bought co detector, now where to put it?
 

Hello,
After shopping around much, purchased a nighthawk digital for $33 from
wal-mart.
These are expensive and I'm wondering if the best placement would
be high in the hallway near the bedrooms. There are 3 bedrooms that are
occupied.

Is this a good idea?

Should it be directly under a vent?

Thanks much!

bought co detector, now where to put it?
 

"ap" writes:

Hello,
After shopping around much, purchased a nighthawk digital for $33 from
wal-mart.
These are expensive and I'm wondering if the best placement would
be high in the hallway near the bedrooms. There are 3 bedrooms that are
occupied.

Is this a good idea?

Should it be directly under a vent?

Thanks much!

Read The Fine Manuals (RTFM) that came with the detectors. They go
into detail on where to and where not to place them. Head level
(while sleeping) in bedrooms are good ideas as I recall from reading
my own.

You got a great deal on those detectors. Target sells them for around
$50.

--
--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/

bought co detector, now where to put it?
 

"ap" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hello,
After shopping around much, purchased a nighthawk digital for $33 from
wal-mart.
These are expensive and I'm wondering if the best placement would
be high in the hallway near the bedrooms. There are 3 bedrooms that are
occupied.

I put mine in the basement near the floor. Only my water heater or furnace
could make CO, and I would rather find out about it when there was CO in the
basement than when it hit the bedrooms.

No alarms in 5 years.

bought co detector, now where to put it?
 

"Toller" writes:

"ap" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hello,
After shopping around much, purchased a nighthawk digital for $33 from
wal-mart.
These are expensive and I'm wondering if the best placement would
be high in the hallway near the bedrooms. There are 3 bedrooms that are
occupied.

I put mine in the basement near the floor. Only my water heater or furnace
could make CO, and I would rather find out about it when there was CO in the
basement than when it hit the bedrooms.

No alarms in 5 years.

For what it's worth, the basement and "near the floor" and "in the
actual furnace room" are all among the "bad idea" places listed in the
Nighthawk manual.

Part of the reason is that CO is slightly lighter than air and tends
to rise. The other part is that if yu have a cracked heat exchanger
and conditions that are putting CO into your ductwork, a detector on
the floor of your furnace room will quietly assume all is well because
it'll never know.

--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/

bought co detector, now where to put it?
 

"Todd H." wrote in message ...
"Toller" writes:

"ap" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hello,
After shopping around much, purchased a nighthawk digital for $33 from
wal-mart.
These are expensive and I'm wondering if the best placement would
be high in the hallway near the bedrooms. There are 3 bedrooms that are
occupied.

I put mine in the basement near the floor. Only my water heater or
furnace
could make CO, and I would rather find out about it when there was CO in
the
basement than when it hit the bedrooms.

No alarms in 5 years.

For what it's worth, the basement and "near the floor" and "in the
actual furnace room" are all among the "bad idea" places listed in the
Nighthawk manual.

Part of the reason is that CO is slightly lighter than air and tends
to rise. The other part is that if yu have a cracked heat exchanger
and conditions that are putting CO into your ductwork, a detector on
the floor of your furnace room will quietly assume all is well because
it'll never know.

You are correct about not being near the floor. Although it is about the
same density as air, it is likely to be warm so it will tend to go up. I
will move my detectors up immediately! Thanks.

But I still think the basement is the right place. A problem with the water
heater is much more likely than a cracked heat exchanger. I have two, maybe
I will split them up. (of course, if the OP doesn't have a gas water heater
you would be right about that also. Live and learn...)

bought co detector, now where to put it?
 

Toller wrote:

"ap" wrote in message
ups.com...

Hello,
After shopping around much, purchased a nighthawk digital for $33 from
wal-mart.
These are expensive and I'm wondering if the best placement would
be high in the hallway near the bedrooms. There are 3 bedrooms that are
occupied.


I put mine in the basement near the floor. Only my water heater or furnace
could make CO, and I would rather find out about it when there was CO in the
basement than when it hit the bedrooms.

No alarms in 5 years.


Hi,
Actually I have two, one in the basement, one in the upstairs.
My house is two story.

bought co detector, now where to put it?
 

Todd H. wrote:

"Toller" writes:


"ap" wrote in message
roups.com...

Hello,
After shopping around much, purchased a nighthawk digital for $33 from
wal-mart.
These are expensive and I'm wondering if the best placement would
be high in the hallway near the bedrooms. There are 3 bedrooms that are
occupied.


I put mine in the basement near the floor. Only my water heater or furnace
could make CO, and I would rather find out about it when there was CO in the
basement than when it hit the bedrooms.

No alarms in 5 years.


