off. I've left the digital one in situ and brought the one that was beeping up to our bedroom. Power light is flashing but no subsequent alarm sound.

[Guest George]

*Fire Angel brand not Angelcare! ?

[Tom Sutton]

I am afraid there is no answer to you problem it would be all guess work the only advice possible to give is,

If your CO alarm goes off for for than just a very brief period realistically you should follow the official advice:

If your carbon monoxide alarm sounds or you suspect a leak:

• Stop using all appliances, switch them off, and open doors and windows to ventilate the property
• Evacuate the property immediately; stay calm and avoid raising your heart rate  
• Call the Gas Emergency number on 0800 111 999 to report the incident, or the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Gas Safety Advice Line on 0800 300 363
• Don't go back into the property; wait for advice from the emergency services
• Seek immediate medical help; you may not realise you've been affected by the carbon monoxide and going outside into fresh air won't treat any exposure by itself

If it is relevant it is for you to decide.

[Guest Jane]

My fire alarm starting going off several times today. Each time it went off it said "fire". I inspected my home inside and outside entirely, and do not see/smell anything unusual. I tried resetting the alarm, but it continues to go off. I removed the batteries and then it started going off while saying "carbon monoxide". The carbon monoxide alarm went off about 3 separate times, but has now switched back to the fire alarm.

I have opened all doors and windows, and flipped the switch on my breaker to shut down all power in my home. I have a small dog and have been keeping a close eye on her, and myself. I'm aware it might not have been the best idea to remove the batteries/turn off the breaker, especially since carbon monoxide is known as the silent killer. I only did this since it is very early in the morning, and my neighbors live very close. My dog would start screaming everytime to alarm went off, since the alarm is so loud.

I plan on turning the power back on in about an hour to see if this continues. In the meantime I will sit near an opened window, while occasionally  stepping outside with my dog. have had my fire alarm go off in the past for seemingly no reason, but it would only do it about 1 to 2 separate times in about 5mins, and be done. So far the alarms combined have gone off about 10 to 15 times in the last hour and a half.

Please let me know if you have any input on this matter. I would greatly appreciate any help to figure out what's causing this and what I should do.

Thank you very much.

[Guest Concerned]

Hi my Carbon monoxide alarm went off continuously sat night I opened the windows left my property called the gas board when we went back in the alarm was off the engineer put a notice on the boiler danger do not use he could not detect cm however he came 55 minutes after I opened the windows I have someone coming out tomorrow to check out me on edge bit dont know if I should of gone to the doctor's as I had been suffering with headaches for some time 

[Tom Sutton]

As the detector reset after the ventilation it would appear, that it was a leak and not a false alarm so you should visit your doctor or ring him/her to get advice. 

[Guest John]

On 23/11/2017 at 23:21, Guest Janiebsmith said:

We've just had an extension built and they came to do the floor screed today. Our CO detector went off late afternoon and my husband called British Gas who have since been and disconnected the gas supply, however, the detector has gone off again. A friend of a friend had the same experience when their floor screed went down - has any one else heard of this happening?

Hi!

i had concrete screed laid in my basement and the carbon monoxide detector went off. The screed people say this could not happen. They deny all responsibility and want to take me to court for the money I owe. There must be lots of people out there who have had similar experiences. If you are one of them please let me know how you resolved it. Did you win?

[Safelincs]

Yes, we have heard this numerous times. The process of laying screed seems to generate a gas that triggers CO (carbon monoxide) alarms. That does not necessarily mean that it actually is CO, as some other gases can affect CO alarms (eg hydrogen from re-charging lead acid batteries). Airing the building til the floor is fully dry and cured should hopefully resolve the issue.

I don't think you have reason to withhold payment. The screed company has not done anything wrong. 

Harry

[Guest Lauren]

Good morning! My CO detector went off this morning at 4am and woke me up. I pressed the test button, checking to see if it was just a faulty issue and it continued to beep, so I took out the batteries and opened a window. 

