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.
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