The Importance of Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detectors
The safety of our customers is of utmost importance to us at Chaps – this blog explains the importance of having working, reliable smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in your home/in your tenanted properties (if you’re a landlord).
We are all taught from a young age the dangers of fire and therefore we are likely to ensure our smoke detector is working. Although, it is very easy to forget about as a smoke detector is one of those appliances that we don’t notice every day, it sits there silently until we burn a bit of toast… It is very important that you check your smoke detector regularly to ensure it is reliable and doing its job.
Landlords and Tenants
By law a smoke detector must be installed on every floor of a property where a room is used wholly or partly as living accommodation and carbon monoxide alarms must be installed in any room containing a solid fuel-burning appliance such as a wood burner, coal fire or biomass.
On the first day of a new tenancy the landlord/letting agent must make sure the alarms are tested and in working order.*
Carbon Monoxide Awareness
What is carbon monoxide (CO)?
CO is an odourless, colourless poisonous gas produced by incomplete burning of carbon-based fuels, including gas, oil, wood and coal.** Don’t worry, carbon fuels are safe to use, it’s just when they’re not burnt properly that they release the harmful CO.
Signs of CO Leakage
There are a few signs you can look out for which may indicate that incomplete combustion is occurring in your boiler:
- Soot or yellow/brown staining on or around appliances
- Increased condensation inside windows
- Pilot lights keep going out
- Yellow or orange rather than blue flames (except fuel effect fires or flueless appliances which display this colour flame).
It is important to keep a regular eye on your boiler so that you can recognise these signs before it is too late. This is one of the main reasons annual boiler services are undertaken – if your boiler is due a service book it in now. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
Symptoms of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
Follow this link to find out the full symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, here are just a few to be aware of:
- Headaches or dizziness
- Nausea
- Breathlessness
- Erratic behaviour
If you or other members of the household are displaying these symptoms please act immediately:
- Call an ambulance if you or a member of the household is unconscious/having difficulty breathing
- Switch off the faulty appliance and shut off the gas supply at the meter control valve
- Open all doors/windows to ventilate the space
- Call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999
- Visit your GP if you feel you have been exposed to CO
How can Chaps help?
At Chaps install smoke and carbon monoxide detectors – so if you don’t have one already, let us know and we can get an installation booked in now.
We also test and provide Gas Safety Certificates to landlords once we’re happy their appliances are safe to use
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