I am looking for a mains powered domestic gas leak detector to be permanently installed on a wall.
I have seen the Omni Instruments "Canary" does anyone know of any alternatives, or the cheapest place to buy the Canary?
TIA,
Alex.
I hope you have the resources to keep it in calibration not to mention the cost of the initial purchase. The only places I have ever come across these things are in large commercial buildings and in about half the cases the units had been removed from service over the years due to reliability problems. If you are seriously concerned about gas leaks I'd suggest you get yourself a manometer and check the soundness of your system on a regular (annually?) basis (see uk.d--i-y faq). If you check up on the worst offender for domestic gas problems its usually a cooker but with standard air changes per hour in a kitchen you have very little chance of actually managing to raise the gas in air concentration in a kitchen to the lower explosive level (lel) required to give danger.
If you are already asking about cheapest I rest my case
Perhaps 'leak' was the wrong word.
My granfather had such a device for detecting when he forgot to turn the gas off ... it worked well for over 5 years without calibration (but we no longer have it, hence the question) ... this is the level of service I am looking for. I don't think a manometer would help me.
The price I pay for the Canary will probably not effect its performance.
I beleive it sounds at 30% of the LEL, I am not really concerned if this varies a bit. See
Paul Barker
If you are worried about leaving the (unlit) gas on I suggest getting a hob/cooker/fire or whatever with flame failure detection.
If you are worried about the fumes from operating gas appliances I suggest periodic inspection and checking. This together with ascertaining that the installation is to regulation should be quite sufficient.
Canarys (the yellow fathered variety) were popular for gas detection because they are especially sensitive to CO. In the days of town gas which contained substantial amount of CO they could be used to detect unburnt gas.
Thanks for the suggestions.
Non-calibrated machines are a waste of time and money. All of the ones I've come across are useless - Prime example - customer pays £50 for one - hold it next to unli cooker - and bot all happens.
Use your nose, its the best gas detector you'll ever need or have costs nothing either.
For your property to go up in a pretty blue flash you need 5-15% Gas i Air - thats a hell of alot of gas. Not to mention the stoichometri conditions of it - (too little gas - nothing, too much gas - nothing) don't be so paranoid
-- Transco_Boo_Hiss
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