CO detectors: Do they keep you safe?

JOHN DAVIDSON\Frontiersman reporter

A statute that takes effect Jan. 1 will require carbon monoxide detection devices in all qualifying residences throughout the state, but some experts say nearly every CO detector on the market does little to protect consumers from low-level CO poisoning.

House Bill 351, which was passed in June and sponsored in part by Rep. Carl Gatto, R-Palmer, will require CO detectors in all rented or month-to-month tenancy residences, with landlords responsible for installing, repairing and replacing the devices and tenants responsible for keeping charged batteries in them and periodically testing them.

The bill is essentially an amendment to a statute requiring smoke detectors in all residences in the state. CO detectors were added into the wording of the bill, with a few differences that are a cause for alarm among experts in the field.

Although the statutory requirements for smoke detectors stipulate that the devices "shall be installed in a manner approved by the state fire marshal," the requirement for CO detectors states only that they "must have an alarm and shall be installed and maintained according to manufacturers' recommendations."

This is precisely the problem with such requirements, say some carbon monoxide detection experts. George Kerr, founder of CO-Experts and Fire Prevention Plus, says manufacturers' recommendations provide little to no protection from chronic low-level carbon monoxide poisoning, which is the very kind of CO poisoning likely to occur in residential households.

"The problem with most of these alarms is that they do not respond," Kerr said in a phone interview this week. "When carbon monoxide is leaking on a gradual basis, which is usually the case in a home situation, it just slips right past the alarms."

Although nearly every consumer CO detector is certified by Underwriters Laboratories Inc. -- an independent product-safety testing and certification organization -- the standards make no allowance for long-term low-level exposure to CO.

A growing number of industry professionals are concerned about the UL 2034 standard for home CO devices and believe they provide little in the way of protection from or warning of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Kerr has been sitting on UL committees for carbon monoxide detection since 1966, and says he would never use a UL-certified CO detector in his home because the standards are too low.

"On all these committees we have component manufacturers, and if they had to be really accurate they would move the CO sensors from 70 [parts per million] to 30 PPM," Kerr said. "Most of these products will not activate below 70 PPM; it's a matter of cost. The price of these components prevents manufacturers from making more sensitive CO detectors."

Carbon monoxide is created anytime a fuel such as gasoline, oil, wood or propane is burned, and can be emitted by many common household appliances. It is the leading cause of accidental poisoning deaths in North America. Odorless, tasteless and invisible, the only safe way to know if you are being poisoned is to install a CO alarm on every level of your home and in sleeping areas.

CO claims more than 2,000 lives each year, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association. CO is deadly because it rapidly accumulates in the blood and is attracted to hemoglobin -- red blood cells -- in the bloodstream. When breathed in, CO passes through the lungs and bonds with hemoglobin, displacing oxygen that cells need to function.

Young children and the elderly accounted for more than 25 percent of deaths due to CO poisoning in 1999, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

According to the American Society for Heating and Air Conditioning Engineers, 35 PPM of CO is the maximum allowable concentration for continuous exposure in an eight-hour period; 9 PPM is the maximum allowable concentration for short-term exposure in a living area.

A healthy adult exposed to 200 PPM of CO over two or three hours will likely get a headache, dizziness or nausea, according to ASHACE. Someone exposed to 400 PPM could get a headache in one or two hours, with the level being life-threatening after three hours.

With exposure to 800 PPM, a person will experience unconsciousness in two hours and could die in two to three hours. A person exposed to 1,600-3,200 PPM will likely die within an hour.

Brand-name CO detectors, such as the Nighthawk model from Kidde -- the world's largest manufacturer of fire safety products -- come with a warning that pregnant women, the elderly, children, smokers and those suffering from respiratory ailments may experience symptoms of CO poisoning at lower levels of exposure than indicated.

The packaging for such products has a written warning: "Individuals with medical problems may consider using warning devices which provide audible and visual signals for carbon monoxide concentrations under 30 PPM."

Most CO detectors also advise consumers that their product does not measure compliance with U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, no standards for CO have been agreed upon for indoor air. The U.S. National Ambient Air Quality Standards for outdoor air are 9 PPM for eight hours, and 35 PPM for 1 hour.

For experts like Kerr, these warning labels say it all.

"The average person should take the manufacturer's advice, and if you have a pregnant woman, an elderly person, a child or a sick person, you should find another CO detector," he said.

The popular Nighthawk CO alarm meets UL standards, which means the alarm will not go off when CO is below 30 PPM. At 30-70 PPM, the detector will display a warning but not go off, and at more than 70 PPM, it will delay up to 240 minutes before the alarm goes off.

Rudy Leatherman, a heating contractor for Bacharach Inc. in Athens, Ohio, says the reason for such low standards is so manufacturers can make their products for less and sell them at affordable prices.

"The reason they do this is because the manufacturers are UL's customers," he said. "UL does it to allow the manufacturers to use a cheap CO sensor."

Kerr is quick to point out areas in which there are no UL requirements whatsoever. For example, digital display models, which are generally more expensive, have no accuracy requirements for the digital display.

"They're making them as cheaply as they can," Kerr said. "[The devices] are all made to a bad standard, even the more expensive ones; they make it to the UL standard, which isn't very high."

The problem with CO alarms is persistent and backed up by clinical studies. In 1999, the Gas Research Institute conducted a study on home carbon monoxide alarms. Out of 90 brand-new alarms, 30 percent failed out of the box and often the digital high-end alarms displayed random numbers.

Laurie Bowser-Sever, a Kidde spokesperson, did not immediately return messages left for her on Thursday.

If it is true that most CO detectors are likely not to go off when menacing levels of CO are in a home's air, what can people do to protect themselves?

"First, I'd have a qualified, professional contractor that has qualified test instruments to come in and test homes, locating possible sources of CO in a house," Leatherman said.

He also recommends that people purchase low-level CO alarms. One type is sold by Kerr's company, CO-Experts. "His detector is not UL approved because it starts alarming below 30 PPM," Leatherman said.

Another company that manufactures low-level CO detectors, he said, is NSI. "But in general, they only sell to heating contractors, so it's hard for consumers to get these ones. The fear for these guys [manufacturers] is that the contractor is going to say there is no CO, they'll get most of them returned."

Contact John Davidson at john.davidson@frontiersman.com.