Why does my Carbon Monoxide detector keep going off?

We have a brand new First Alert smoke/carbon monoxide detector. One day it was going off when I came home for lunch. I called the fire dept. and they came and did a test and said my levels were normal for the basement. A few weeks ago it started going off again so I opened a window. We felt no symptoms. This morning it went off yet again.

Is my device faulty? What could be the problems. Every time it has gone off I have replaced the batteries just in case the signal meant low battery.

This entry was posted by admin on June 3, 2010 at 4:13 am, and is filed under Home Safety. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0.You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

Comments (5)
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#1 written by A_Ash_A 1 year ago

I’d say, if the fire dept said everything was fine, you should replace your carbon monoxide detector ASAP. If after that, you continue to have problems…call your fire dept. again. Don’t play around, this could be very serious. People die all the time from carbon monoxide poisoning. Good Luck.

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#2 written by mojo31979 1 year ago

Then chances are your device is faulty. I would call the manufacturer and demand a working replacement. I have to ask though, are you using one that it attached to the ceiling? Because you do realize those type of CO2 detectors are practically useless. Even if it is located in the basement. You should really use a CO2 detector that plugs in to a wall outlet and place it as close to the ground as you can get. CO2 is heavier than the air we breathe, so by the time a room fills with CO2 (with a detector on the ceiling) anyone in the area would already be dead. Just a warning.

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#3 written by James H 1 year ago

It’s a CO, not CO2, detector. When it’s going off remove it and take it outside. If it stops then there is some kind of problem. However, some types of CO detectors are affected by high levels of humidity. Perhaps that’s your problem.

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#4 written by Mia Culpa 1 year ago

I would try a different unit (or even different brand) and see if the results are the same. You might even try getting separate smoke/CO detectors and try different locations. And if it goes off again, I would have the fire department come and check more than the basement (and they should use two detectors to make sure THEIR readings are accurate). There’s a whole myriad of factors involved here; I wouldn’t rest until I was sure I wasn’t in any danger. People die from CO poisoning every day. I’ve found a couple of websites that might help:

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#5 written by ranger_diy 1 year ago

Are you by chance charging a battery (like a car battery or backup battery for a sump pump) anywhere within the vicinity of the detector? That can set off a CO detector.

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Why does my Carbon Monoxide detector keep going off?

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