Home Improvement : Carbon Monoxide Alarm Warns of Poisoned Air

Carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless gas that, according to a EPA study, contributes to 10,000 non-fatal poisonings and 1,500 fatal poisonings each year.

Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning can occur from fumes escaping into the living space of a home from a faulty or poorly vented water heater or stove, furnace, space heater, charcoal grill, gasoline engine or other fuel-burning appliance.

Residents of multifamily buildings face a CO threat not only from their own heating and cooking appliances, but also from those of their neighbors. It is not unusual to read about suicides and accidental asphyxiations resulting in the deaths of other innocent people in the building.

For example, the St. Louis Post Dispatch reported that on Aug. 7, 1989, three people were found dead in an apartment building in south St. Louis when an elderly man left his car motor running in the basement garage. The central air conditioning system circulated deadly CO throughout the building, killing the three residents.

Sims Marketing of St. Louis produces two household carbon monoxide alarms that alert residents to the presence of dangerous CO levels in the home before health damage occurs.

Heads Up! Model COS-200 is a 9-volt-battery-powered device about the size of a smoke alarm that mounts on the wall. Battery life is about six months and the alarm signals when battery is low.

Heads Up! Model 600 is about the same size but detects natural gas, propane, butane, hydrogen, smoke, ether and other toxic and inflammable gases in addition to carbon monoxide. This model is powered by household current and requires a cord.

Both units have very loud horns that are designed to awaken resident from sound sleep.

The alarms are available mail order at Heads Up!, 23 N. Gore Ave., Suite 002, St. Louis, Mo. 63119-2300. Send $92.95 for Model COS-200; $52.95 for Model 600.