Page 28 - Plumbheat Magazine

Carbon Monoxide Awareness
Combatting Carbon Monoxide
Kidde Safety Europe offers a timely reminder of the importance of CO alarms in all
housing.
ALTHOUGH NOT a replacement
for regular combustion appliance servicing, working CO alarms in
homes are essential in curbing carbon monoxide poisoning. The latest guidance is BS EN 50292:2013 and (as with related Building Regulations), the recommendations are determined by the presence of combustion appliances within the property. However, CO can spread unnoticed to other properties adjacent which may not even have a combustion appliance and it can come
from other sources as well. There is therefore a compelling case to fit CO alarms in all housing.
Current Recommendations
BS EN 50292:2013 recommends that, ideally, a CO alarm should be installed in every room containing a fuel burning appliance (or outside boiler rooms)
and in other areas to give warning
such as well-used remote rooms and
all bedrooms. If this is not viable, CO alarms should be considered in any room containing a flue-less or open- flue appliance and where the occupants spend most time. Alarms should also
be installed in rooms through which an extended and/or concealed flue passes.
There is a compelling case for CO alarms in all housing.”
Various Building Regulations throughout the UK now require CO alarms but only with installation of new or replacement fixed combustion appliances – excluding those for cooking, unlike BS EN 50292:2013. The importance of this omission has been highlighted by recent deaths resulting from brand new gas ovens.
Building Regulations
In Northern Ireland, the 2012 Technical Booklet L applies to new and replacement combustion appliances in all homes and irrespective of fuel or flue type. A CO alarm must be fitted in the same room as the combustion appliance or just outside boiler rooms.
Scotland has similar requirements
in the current Technical Handbooks, requiring CO alarms in dwellings and non-domestic residential buildings that have new or replacement combustion appliances. But, in addition, an alarm
is required in any bedroom or principal living room where a flue passes through. These requirements now also apply to all private rented housing with combustion
appliances in Scotland.
Interlinked Alarms
According to all the Regulations
and BS EN 50292:2013 alarms can be powered either by mains or by batteries designed for the whole working life of the alarm. Mains alarms are increasingly being installed alongside hard-wired smoke and heat alarms, sometimes offering extra safety features. For example, some manufacturers offer hard-wired CO alarms that interlink with each other – so that they all sound when one is triggered – but also with smoke and heat alarms. Here, all the alarms can act as sounders to alert of either risk, forming comprehensive systems.
Crucially, the alarms must have different, distinct alarm sounder patterns for carbon monoxide and fire, and
some are supported by different display messages on digital models. These systems can therefore automatically alert occupants of the specific hazard that confronts them. This allows occupants to respond quickly, making the right choice from the very different alternative actions for either fire or the presence of carbon monoxide.
For more information, email: sales@ kiddesafety.co.uk or call: 01753 766392 •
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Autumn 2017