Then I replaced the batteries and pressed the test button again and it hasn't gone off since. It's been a little over an hour since this happened. 

Even with replacing the batteries, the alarm would continue to beep if it detected carbon monoxide, right? So am I to assume it was just a false alarm or that the fumes are cleared from the apartment?

I am moving out today, so I won't be dealing with this problem much longer. But should I still give the landlord a heads up as to what happened?

[Safelincs]

Hi Lauren, it is difficult to work out what caused this. You should definitely report the issue to your landlord. Imagine the next tenant would become ill and you could have prevented it.

Harry

[Guest Gareth]

Hello, may sound overcautious, but my carbon monoxide alarm went off this morning, tried new batteries, test button doesn’t stop the alarm. No fault light showing. Got a new alarm from the neighbours and no alarm on their unit. I’m assuming a fault on my original alarm  

[Tom Sutton]

Substitution is a good way of checking if a unit is working correctly or not and you should contact the manufacturer and the instructions that came with the detector.

[Guest Janine]

Hi. My carbon monoxide alarm went off for around 15 seconds or so, I hit the stop button with a broom handle, but think it went off just as I did it. Anyway it didn’t go off again, but the red alarm button is flashing every 40 seconds. After panicking all night, I rang the gas emergency service, someone was here within the hour. His alarm didn’t pick anything up, he was here for an hour and a half, he checked the gas also, neighbours either side nothing. He has capped the gas and boiler off, and I’m waiting on a boiler service. I’m just worried can the alarm still go off even with the gas and boiler off.

thanks.

[Tom Sutton]

It is difficult to advise on the sequence of led's you should check out the appropriate user instructions. It is possible for the detector to actuate with the gas and boiler off because there are other means that produce CO, solid fuel fires and car exhaust fumes for example.

[Guest Mike]

My alarm beeped 4 short beeps. Then about 60 seconds later it did the same. Then it stopped beeping. What does that mean?

[Tom Sutton]

Have you checked your user manual which usually indicates these kinds of problems.

[Guest Tony]

we’ve just had our floor screeded and our carbon monoxide sensor has gone off in the middle of the night. After airing the room it has now stopped. Are we safe?

[Harry]

Hopefully it is just the screed. It is known to trigger CO alarms.

Harry

[audrey k]

My carbon monoxide alarm went of a bunch of times between Oct 17 and 26 and hasn't gone off since then.  Does carbon monoxide come and go?  Could this be caused by another problem?  What do you recommend?

Thanks,

Audrey

[Tom Sutton]

It is possible to have a temporary cloud of gas, other than CO from the device it is protecting, but it is extremely difficult to be certain and the best thing to do, if it happens, is to have the device checked out by a qualified person.

[Guest Debbie r]

My neighbour just knocked on my door and said his co alarm has been going off in the night. He has had it checked out and been told it is OK but could be coming from a neighbouring property. I have a co alarm myself but mine hasn't gone off at all - no heating or appliances on through the night anyway - could his alarm going off really have anything to do with my home when my alarm isn't going off at all?

[Tom Sutton]

I can imagine a situation where it would be possible but unlikely, trying to establish the reasons for false alarms is very difficult if not impossible. If you have doubts get the system checked out.

[Guest Ash]

On 03/01/2012 at 12:43, Guest dorothperk said:

On Christmas Eve my CO alarm went off, even though we did not have the heating on. Is there any way to test if the CO alarm is working correctly? In the end I had to take out the batteries to stop the noise. It did scare us, though!

Out of interest had you been making mulled wine that night? It’s Christmas Eve and the same thing just happened to us and the Gas Board man just said he’d had 5 of the same instances this week with people who had been warming mulled wine. Apparantly the warming wine/grapes give off Carbon Monoxide. There are also lots of articles etc online about people’s alarms going off whilst making mulled wine/on Christmas Eve etc ?