Testing CO2 Alarm

[Charles C]

Hi,

Is there some way to test a carbon monoxide alarm? I don't mean by pressing the test button but giving it CO2 or ... to see if it works :-)

TIA Charles

[Lobster]

We're talking carbon *monoxide* = CO, right?!?

Someone here once advised me to stick mine in a biscuit tin with a lighted candle. It didn't go off; which was presumably indicative of alarm failure rather than the test method, but I can't be sure!!

David

[Tim Watts]

You mean CO not CO2.

The output from a lit ciggie will have some CO. However, not sure that would be the best way as the other crap in the smoke *may* damage the sensor.

Wait around...

[Andy Champ]

Oh dear, what do they teach them at Dundee these days :)

CO2 is carbon dioxide. It's not nice, but you need several percent in the air to cause any noticeable effect. In fact it's in the breath you breath out, not to mention the fizz in fizzy drinks. The first effect is you feel short of breath.

CO, carbon monoxide, is nasty stuff. It only takes a few parts per million to kill you. (I just looked: 30PPM is OK, 800PPM will kill you before you wake up in the morning...). And often the first symptom is death.

The easiest way is probably to wave it near the exhaust pipe of an old car that has no catalyic convertor, or a new one that's cold and hasn't warmed up yet. But I have no idea what the hydrocarbons would do to it.

perhaps you should check

[Heliotrope Smith]

Charles C wrote in news:4c716c73$0$12172$ [e-mail]:

Carbon monoxide is CO.

Somthing like this:

what you require to be sure of an accurate and safe test.

(I'm sure that other brands are available)

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[Spamlet]

I would imagine that if you start your car and warm it up, and then put the choke in a bit, then rush round the back and put a bag over the exhaust you would collect plenty. On nasty modern autochoke models that might have to be modified to taking the sample just after you've started up. Should be plenty enough to bag up and waft over the alarm.

Otherwise get a smoker to breathe over it: it takes quite a long time for them to get rid of the CO from the cigarettes.

S

[Harry Bloomfield]

Spamlet brought next idea :

Er, they have not used a choke for a good while now.

[Andrew Gabriel]

and I believe it's pretty impossible to gas yourself using exhaust with the advent of cats and engine management units.

[Heliotrope Smith]

Harry Bloomfield wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Bloody hell, I am getting old. I remember them well. (could get a good loud backfire when pulled at the right time)

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[Bob Eager]

It wasn't until someone mentioned Dundee that I put two and two together and looked at the headers....hello Charles!

(I just push the test button)

[Dave Liquorice]

Presumably because most engines are now injection rather than carburetor? But I suspect that the engine management will still produce the effect of a choke when the engine is cold.

Probably not gas as in the sense of toxic but the reduced level of oxygen might not be all that healthy.

[Alan]

In message , Bob Eager wrote

Some CO detector elements only have an operational life of a 2 or 3 years while the electronics last considerably longer. The test button only checks the electronics and the battery. The detector element may have already failed due to old age.

[Spamlet]

Yes, and look where it got them: no way to stop when the also pointlessly electric accelerator gets stuck!

S

[Spamlet]

Of course, if you have a test tube handy, just heat up a bit of coal in it and wave it under the alarm.

(Coal is that black shiny but hard stuff you can find on beaches and along old railway lines.)

(A test tube is a sort of glass condom that used to be very useful for testing things in.)

:-)

S

[Bob Eager]

Mine is suppose to have a 5 year operational life, after which it warns continously and cannot be reset.

[Alan]

Does it actually detect that the detector element has failed or does it just have an elapsed "time on" timer set for 5 years?

[Bob Eager]

Elapsed timer.

[Andrew Gabriel]

They are also very susceptable to be poisoned by other chemicals, leading to even shorter life.

[Charles C]

Howdy Bob :-) yes that is me :-)

I am getting clobbered here for my mono and dio...xides. Entertaining though ... I knew I should have kept the old SAAB 900 (twin carbs) would set the damn thing off.

I have been having some work (gas) that I am not happy with and keep reading the gas fire manual ... but a gadget that is guaranteed to work would be nice (there again lifted carpets etc. the room would leak plenty of air in).

:-) Charles

[Charles C]

Spamlet said the following on 23/08/2010 00:45:

Ehhh? My neighbour has it in his coal bunker. What weird ideas you have for finding coal.

Would galvanised and slightly perforated buckets do the same trick as a test tube? I am worried about test tubes, esp. as you mentioned condoms. I hear test tubes are used to make babies.

:-) C.