Before talking where to install a carbon monoxide detector, this blog points out common CO source in our house and how many device are required for a house. Additionally, we offer some tips to prevent high CO accumulation indoors and how to install CO detectors.
Where Does Carbon Monoxide Come From?
When a gas stove in the kitchen without good ventilation has worked for 10~30 minutes, the carbon monoxide concentration will reach 12.5~50.0mg/m3. In some cases, an aging hose connecting the pipe may lead to gas leakage, which in turn produces carbon monoxide.
If you use gas water heater for bathing, bathroom become a risky place. Because most people often close the doors and windows when taking showing, poor air ventilation directly leads to high CO concentration indoors.
What shouldn’t be ignored is the carbon fires for heating in the hall with insufficient airflow. It will also result in thick carbon monoxide in the room if your windows and doors are all closed. Thus, it is very necessary to place the heating stove in a ventilated room. Besides, cleaning stoves and flues can ensure enough airflow supply to reduce CO production.
Last, pay attention to your garage. After starting the car or turning on the car air conditioning, sometimes carbon monoxide outside will come into the car. In addition, smoking in a closed room significantly increases the concentration of carbon monoxide, because cigarette smoke contains carbon monoxide.
What Gives off Carbon Monoxide?
Under normal circumstances, carbon can be completely burned under the condition of sufficient oxygen, thus producing carbon dioxide. However, in the case of insufficient oxygen supply, some carbon-containing substances are not completely burned and produce carbon monoxide, which is harmful to the human body. Take some household carbon-containing substances for example as follows.
- Solid fuels (coal and charcoal): If there is poor ventilation or insufficient combustion in heating equipment such as coal stoves, the carbon elements will generate carbon monoxide.
- Petroleum, kerosene, diesel and other liquid fuels: If combustion equipment comes with poor designed, aged or maintained, CO will be produced in lack of oxygen supply.
- Liquefied gas: The main component of liquefied gas is alkane substances, such as methane. So, if the combustion is not complete, methane will also partially form carbon monoxide. Especially in the closed room with liquefied petroleum gas water heaters, the production and accumulation of carbon monoxide will be more significant.
In order to prevent high carbon monoxide accumulation at home, we highly recommend the following preventive measures.
- Ensure that the combustion equipment is well-ventilated and avoid using it in a closed or semi-closed environment.
- Check and maintain the combustion equipment regularly to ensure its normal operation and full combustion.
- Use high-quality fuel and combustion equipment to avoid using inferior products or expired products.
- Install a carbon monoxide detector to sense and alert for carbon monoxide indoor accumulation.
How Many Carbon Monoxide Detectors Do You Need In Your Home?
No matter how is the size and layout of the home, we advise to arrange one carbon monoxide detector indoors. This alarm should be placed near an area where carbon monoxide may be produced, such as a bathroom, living room, or any room where combustion equipment is placed. If there are more than one high-risk area in the house, we may need to install more carbon monoxide according to the quantities of rooms.In addition, if the house is larger or has a more complex layout, more CO detectors may be needed to ensure safety.
Where to Install A Carbon Monoxide Detector
3 Tips: We should install the alarm as close to the carbon monoxide gas source as possible, such as gas water heaters, gas stoves, gas boiler rooms, etc. At the same time, make sure it is within a 1.5-meter radius of the potential air source. Also, the installation position of the CO sensor should allow people to clearly hear the sound and light signal of the alarm. Or, you can just buy a smart CO sensor with telecommunication function so as to receive real-time alerts on your mobile phone anytime anywhere.
4 Don’t: First, please do not avoid installing the alarm behind the door, in the cabinet and other difficult to detect the position. Second, do not install the alarm in an area that is susceptible to shock, vibration or strong electromagnetic field interference. Third, avoid installing the alarm in dusty, greasy or humid high-temperature places, because these places may affect the normal work and sensitivity of the alarm. Fourth, do not install the alarm in areas with strong winds coming from windows to prevent fast airflow from interfering with the sensitivity of the alarm.
Does Carbon Monoxide Rise or Stay Low?
Since the density of carbon monoxide is slightly less than the air, it will be suspended above the air. So the CO sensors should be installed at a certain distance from the ceiling so as to better detect the concentration of CO in the air.
Generally speaking, we install carbon monoxide detector at a height of about 30-60 cm from the ceiling. But some devices should be installed at a height range of 0.3m to 1.2m from the ceiling. Anyway, the best way is to check their product manual if there is any special instance instruction.
CO Detector Installation
Step 1: After taking out the CO detector from the package, we hold the lower part of the main body in our left hand and the upper part (the part with the monitor) in our right hand. Then, we unscrew the main body with a little force until it is open. Next, we can load the battery into the device.
Step 2: Usually, there are screws and plugs in the packaging box. We use these to attach its base to the wall.
Step 3: Finally, we attach the main body to the base which have been fixed to the wall. Please rotate it until you hear a tiny click in the slot.
How Do You Set Up A Smart Carbon Monoxide Alarm?
Here we introduce the most popular type, Phixson’s Zigbee CO air quality sensor, for your reference.
Set up the Home Assistant: We installed the Home Assistant app on our mobile phone before setting up the Home Assistant on an Intel Mini PC-based server. Next step, we would connect the Zigbee USB dongle to the Home Assistant server to communicate with Zigbee devices over the Zigbee protocol.
Get the sensor ready: When we activate the sensor, its LED indicator will blink. This indicates that it gets ready for pairing.
Connect to smartphone app: After opening the app on the phone, we click pairing or add and wait a second. Now, we have successfully add the Zigbee smart CO sensor to your Smart Home Zigbee IoT Network so that you can receive alerts or send order to it by phone.
How Do Smart Carbon Monoxide Detectors Work?
The Smart carbon monoxide sensor is based on sensing technology and telecommunication technology. It does well in monitoring indoor CO concentration and sending alerts report to smartphone in real-time. So, people acquire the state of air quality in time to ensure a healthy living and working environment. The working principle of the smart CO monitoring sensor is as follows.
Sensor Technology
They usually contain original toxic gas sensors to detect any CO pollutants. Then, they will convert CO pollutants in the air into electrical signals through various physical and chemical principles. Finally, they will analyze them by a signal processing module insides.
Data Collection & Transmission
The data acquisition focal module collects the data of sensor and transmits them to the cloud server or user terminal equipment. In common, data transmission relies on wireless communication technologies such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or Zigbee.
Data Processing & Analysis
When the data goes to the cloud server or user’s smartphone, it will go through a variety of algorithms and models to calculate and summarize data in real-time.
User Interface & Control
After data processing, you can see and operate them via mobile phone apps.
Alerts System
Moreover, the smart CO sensor also comes with an alarm system. If the CO concentration exceeds the set safety parameters, it will alert user by sound, light or mobile phone notification. This greatly remind the user to pay attention to air quality problems so as to take appropriate measures in time.
How Do I Take Care of My Smart CO Alarm?
We should regularly remove dust and dirt from the Smart CO sensor by soft-cloth wiping instead of cleaning agents or water direct flushing. Second, we should store it in a dry, ventilated, non-corrosive gas environment to avoid direct exposure of sunlight and extreme temperatures.
Don’t forget to regularly check the power cable and battery of the device to ensure a stable power supply. If you plan to not use it for a long time, please turn off the power to extend the battery life.
