Smoke Alarm & CO alarm

[cyberyacht]

Angeleye smoke alarm (presumably 6 years old). Fit new batteries and low battery beep starts after about 24 hours. Tried several different batteries - same result. I know they are supposed to be replaced after ten years but are they given to failing that much earlier?

I have a CO alarm. Do I actually need both?

 

[DBK]

Angeleye smoke alarm (presumably 6 years old). Fit new batteries and low battery beep starts after about 24 hours. Tried several different batteries - same result. I know they are supposed to be replaced after ten years but are they given to failing that much earlier?

I have a CO alarm. Do I actually need both?

Yes, you do need both as a smoke alarm doesn't detect carbon monoxide.

I suspect your fire alarm has just failed a little early. If you are sure the new battery was good then the whole thing needs replacing.

 

[Zigisla]

We had something similar happen. We left it for a few hours and the beeping stopped. House one did the same and apparently it is normal.

 

[cyberyacht]

Yes, you do need both as a smoke alarm doesn't detect carbon monoxide.

I suspect your fire alarm has just failed a little early. If you are sure the new battery was good then the whole thing needs replacing.

My point was, can I safely just have a CO alarm?

 

[namwaldog]

You probably have a different model..... but we had an AngelEye fitted in our house by the Fire Brigade about 12 years ago.

After 9 years it started beeping 'low battery' it turned out to be a sealed unit so contacted Fire Brigade to see if I could buy another. They stated it was covered by a 10 yr warranty and they advised me to contact the company and quote the serial number on the back.

I did this and they, the company, sent me another f.o.c. but advised that the warranty on the new one would expire at the end of the original 10 years.

Might be worth a call?

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[DavidG58]

Our smoke detectors in our house occasionally give false alarms, a blast with aerosol air fixes it, suspect insect or something gets inside

Doesnt account for your low battery alert but might help someone looking for similar advice

We only have CO monitors by the way, our Hymer came with nothing , put a CO monitor in bedroom area to cover the Alde and kitchen for hob and fridge

Think they would be activated by smoke as it must increase CO

 

[GirlyVanGirly]

My CO2 alarm has died after just 15 months!

 

[Brains]

My CO2 alarm has died after just 15 months!

Maybe it ran out of air ?

(C02 is Oxygen, CO is Carbon Monoxide)

 

[Brains]

We have about a twenty Smoke and CO alarms.

I find that they usually don't quite make the recommended 'sell by' date.
And it's not unknown for them to fail a lot earlier.

Given that they are under £20 each I simply replace them, I buy at least two every year.

Your van should have one of each.

There are combined smoke/CO alarms but I have found the cheap ones dont really work, you need to spend proper money (£100+) and install Nest or Hive before you get decent ones, and they also only have a life of a decade or so.

 

[DavidG58]

My CO2 alarm has died after just 15 months!

Maybe it ran out of air ?

(C02 is Oxygen, CO is Carbon Monoxide)

CO2 is carbon dioxide

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[GirlyVanGirly]

CO2 is carbon dioxide

OK, got that , its still dead!!

 

[Lenny HB]

Have a Fire Angle CO detector the one with the LCD display, built in battery has a 7 year life, over 5 years old now still going strong.

Smoke alarm is a Fire Angle Atom a tiny little one. Battery is supposed to last 5 years still OK after 5½ years. Had the same one in the last van had to replace the battery after 2 years.

 

[DBK]

My point was, can I safely just have a CO alarm?

I don't think so. Although it might go off in the event of a fire because of some CO being generated by the fire. But I wouldn't assume enough CO will be always be generated, for example at the start of an electrical fire there may not be any flames, just smoke being generated. Fire alarms can detect very low levels of smoke. CO alarms only react when the level of CO gets above a certain threshold.

 

[cyberyacht]

Thanks for the input folks.