Brit Gas Carbon Monoxide Detector

[John]

I had a new one from BG in May2004. Model SF350EN

Label says "Replace Unit by May 2009"

A few weeks ago it started to chirp a "Low Battery" warning (at 3:00 in the morning of course). I removed the irremovable battery cover and put in 3 new (but cheap) AAA batteries. After only a few weeks the alarm sounded again so I fitted some better ones (but not Duracell's). Today it was chirping its Low Battery alarm at 4:00am.

Question: Should I get some Duracell's - or does the unit intentionally die after 5 years (in my case 4 years and 7 months?

[Andrew Gabriel]

Carbon monoxide sensing elements have a limited life. I would not assume that simply replacing the battery (even if you do get it to work) means the CO detector is doing anything useful.

Are you sure the chirp means "Low Battery" and not "Low CO level"?

[John]

Just found a web site. Now was it bleeping once, twice or three time a minute in the early hours...........?

beep per minute = Battery fault

2 beeps per minute = Fault warning 3 beeps per minute = End of detector life

[unopened]

Do you possibly mean "HIGH CO Level"? Normally, I'd expect the CO level to be zero (within the tolerance of the detector), and it would be difficult for it to go negative.

Cheers,

Sid

[pete]

My mum has one of these - same story: it started beeping. She phoned up BG and told them what it was doing, they agreed it was duff, and was (barely) within it's warranty period. They exchanged it without question.

[Andy Dingley]

It probably dies in much less time than that - particularly if anything (small, young, furry or elderly) had been partial to pissing near it. The sensor itself has a limited lifetime.