Making your home a safe environment involves more than just preventing burglaries. You may want to consider installing additional sensors – such as carbon monoxide (CO) sensors – that help protect your home from other dangers.
Unlike smoke from a fire, CO can’t be seen or smelled. It’s an odorless, invisible gas produced from the combustion of fossil fuels, which is how heat is produced in furnaces and ovens that are fueled by LP or natural gas. The CO produced from these types of sources, if not properly ventilated, can cause harm to people and animals.
The risk and frequency of CO poisoning increases dramatically over the winter as people turn on their furnaces. With the onset of cold weather, this is an important time of year to take precautions and protect your home from CO.
One way to monitor this situation is to have CO detectors installed in your home or dwelling. A CO detector can provide some comfort in that the device is constantly monitoring the air quality and will alert you if your environment becomes unsafe.
Having your CO detectors monitored through an alarm system will provide you with additional peace of mind. If you happen to be away from your home while a CO leak occurs, a monitored CO detector will activate the alarm panel and send a signal to the monitoring center. The monitoring center will make the appropriate calls to individuals and authorities notifying them of the issue. If you have pets, having this device monitored is very important for their safety.
You should also be aware that CO detectors have varying life spans. Make sure you check the manufacturer specifications on how long the device should be in use. If the device is past its life expectancy, failure or false alarms can occur, making the device unreliable. Please make sure you check and test your CO detectors regularly.
For a system check or if you have any questions regarding CO detection devices, please call 763.477.3664 or email info@wh-security.com.
Note: The National Electric Code recommends having CO detectors installed in all homes and dwellings in several locations, including each level of your home and near sleeping quarters.