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How long does a CO alarm last for?


Keeping Up

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If I install a CO alarm which has a stated life of 10 years from the date of installation, but for say 6 months of the year I remove the batteries because I am not using the boat, will its life now be extended to 20 years? The manual says it will sound an "end of life" alarm after the 10 years, but can it measure the passage of time when the batteries have been removed?

 

For the record I would actually replace it after 10 years anyway, but just wondered ... 

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11 minutes ago, Keeping Up said:

If I install a CO alarm which has a stated life of 10 years from the date of installation, but for say 6 months of the year I remove the batteries because I am not using the boat, will its life now be extended to 20 years? The manual says it will sound an "end of life" alarm after the 10 years, but can it measure the passage of time when the batteries have been removed?

 

For the record I would actually replace it after 10 years anyway, but just wondered ... 

Quite a few of the CO alarms cannot have the batteries removed/replaced.

Apparently to stop the 'burnt toast' situation (as evidenced by smoke alarm users)

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We have a 7 year CO alarm at home and a BG engineer (who wasn’t trying to sell me anything) suggested that as it was now 5 years old we should consider replacing it. Not because the batteries would be failing but because tests have shown that the sensor gradually becomes covered in dust and is no longer very good at detecting low levels of CO. I tested it with an incense stick and it seemed pretty sensitive to me so for now I’ve left it alone. 

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Interesting point. It has been suggested to me (by MC staff) that each exposure to a reducing gas such as CO or H2 makes the detector less sensitive, so a serious alarm with a high reading would imply that you should replace the unit. No idea how true this is or whether it applies to all types of CO alarm.

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1 hour ago, Keeping Up said:

If I install a CO alarm which has a stated life of 10 years from the date of installation, but for say 6 months of the year I remove the batteries because I am not using the boat, will its life now be extended to 20 years? The manual says it will sound an "end of life" alarm after the 10 years, but can it measure the passage of time when the batteries have been removed?

 

For the record I would actually replace it after 10 years anyway, but just wondered ... 

An alarm with replaceable batteries will get through several sets in it's life. On an alarm with a sealed-for-life battery, the battery is not usually removable.  So I think your premise fails. I suspect the life of an alarm with replaceable batteries is determined by the life of the sensor.

I have just bought new CO alarms for Belfast as after getting a low battery warning bleep I found a sticker on the alarm saying it should be replaced by 2013!

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I am talking about those with removable batteries; naturally I would not be talking about taking the batteries out of a sealed-for-life unit. Also, as I said, I would be replacing mine after the 10 years regardless. 

 

Surely if the life is determined by time alone, then it should be measured from the manufacturing date which is clearly written on the label upon which you are supposed to write the installation date. But on the label, as in the manual, it clearly says "10 years from the installation date".

 

Maybe the manufacturers specify to their retailers a sort of "install by" date, similar to a "use by" date, which ensures that the 10 years will not take it beyond the end of its life. If so, I wonder if the issue around cheap eBay sales, and the supposed withdrawal of "unreliable" units, revolves around the expiry of this date. 

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We have a sealed for life CO detector that has a pin that when inserted, turns the power off. When we leave the boat we turn it off to prevent any risk of annoying neighbouring boats. Clearly the battery will thus last longer than the calendar time of the design spec but it an interesting point about the sensor life. I think the latter is affected a lot by its environment and as said earlier, it does get “poisoned” by exposure to CO. But hopefully, when we are not on the boat there is no CO production!

 

I have a mains powered CO alarm in my rental flat that nevertheless has an expiry date, 7 years I think, so it is not all about battery life.

 

Our Boat CO alarm is probably approaching its calendar life so I’d better think about it!

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Ones we have come to end of life in the past displayed an error code at exactly the specified number of years (to the day) that they we first powered them on.

 

At this point they are non functional.  They used to say you could return to the manufacturer for sensor replacement, but I doubt that was ever an economic option over just binning and replacing.

 

I have no idea how many work this way, or even how they managed to track time with no replaceable batteries in them at certain times, but they did.  Maybe they contain some small Lithium cell that doesn't power them, but still keeps a clock running?

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