CRR 382/2001
Joint Industry programme on Carbon Monoxide issues:

The siting of domestic CO alarms - an analysis of full scale vitiation tests

The database of vitiation experiments obtained when BG Technology conducted full-scale tests
in a purpose-built test facility has been analysed to yield the times to reach a composite alarm
threshold for each gas sample point in each experiment. A technique has been devised enabling the results from tests with widely varying parameters to be merged together, yielding a broad-based view of alarm effectiveness as alarm siting parameters are varied. The technique has also enabled the quantification of the effects on alarm effectiveness introduced by alterations to room layout and connectivity, and interchanging appliances of different types in the same room configuration. The principal conclusions relating to carbon monoxide alarm siting in typical domestic properties are described. For any given room location, the location with the fastest observed average alarm time was almost always at the ceiling. The sensitivity of alarm performance with height in the Primary Room can be strongly influenced by the characteristics of the appliance and the installation. Onset of CO production by an appliance operated under fault conditions is delayed by doors of the Primary Room being open.