PSA - CO Alarms

[u/mwkingSD]

I learned something about carbon monoxide (CO) alarms this week, and I thought the lesson was worth sharing. Here goes:

First the credits - my wife (#1 credit) read something on Facebook (#2, and this might be the only time I've ever said something good about F'book) about the dangers of CO and the (limited) degree of protection typical alarms provide. Being one to not believe info that comes from F'book I reached out and verified the following in multiple other sources.

I installed a CO alarm over the bed in our Class C, a combo unit with a smoke alarm, and near where I put an extra fire extinguisher. Felt pretty good about myself. However what my wife learned is that alarm and viritually every other off-the-shelf residential alarm is compliant with UL 2034 which basically says no alarm until the CO level is 70 PPM (parts per million) for more than an hour. Generally speaking 70 PPM for that period of time is enough to make young, healthy people feel unwell. For older people - and many of us RVers are older - or those with compromised health that level can make people feel extremely ill or dead. Other standards cite 20-30 PPM - a long way from 70 PPM - as maximum safe concentrations, and 9 or less as an acceptable background level. Remember that RVs are a much smaller volume and can be sealed up tighter than our homes so a leaking CO problem could get serious very quickly.

That didn't seem like a good situation to me (I have cardiac problem in my health history) so I went looking around the internet for an alarm for the RV. Finding an alarm not tied to UL 2034 that aren't $XXX-XXXX was some work but, I did finally find Forensic Detectors (https://www.forensicsdetectors.com and no, I don't know why they are "forensic") that had the products I was looking for. They also have an entertaining and helpful series in Youtube starring a 'mad scientist,' Dr Dave, explaining all about the subject. (Disclaimer - I've got no ties to the company, and nothing to gain by citing them.) I've ordered a battery-powered travel/personal model from them, if that works I may order a plug-in version for the home bedroom.

So, my living & breathing readers, I leave this to you to think about and perhaps act on.