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.
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.
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...)
Hi, Actually I have two, one in the basement, one in the upstairs. My house is two story.
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.
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.
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.
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?
Hmmm, $33.00 is expensive which may save your or yours' life sosmeday?
Hmmm, Blower does not start when flame is first on. There is a delay.
Basements aren't where most people live, and you aren't trying to wake up your heater in the event of CO problems.
tom @
Nighthawk makes suggestions on where to place them. I really like the digital readout. I have one in the kitchen, one in the utility room in the basement, and one in the upstairs hallway. Our FD recommends having a smoke/CO detector on every level.
I have two, one in a room adjacent to the utility room (which contains both furnace and H2O heater) and one in my bedroom. My furnace inspector advised against putting one in the utility room, stating that there might be small amounts of CO present that would be insignificant in regard to safety (dissipate quickly enough to be no risk, utility room is remote from living areas) but that might set off the alarm, creating the possibility of a nuisance alarm that is likely to get disconnected or ignored.
Jo Ann
Phisherman wrote:
And PS: I wish I had paid only $33 for mine!
Jo Ann
ap wrote:
Hi, More of course is better. Out at my cabin, I have one even in the crawl space, LOL.
Did you read the f****ng manual????????????
Alan
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It's not that I think stupidity should be punishable by death. I just think we should take the warning labels off of everything and let the problem take care of itself.
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A Digital readout allows you to recognize and correct a CO problem before it gets bad enough to sound the alarm.
BTW, I have a Nighthawk CO alarm (with digital display) that will be
10 years old next month. I guess it's time to replace it.HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.