Myth #4 - A carbon monoxide detector will always protect my family from CO issues.  (Wrong!)

The two key words that are problems with this myth are "always" and "protect".

The ONLY thing a CO detector does is sense CO that's in the air surrounding it.  If the concentration of carbon monoxide is rising quickly and confined to the basement, the CO detector will never sense it.  So, "always" should really be a more conditional word like "usually".  At least the word "usually" conveys the thought that the CO detector might not be the only thing needed to protect a family (which is true.)

The word "protect" is another issue. 

Because of the frustrations experienced by many CO detector owners and fire-departments caused by nuisance alarms, UL (Underwriters Laboratories) decided to change the standards set forth in UL-2034 (the standard for CO detector performance.)  The new UL-2034 benchmarks require a CO detector to sense low levels of CO (40ppm) and not alarm a minimum of 8 hours!

If you have a family member with breathing problems, or have infants or elderly in the home, you need to do more investigation into acceptable carbon monoxide levels.  People with these types of issue have been known to be  affected by low-level CO exposure.

Also note that CO exposure may cause different reactions from different people.  Some folks appear unaffected at levels that make other people nauseous.  (A lot of this information is covered in Carbon Monoxide Myths.)

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