For what it's worth, the basement and "near the floor" and "in the
actual furnace room" are all among the "bad idea" places listed in the
Nighthawk manual.

Part of the reason is that CO is slightly lighter than air and tends
to rise. The other part is that if yu have a cracked heat exchanger
and conditions that are putting CO into your ductwork, a detector on
the floor of your furnace room will quietly assume all is well because
it'll never know.

--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/
Hi,
I read somewhere detector located in the bottom level of house did not
do much in actual CO poisoning case. CO and CO2 are two different thing.

bought co detector, now where to put it?
 

"Toller" writes:

You are correct about not being near the floor. Although it is about the
same density as air, it is likely to be warm so it will tend to go up. I
will move my detectors up immediately! Thanks.

But I still think the basement is the right place. A problem with the water
heater is much more likely than a cracked heat exchanger. I have two, maybe
I will split them up. (of course, if the OP doesn't have a gas water heater
you would be right about that also. Live and learn...)

Nd not to mention gas clothes dryers.

But, how old is your furnace? And do you feel lucky? It's worth
noting the furnace runs a lot more often than a water heater and does
a whole lot more combustin'.... and your water heater doesn't have a
bloewr and duct work attached to help distribute it throughout the
living area.

So if you have two CO detectors one on the sleeping level is
definitely a good idea.

--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/

bought co detector, now where to put it?
 

"ap" wrote...
Hello,
After shopping around much, purchased a nighthawk digital for $33 from
wal-mart.
These are expensive and I'm wondering if the best placement would
be high in the hallway near the bedrooms. There are 3 bedrooms that are
occupied.

Put it in your own bedroom, so you can hear it if it goes off. The
exception may be if the layout of your house suggests that potential CO
sources are significantly closer to the other bedrooms.

$33 isn't a lot of money if it saves your (or your kid's) life. If the
bedroom doors are closed at night, put one behind each closed door.

bought co detector, now where to put it?
 

"ap" wrote...
Hello,
After shopping around much, purchased a nighthawk digital for $33 from
wal-mart.
These are expensive and I'm wondering if the best placement would
be high in the hallway near the bedrooms. There are 3 bedrooms that are
occupied.

by the way...the inside of a heat exchanger is under positive pressure
from the blower...

if it should crack, air would blow out of it, it would not pull CO in
....

but bad stuff can happen and a CO detector is a very good idea...

Mark

bought co detector, now where to put it?
 

Mark wrote:

"ap" wrote...

Hello,
After shopping around much, purchased a nighthawk digital for $33 from
wal-mart.
These are expensive and I'm wondering if the best placement would
be high in the hallway near the bedrooms. There are 3 bedrooms that are
occupied.

by the way...the inside of a heat exchanger is under positive pressure
from the blower...

if it should crack, air would blow out of it, it would not pull CO in
...

but bad stuff can happen and a CO detector is a very good idea...

Mark

Hmmm,
Inside heat exchanger, there is burning flame,blown air is passing the
outside sucking up the gas thru the crack. Am I wrong?

bought co detector, now where to put it?
 

ap wrote:

Hello,
After shopping around much, purchased a nighthawk digital for $33 from
wal-mart.
These are expensive and I'm wondering if the best placement would
be high in the hallway near the bedrooms. There are 3 bedrooms that are
occupied.

Is this a good idea?

Should it be directly under a vent?

Thanks much!

Hmmm,
$33.00 is expensive which may save your or yours' life sosmeday?

bought co detector, now where to put it?
 

Mark wrote:


"ap" wrote...

Hello,
After shopping around much, purchased a nighthawk digital for $33 from
wal-mart.
These are expensive and I'm wondering if the best placement would
be high in the hallway near the bedrooms. There are 3 bedrooms that are
occupied.

by the way...the inside of a heat exchanger is under positive pressure
from the blower...

if it should crack, air would blow out of it, it would not pull CO in
...

but bad stuff can happen and a CO detector is a very good idea...

Mark

Hmmm,
Blower does not start when flame is first on. There is a delay.

bought co detector, now where to put it?
 

On Mon, 09 Oct 2006 17:18:39 GMT, "Toller" wrote:


"ap" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hello,
After shopping around much, purchased a nighthawk digital for $33 from
wal-mart.
These are expensive and I'm wondering if the best placement would
be high in the hallway near the bedrooms. There are 3 bedrooms that are
occupied.

I put mine in the basement near the floor. Only my water heater or furnace
could make CO, and I would rather find out about it when there was CO in the
basement than when it hit the bedrooms.

No alarms in 5 years.



Basements aren't where most people live, and you aren't trying to wake
up your heater in the event of CO problems.

http://www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PUBS/464.pdf

"Every home should have a CO alarm in the hallway near the bedrooms in
each separate sleeping area."


tom @ www.NoCostAds.com

bought co detector, now where to put it?
 

