Carbon Monoxide Alarms - A Seasonal Warning from the MAIB

FlyingGoose

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Why people still do not fit these is incredible, they save lives, is it lack ok knowledge, lack of attention drawn to the problem, or I'm alright Jack mentality
Sad loss whatever the reasons , but if you do not have any ,FIT them
 

glynd

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Why people still do not fit these is incredible, they save lives, is it lack ok knowledge, lack of attention drawn to the problem, or I'm alright Jack mentality
Sad loss whatever the reasons , but if you do not have any ,FIT them

Also, if you have one - check the battery
 

penberth3

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AndrewB

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Mine seems to be set off by a number of vapours, not just carbon monoxide. Had to disable it while I was varnishing. Smoky frying will sometimes start it. It also kept going off when one of my boat batteries started to sulfate badly. That was much more useful - the gases can be explosive - except that it took me several days to realise the cause and that the nasty smell was not coming from a blocked loo.
 

CLB

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I think it’s the ‘it will never happen to me’ mentality. I have banged the co alarm drum for years, but doubt I have convinced more than a single handful of people to get one. ?
 

Topcat47

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My CO alarm is sealed for life (which ws a bit of a bugger when the battery went flat but I got a replacement free.) It's not wired into the boat electrics and cannot be turned off.
 

PetiteFleur

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I also read this report and checked our house CO detector - it did not work... It was a 7yr sealed type & installed in 2013. So just ordered 3 more - one for the house & 2 for the boat as I'm sure the boat ones have AA batteries and I've never checked them for years, & fitted a diesel heater last year
 

CLB

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A little tip that not all may be aware of. When buying a CO alarm for your boat, look for one with the following standard: BS EN50291-2

The more common type, BS EN50291-1, are supposedly not suitable for boats and caravans. I don't know why, but i'm sure google will tell you if you ask.
 

duncan99210

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As per #6, my CO alarm has been a useful indicator of a dead, overcharged battery. It went off in the middle of the night when we were hooked up to shore power ( a rare event in Greece in the summer) and a pair of batteries decided to die under charge. Very grateful to have been woken up as the batteries were very hot and distorted, being woken let us turn power off, vent the battery spaces and get back to sleep so we could deal with the dead men the following morning. Much longer and I suspect that we might have had a fire to deal with as well.
 
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