CO and Combustible Gas Detectors

There is substantial chatter on this forum regarding residential smoke detectors. But I've seen little on CO and/or Combustible gas (e.g. methane) detectors. I understand that they are all 4-wire devices. Excepts perhaps those that implement a separate trouble circuit such as the Napco CO12 which can be used in a 4 or 6 wire configuration.

I understand that power supervision relays are required.

What brands/models do folks prefer? I've looked System Sensor, GE, Macurco, Napco. The Napco CO device uses a competing sensing technology, distinct from the rest. True? Any quality issues with any brand/model?

I see CO and Methane detection as a close second to smoke/fire when it comes to life safety. One might argue that CO should be top priority as its looking for a colorless, odorless gas....

FWIW, I've selected the GE 449CSTE smoke/heat detectors for my system upgrade. I'm leaning toward the System Sensor or GE CO devices and the Macurco Methane device. But yesterday I was reading about the Napco CO device and now I'm questioning my choices.

Any comments or data?

I can't stand gas detectors, they will always false at some point which means a driveway full of firemen. I prefer my nose for LP or Natural gas. For CO I like the plug in type, after all they stop working in five years and if they activate who do you call? The important thing is to get out or fix the source. BTW I sell monitored systems, so what does that tell you.

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I understand your point. My CO alarm would probably not dispatch the fire department. I'm not sure about the methane detector..... Perhaps we should train our dogs to alert us to natural gas in the house. I trust their nose more than mine.....

My goal with system connected detectors is to NOT have batteries to replace all around the house (as with battery or AC/battery detectors) AND to have one detector trigger a loud and house-wide alarm.

I like the system sensor CO detector, not sure about the gas det.

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I have 2 CO1224 Systems Sensor detectors and they have never had a false alarm. They are actually up for replacement this month due to the finite life of the sensor.

As far as having the fire dept show up, you are better safe than sorry (horrible expression, I know), but can't you change the responding party notifications on your monitoring?

Im confused....I thought CO being set off would roll fire? I know its setup as a gas alarm in something like the Elk M1 but I just assumed somewhere down the line (central station) would know a gas alarm rolls the fire department, just like a fire alarm would.

If thats not the case then I would go with standard plug-into-the-wall CO detectors. All of the quotes I got for alarm installs were installing CO detectors that hooked up with the system, I just assumed the Elk would work the same way with something wired (or wirelessly) connected to it.

I don't have false alarms with the CO det. but the five year end of life always seems to arrive at 2:00 AM and if we must call someone than who? Fire dept, Police, EMS your cell phone???? Now the Natural Gas and LP gas detectors I do have trouble with. False alarms from pesticides, normal cooking, Lysol and farts, yeah that's right Farts. These detectors are real power hungry too so check the current draw when connecting to a panel.

gizzmo said:

I don't have false alarms with the CO det. but the five year end of life always seems to arrive at 2:00 AM and if we must call someone than who? Fire dept, Police, EMS your cell phone???? Now the Natural Gas and LP gas detectors I do have trouble with. False alarms from pesticides, normal cooking, Lysol and farts, yeah that's right Farts. These detectors are real power hungry too so check the current draw when connecting to a panel.

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How does the "end of life" look on the monitoring side? Does it cause a zone trouble thru the panel itself, or just a local loud/annoying noise?

EDIT: just checked and see there is no local sound for the trouble/end of life signal.

A thought: add a rule (if you are using something that supports them) to start announcing what detector needs replacement. Maybe one rule to say it once a week before, then once or more a day as it gets closer to the EOL date. But obviously if you ignore the calls it will end up triggering trouble at the most inopportune time and cause a false.

It is a relay that opens the circuit to cause a trouble or check message. This can be local and transmitted to monitoring center.

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Is it correct that trouble indications (e.g. CO detector end-of-life) are normally transmitted to a monitoring center but no dispatch (fire, police, etc) is performed. A trouble indication from the monitoring center once every 5 years doesn't seem to be excessive. Plus it provides an additional test of the panel communications mechanism.

But excessive false positive indications from 'normal' biological activity, now that's a different story.... I might need to rethink the location of my methane detector.

I agree but the people here are a tad bit smarter than the average customer. Case in point, I have a customer that has never turned their alarm on. One night a wireless transmitter gave a low battery check beeping. He got his gun and ran around the yard for a half hour. The end of life thing could be trouble for him. ;-)

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I hear you....

gizzmo said:

I agree but the people here are a tad bit smarter than the average customer. Case in point, I have a customer that has never turned their alarm on. One night a wireless transmitter gave a low battery check beeping. He got his gun and ran around the yard for a half hour. The end of life thing could be trouble for him. ;-)

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Thats a good one...

gizzmo said:

I agree but the people here are a tad bit smarter than the average customer. Case in point, I have a customer that has never turned their alarm on. One night a wireless transmitter gave a low battery check beeping. He got his gun and ran around the yard for a half hour. The end of life thing could be trouble for him. ;-)

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Was he finally able to track down and shoot the offending sensor?

See folks!! Go hardwire or go home!

chrisexv6 said:

See folks!! Go hardwire or go home!

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Amen!