And PS: I wish I had paid only $33 for mine!

Jo Ann

ap wrote:
Hello,
After shopping around much, purchased a nighthawk digital for $33 from
wal-mart.
These are expensive and I'm wondering if the best placement would
be high in the hallway near the bedrooms. There are 3 bedrooms that are
occupied.

Is this a good idea?

Should it be directly under a vent?

Thanks much!

bought co detector, now where to put it?
 

Best place to put it would be back on the shelf at the store.

"ap" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hello,
After shopping around much, purchased a nighthawk digital for $33 from
wal-mart.
These are expensive and I'm wondering if the best placement would
be high in the hallway near the bedrooms. There are 3 bedrooms that are
occupied.

Is this a good idea?

Should it be directly under a vent?

Thanks much!


For what it's worth, that Nighthawk won't alarm or even go off until CO has
reached danger levels. As I recall, they won't alarm until CO reaches 50PPM
for an eight hour period. That's not good enough for me, but it's good
enough to satisfy UL2034.

The card sitting in front of me tell me that (supposedly) 9PPM is acceptable
in a living space. 50PPM is the max concentration over an 8 hour period.
400PPM will give you frontal headaches in 1 to 2 hours and life threatening
after 3 hours. 800PPM will cause nausea and convulsions, death within 2
hours, etc, etc.

A lot of people don't like the low level alarms, but that's what I recommend
to customers. Your money is better spent on having your heating system
checked on an annual basis.

You can read more about this at http://www.coexperts.com/

Here's an interesting post on a BB I read.
http://forums.invision.net/Thread.cf..._ID=40217&mc=4

Flame away.

bought co detector, now where to put it?
 

Todd H. wrote:
"Toller" writes:

You are correct about not being near the floor. Although it is about the
same density as air, it is likely to be warm so it will tend to go up. I
will move my detectors up immediately! Thanks.

But I still think the basement is the right place. A problem with the water
heater is much more likely than a cracked heat exchanger. I have two, maybe
I will split them up. (of course, if the OP doesn't have a gas water heater
you would be right about that also. Live and learn...)

Nd not to mention gas clothes dryers.

But, how old is your furnace? And do you feel lucky? You don't need to be very lucky. Check out the
statistics on CO poisoning in homes compared to
other death causes. Way more chance of dying in a
car accident on the way to work, even if you wear
a seat belt. Diligence in gas appliance
maintenance stops the small possibility of CO
poisoning far better than a CO meter.


It's worth
noting the furnace runs a lot more often than a water heater and does
a whole lot more combustin'.... and your water heater doesn't have a
bloewr and duct work attached to help distribute it throughout the
living area.

So if you have two CO detectors one on the sleeping level is
definitely a good idea.

--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/

bought co detector, now where to put it?
 

HeatMan wrote:
Best place to put it would be back on the shelf at the store.

"ap" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hello,
After shopping around much, purchased a nighthawk digital for $33 from
wal-mart.
These are expensive and I'm wondering if the best placement would
be high in the hallway near the bedrooms. There are 3 bedrooms that are
occupied.

Is this a good idea?

Should it be directly under a vent?

Thanks much!


For what it's worth, that Nighthawk won't alarm or even go off until CO has
reached danger levels. As I recall, they won't alarm until CO reaches 50PPM
for an eight hour period. That's not good enough for me, but it's good
enough to satisfy UL2034.

The card sitting in front of me tell me that (supposedly) 9PPM is acceptable
in a living space. 50PPM is the max concentration over an 8 hour period.
400PPM will give you frontal headaches in 1 to 2 hours and life threatening
after 3 hours. 800PPM will cause nausea and convulsions, death within 2
hours, etc, etc.

A lot of people don't like the low level alarms, but that's what I recommend
to customers. Your money is better spent on having your heating system
checked on an annual basis.

You can read more about this at http://www.coexperts.com/

Here's an interesting post on a BB I read.
http://forums.invision.net/Thread.cf..._ID=40217&mc=4

Flame away.




Your statement of effect is essentially the same
as in my Nighthawk book. The book also says that
the minimum for an alarm is 70ppm within 60 to 240
minutes. The display won't show anything below
29ppm unless you press the peak level button and
then it will show 11 to 29ppm. In English that
means it can't detect anything under 11 ppm.

That's good enough for me. Hell a model that
wouldn't detect 500ppm would be ok if just seeing
satisfied my wife. Diligent maintenance of gas
appliance is far more important that having a CO
detector. Mine hasn't gone off (except for a low
battery alarm) in 4 years and I don't expect that
it will ever go off before the detector fails.
I'll just keep watching my furnace and water
heater for any changes in operation--noise,
visual, etc.

bought co detector, now where to put it?
 

