Carbon Monoxide !!!!!!!!!!

   Right all you lot, attention please !!    Hands up all of you with a carbon monoxide sensor in your home, ok that is all right -- but what about all of you with your hands down by your sides ??? Time I think to go out tomorrow and get yourselves one straight away.  Why am I batting on like this? Well last night just as we were about to have our meal- the noise from the kitchen was that of our sensor doing it's head in- oh dear ! Shut down boiler, open window, phone the gas folk- eat cold diner. Hour and half later gas board chappie arrives and after a few checks meter isolated and boiler out of action. Contract engineer comes this morning ( time out of work to see what is happening ) and lots more checks of boiler this time and then -- cut off and shut down again so no boiler again tonight and wait for tomorrow for an engineer again armed with a seal to hopefully fix the problem ( or maybe not and dig deep in the pocket for a new boiler ). OK all very inconvenient and chilly but consider the alternative, might not be typing this little monologue at this moment in time if that little box on the wall that flashes every few minutes that only costs twenty odd pounds was not there.

                   You probably have ( or should have ) a smoke alarm, so why not a Carbon Monoxide alarm sensor---   go get one soon as you can ! 

Our house is built on four floors Vince, the only exits are on the ground floor and the first floor, which leaves the floors with the bedrooms quite vulnerable, (we are also built on a steep valley side, so floor 4 is way up there) the smoke detectors were fitted free by the fire service who came and gave our house a free check. They fitted 6 of them.

We also have 3 Carbon Monoxide detectors fitted, one on the ground floor where the kitchen, dining room, workshop and gas boiler are situated. One on the first floor near to a new log effect gas stove in the Lounge, and one on the ceiling between floors 3 and 4, I'm hoping we are covered. 

We knew the house was vulnerable being built in 1886 so we fitted things to make it as safe as possible. 

Yes, Carbon Monoxide is a killer, and being an odourless and colourless gas, it is especially dangerous. As Vince says, a Carbon Monoxide detector is a life-saver. Unfortunately, modern condensing boilers have so many things that can go wrong with them to produce Carbon Monoxide. The old balanced flue boilers were a lot simpler, not requiring fan assistance, and if the flame was burning blue, things were generally OK. Unfortunately,  you are lucky to get 5 years life out of a modern boiler, the old ones often went on for 30 years or more with minimal attention. I believe it was all John Prescott's fault to make condensing boilers compulsory, see this link (Daily Mail) 

Hi Vince

We have smoke detectors fitted in the apartment everything is on one level I don't know if they detect carbon monoxide or not but then again we have no gas appliances.

The sensors that we have seem very sensitive they go of quite regularly when things get a bit steamy in the apartment. 

When considering Carbon Monoxide hazards, it is worth remembering  that this lethal gas can be produced in many different ways, not just from gas appliances. Any incomplete combustion of a carbon-based fuel will generate Carbon Monoxide e.g. the incomplete burning of wood, coal, coke, charcoal, waste paper, oil, petrol, diesel, general organic waste etc will all generate Carbon Monoxide. A slow-burning charcoal barbeque, for example, will often  produce large amounts of Carbon Monoxide.

Another factor which seems not to be well-known is that Carbon Monoxide will pass through red-hot iron. This could happen with an old-fashioned free standing iron stove which is fuelled with wood or coke. If the body of the stove gets very hot, Carbon Monoxide will pass through the iron.

It all reinforces Vince's advice to get a Carbon Monoxide alarm for your home and a portable one too for vacations. 

Remember the campers, was it last year or the year before ? They took a still smouldering portable barbecue into their tent with them and died in the night of the carbon monoxide fumes given off from the BBQ. 

The exact same thing happened again only a couple of weeks later at a different location.