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Carbon monoxide detector attached to wall of home
January 08, 2024

Where To Place Carbon Monoxide Detectors In Your Kingsport House

Property owners must protect against various risks like burglary, flooding, and fire. But what about a risk that you can’t smell or see? Carbon monoxide is different from other dangers because you might never realize it’s there. Despite that, implementing CO detectors can effectively safeguard yourself and your household. Explore more about this dangerous gas and where to place carbon monoxide detectors in your Kingsport residence.

What Is Carbon Monoxide?

Called the silent killer because of its absence of odor, color, and taste, carbon monoxide is a common gas formed by an incomplete combustion of fuels. Any fuel-utilizing appliance like an oven or fireplace may create carbon monoxide. Even though you typically won’t have problems, complications can arise when equipment is not regularly maintained or properly vented. These oversights could lead to a proliferation of the potentially lethal gas in your interior. Generators and heaters of various types are the most common culprits for CO poisoning.

When in contact with low concentrations of CO, you could suffer from dizziness, headaches, fatigue nausea, or vomiting. Extended exposure to high amounts may lead to cardiorespiratory arrest, coma, and death.

Tips For Where To Place Kingsport Carbon Monoxide Detectors

If you don’t own a carbon monoxide detector in your home, purchase one now. If possible, you should install one on every level of your home, including basements. Here are a few recommendations on where to place carbon monoxide detectors in Kingsport:

  • Install them on every floor, especially where you use fuel-burning appliances, including furnaces, fireplaces, gas dryers, and water heaters.
  • You ought to always use one no more than 10 feet away from bedrooms. If you only have one carbon monoxide detector, this is the place for it.
  • Position them at least 10 to 20 feet from sources of CO.
  • Avoid installing them right above or beside fuel-utilizing appliances, as a small amount of carbon monoxide may be emitted when they start and prompt a false alarm.
  • Fasten them to walls about five feet off the floor so they may measure air where occupants are breathing it.
  • Avoid installing them near windows or doors and in dead-air places.
  • Put one in areas above garages.

Check your CO detectors routinely and maintain them in accordance with manufacturer recommendations. You will typically need to switch them out every five to six years. You should also ensure any fuel-burning appliances are in in optimal working order and have appropriate ventilation.