On 9 Oct 2006 12:30:22 -0700, "Mark" wrote:



"ap" wrote...
Hello,
After shopping around much, purchased a nighthawk digital for $33 from
wal-mart.
These are expensive and I'm wondering if the best placement would
be high in the hallway near the bedrooms. There are 3 bedrooms that are
occupied.

by the way...the inside of a heat exchanger is under positive pressure
from the blower...

if it should crack, air would blow out of it, it would not pull CO in
...

but bad stuff can happen and a CO detector is a very good idea...

My brother wanted me to buy one, and actually mentioned it twice,
which for him is a lot.

So I did. The instructions with this first A;lert, I think it was,
said it didn't matter too much how high the detector was, but that was
10 years ago. Maybe they've changed their minds.

I put in the outlet about 12 inches above the floor and 8 feet to the
left of my bed, which had an outlet not being used. 2 or 3 months
after I put it in, it went off at 3 in the morning, woke me up, and I
am alive to type today, although some of you may have notice that my
mental function is not as good as it should be.

:)

I opened the window, ran down stairs to turn off the furnace. Then I
went up stairs where I got quickly colder. After 60 or 90 minutes I
closed the window, but I didn't turn the heat on. When the furnace
was checked the 8 or 12 inch flue only had about 2 inches diameter for
exhaust. The rest was soot.


At the time, some insturctions didn't mention oil furnaces as a
problem, iiac.

I called them with a couple questions and one thing they said not to
do was to test the detector by finding some CO and stuffing the
detector into it. I got the impression too high a concentration would
ruin that model.


Mark

bought co detector, now where to put it?
 

"George E. Cawthon" wrote in message
...
HeatMan wrote:
Best place to put it would be back on the shelf at the store.

"ap" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hello,
After shopping around much, purchased a nighthawk digital for $33 from
wal-mart.
These are expensive and I'm wondering if the best placement would
be high in the hallway near the bedrooms. There are 3 bedrooms that are
occupied.

Is this a good idea?

Should it be directly under a vent?

Thanks much!


For what it's worth, that Nighthawk won't alarm or even go off until CO
has
reached danger levels. As I recall, they won't alarm until CO reaches
50PPM
for an eight hour period. That's not good enough for me, but it's good
enough to satisfy UL2034.

The card sitting in front of me tell me that (supposedly) 9PPM is
acceptable
in a living space. 50PPM is the max concentration over an 8 hour
period.
400PPM will give you frontal headaches in 1 to 2 hours and life
threatening
after 3 hours. 800PPM will cause nausea and convulsions, death within 2
hours, etc, etc.

A lot of people don't like the low level alarms, but that's what I
recommend
to customers. Your money is better spent on having your heating system
checked on an annual basis.

You can read more about this at http://www.coexperts.com/

Here's an interesting post on a BB I read.
http://forums.invision.net/Thread.cf..._ID=40217&mc=4

Flame away.




Your statement of effect is essentially the same
as in my Nighthawk book. The book also says that
the minimum for an alarm is 70ppm within 60 to 240
minutes. The display won't show anything below
29ppm unless you press the peak level button and
then it will show 11 to 29ppm. In English that
means it can't detect anything under 11 ppm.

Okay. Most of what I said was from memory, at least I was close.

That's good enough for me. Hell a model that
wouldn't detect 500ppm would be ok if just seeing
satisfied my wife. Diligent maintenance of gas
appliance is far more important that having a CO
detector. Mine hasn't gone off (except for a low
battery alarm) in 4 years and I don't expect that
it will ever go off before the detector fails.
I'll just keep watching my furnace and water
heater for any changes in operation--noise,
visual, etc.

That's not a good way to check your system(s). Get a trained HVAC expert to
go over your system with a recently calibrated CO detector. I use a
Bacarach Fyrite Pro 125.

bought co detector, now where to put it?
 

"ap" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hello,
After shopping around much, purchased a nighthawk digital for $33 from
wal-mart.
These are expensive and I'm wondering if the best placement would
be high in the hallway near the bedrooms. There are 3 bedrooms that are
occupied.

Is this a good idea?

As I recall, the specific gravity of CO is right at .97 with the air we
breathe at a 1.0. Based on that information, even though it's lighter than
air, it's not going up or down fast.

bought co detector, now where to put it?
 

Thanks. That is quite a thread!
I have mine set on a table near the bedrooms and so far it's showing
a zero reading.
The package came with 3 AAA energizer batteries and indicates that it
will start
chirping when the battery goes low.

How long have the batteries lasted for you folks ?

Thanks!