Carbon Monoxide Detector and Humidifier?

[Jeff Wisnia]

My sister has a stand alone humidifier located against a wall a few inches away from where a carbon monoxide detector is plugged into a wall outlet.

An electrician doing some work in her home told he the detector shouldn't be located so close to the humidifier but didn't tell her why.

Other than the possibility of accidentally splashing water onto the carbon monoxide detector while filling the humidifier, is there any valid reason why they can't be located near each other?

Thanks guys,

Jeff

[Stormin Mormon]

Maybe cause the humidifier puts out vapors of dihydrogen monoxide, and might cause false alerts?

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

.

My sister has a stand alone humidifier located against a wall a few inches away from where a carbon monoxide detector is plugged into a wall outlet.

An electrician doing some work in her home told he the detector shouldn't be located so close to the humidifier but didn't tell her why.

Other than the possibility of accidentally splashing water onto the carbon monoxide detector while filling the humidifier, is there any valid reason why they can't be located near each other?

Thanks guys,

Jeff

[gregz]

The only thing I can think of, the detector will gather more dust with higher air currents, and other deposits.

I still got to recheck my detector. I put it near my car exaust and it did not sound.

Greg

[micky]

When I got my first one 10 or more years ago, I had a bunch of questoins and called the maker, a major name, and asked if I could test it by putting it only a few feet from the furnace. She said not to do that, I guess it would overload the sensor. Maybe you could start fairly far and gradulally bring it closer.

My previous car for pollution testing actually had a measurement of the CO, and it alternated between being high and low. I have no real idea why. It was a 95 and had a catalytic converter.

[Jim Elbrecht]

I don't know-- but I have a CO/Gas detector in my family room with a propane ventless heater. adjacent to that room are the bathroom and kitchen. The only time my CO detector has gone off was when I had all the burners on my stove going, including a huge pasta pot-- and after someone showers in an adjacent bathroom.

I'd been blaming CO from the burners and powder or deodorant from the bathroom. Maybe humidity sets off or disrupts CO detectors.

Jim

[missingchild]

I heard a story of people who went out and bought their first CO detector, = got it home, plugged it in, and it sounded an alert. Of course the first th= ought is- it's defective. But they called the FD and discovered that it was= n't defective, their furnace was.

One risk in putting it near the humidifier is that if the humidifier goes o= n and the CO detector sounds, that someone says "Oh, it's only because it's= too close to the humidifier" and they all die.

[Frank]

I guess because they do rely on chemical changes and wear out with time. Probably best if just exposed to ambient air.

[Percival P. Cassidy]

The latest ones seem to be capable of operating only for seven years, after which they time out. I have an old one with a manufacturing date of 1999 that still passes its own self-test, but I do have a current model as a backup.

Perce

[Stormin Mormon]

Have we heard from the OP?

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

.

One risk in putting it near the humidifier is that if the humidifier goes on and the CO detector sounds, that someone says "Oh, it's only because it's too close to the humidifier" and they all die.

[Josh]

My understanding is that a modern car does not produce all that much carbon monoxide when in good working order -- I'm not willing to click on the links I'm finding, as they are not appropriate for where I am, but one reference says that 99% of the produced CO is eliminated by the catalytic converter. It's supposedly quite difficult to kill yourself these days with your car in the garage. Of course an old car, or one with a defect in the emission system (that might not otherwise be obvious) can still produce plenty, so you still have to be careful.

There are test kits available that have a can with a high ppm of CO for this purpose.

Josh

[Steve Barker]

if your car was warmed up and was built since '74, you probably won't get a reading out of it. Try the lawn mower. it should set it off within a minute.

[micky]

i CAME across little foil envelopes with CO for testing. I bought one and eventually tried it and the CO detector went off. I still have that detector, but I bought a newer one.