470. When Should I Replace My Carbon Monoxide Detector?

When should I replace my carbon monoxide alarm? Something very important, extremely important. If you have any gas burning appliance at home, any gas burning appliance in the home, for the home, you should have a carbon monoxide detector.

Hey everyone, I'm Derek Cole, host of the Derek Cole Podcast. And we believe in taking the time to explain how things work for your air at home or your business. Let's get into today's episode. Please listen closely and maybe even take some notes so you can remember these insights of home comfort and energy savings. And share this episode with three of your friends because we all need to share better ways to be more comfortable at home. Be sure to tag me or DM me on Instagram @derek mcol so I can say hi, thanks again for listening. And let's begin.

It's very important, a part of any home safety plan. It monitors the actual levels or of the carbon monoxide in the home before it becomes too dangerous. So when should you replace those alarms? Well, probably if your alarm is over five years old, it needs to be replaced. The first thing to consider is really, how old is the alarm? When you look at it, it should have a manufacturer date on it as to when it was done, when it was, when it was made, when it was manufactured. So any, anything after five years, the older style, five to seven years was really when they kind of capped it. Today's alarms are they can go for 10 years, but older alarms, five years to be safe, some of the more expensive ones years ago or seven years. So anywhere between five and seven years is when it needs to happen. So it's something again you don't really think about until it becomes a problem. So go ahead and make sure you're good to go. Again, any gas burning appliance, you need that protection in your house. Carbon monoxide is odorless, it's tasteless. You can't see it, you can't smell it, you can't feel it. So you need that alarm in place so you're protected. And you know when you have poisonous carbon monoxide coming into the home, it's something not to even mess around with because it can sneak up on you. And before you know it, you got problems. You might be dizzy, you might be nauseous, or you might be going to bed. And this appliance or gas could be leaking in your house. And again, you don't know it unless you have a carbon monoxide alarm. So every five to seven years is a good rule. But the newer ones today are 10 years. You just have a 10 year warranty with a sealed battery. You can get those pretty regularly. So 10 years on today's if they, if you have that sold anything older is probably you looking at 5 to 7 depending on what it is. If it's over 5, go ahead and change it. If it's over 5, Go and change it. If you're not sure, go ahead and change it. And be safe. You may change your home. So anytime you make any kind of change in your home, where they're adding a guest appliance to the house, adding a new appliance to the house, replacing existing appliances in the home, make sure you have a co detector installed, carbon monoxide detector installed for that system. If you change out the wood heater and his gas, you need one. Be changed out the furnace and this gas, you need one. So again any, any anytime you, you make those changes, make sure you have that updated as well. Also, if you have multiple, you could have multiple carbon monoxide alarms. If you're, if you have a house that has multiple levels, you need multiple alarms on those levels, right? And they should be located near sleeping quarters. That way if it does go off in the middle of night, in the middle of the night, you can hear it, you know what's going on, you know it's a problem. If it's gone off, there is a problem. This is either a problem with the alarm itself, the center, or there is actually a carbon monoxide leak in the home and it's reaching a level of parts per million is what it's measuring. It's reaching that level where it finally triggers the alarm to go off. So when the alarm goes off is serious. It needs to be addressed, it needs to be looked at and see if it's a faulty alarm or if it's an actual leak in the home somewhere. So again, do not take those lightly. It's not a little chirping on the fire alarm that happens way up, you know, 3:00am in the morning, it chirps and you can't find it. It's not one of those, it's not going to, you know, be that way. So if it goes off, there is a problem with the alarm. There's a problem where there's carbon monoxide present. So take it very seriously. You should also replace it. Anytime you have a fire in the house. If you have any kind of fire in the house, you need to replace the carbon monoxide alarm. If you have one, you need to replace that alarm. Because even though the fire, it might not have been directly in the fire it might have been. If the fire in the house, and it's in the house, it needs to be replaced. The sensors on those CO alarms are so sensitive that any kind of heat like that can damage those sensors. So if you have any, if you have had any kind of fire in the home, make sure you replace the CO alarm. Those sensors are very sensitive. Again, just kind of recap. So if you can't remember how old the alarm is and has been, you can't remember at all. It's best to get new one because it's been over five years. It's best to get a new one. You know, some of the higher end, older ones went to seven years, but if you're not sure, get a new one again. Today's alarms will actually go to 10 years in some occasions. Read that, make sure. But that's when you, you should replace your alarm if it's old. If you have multiple alarms, if you had had any damage in your house, like a fire in your house, it needs to be replaced. Anytime you replace the equipment, replace the alarm. Anytime you replace any equipment or appliances that are gas fired, that use that as a method of heat, anytime we replace that equipment, go ahead and replace the alarm. It's just a good idea. Everything's on the same page. Everything is on the same timetable. You know what's happening. You don't lose track. We install the furnace here. We changed the carbon monoxide two years ago. No, change it with the furnace. Just go ahead and pot and bullet, change it with the furnace, change with the water heater, whatever the appliances, go and change that. So again, carbon monoxide, very serious. I'll leave you with this last tip. It's very important as to where you place it as well. I know you're talking about when you should replace it, but it's very important as to where you place it when you replace it. Or add. Should be in that wall socket on the ground at ground level. That wall socket that's up from the wall, what, a couple feet, Put it right there. Plug it in there. If it's, if it's battery powered and you don't have to plug it in, sit it in that space. Sometimes you see these combination CO alarms and fire smooth tethers in the way up high. That is not. That is what you want for smoke. That is not what you want for a CO te. That is not what you want for carbon monoxide alarm. You want that alarm to be close to the ground as possible ground level so it can send off the warning as soon as possible. You don't want it to delay. You don't want it to rise up that high for it to be a problem. You want to know as soon as you can if you have problem. So a few tips, but mainly when should I replace my alarm? You got all that here? Hopefully you can. If you have any questions, please reach out. Hit me on the chat here. Send me a message. Hit me on social media at Derek mcole on every channel. I'll be happy to answer any questions you have about it because it is it's really about safety. A co alarm is 100% about safety. Again, carbon monoxide, colorless, odorless. You can't taste it, you can't feel it, you can't sense it. You want to be. You want something in place that can alarm you when you're reaching the levels of parts per million where it becomes a.

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