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Carbon Monoxide Detector and Humidifier?

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Jeff Wisnia

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Nov 11, 2012, 10:43:12 PM11/11/12
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My sister has a stand alone humidifier located against a wall a few
inches away from where a carbon monoxide detector is plugged into a wall
outlet.

An electrician doing some work in her home told he the detector
shouldn't be located so close to the humidifier but didn't tell her why.

Other than the possibility of accidentally splashing water onto the
carbon monoxide detector while filling the humidifier, is there any
valid reason why they can't be located near each other?

Thanks guys,

Jeff
--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.8*10^12 furlongs per fortnight.

Stormin Mormon

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Nov 11, 2012, 10:48:48 PM11/11/12
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Maybe cause the humidifier puts out vapors
of dihydrogen monoxide, and might cause
false alerts?


Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
.

"Jeff Wisnia" <jwisnia...@conversent.net> wrote in message
news:50A07050...@conversent.net...

gregz

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Nov 11, 2012, 11:36:54 PM11/11/12
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"Stormin Mormon" <cayoung61***spam...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Maybe cause the humidifier puts out vapors
> of dihydrogen monoxide, and might cause
> false alerts?
>

The only thing I can think of, the detector will gather more dust with
higher air currents, and other deposits.

I still got to recheck my detector. I put it near my car exaust and it did
not sound.


Greg

micky

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Nov 12, 2012, 2:42:20 AM11/12/12
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On Mon, 12 Nov 2012 04:36:54 +0000 (UTC), gregz <ze...@comcast.net>
wrote:
When I got my first one 10 or more years ago, I had a bunch of
questoins and called the maker, a major name, and asked if I could
test it by putting it only a few feet from the furnace. She said not
to do that, I guess it would overload the sensor. Maybe you could
start fairly far and gradulally bring it closer.

My previous car for pollution testing actually had a measurement of
the CO, and it alternated between being high and low. I have no real
idea why. It was a 95 and had a catalytic converter.

>Greg

Jim Elbrecht

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Nov 12, 2012, 7:30:34 AM11/12/12
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Jeff Wisnia <jwisnia...@conversent.net> wrote:

>
>My sister has a stand alone humidifier located against a wall a few
>inches away from where a carbon monoxide detector is plugged into a wall
>outlet.
>
>An electrician doing some work in her home told he the detector
>shouldn't be located so close to the humidifier but didn't tell her why.
>
>Other than the possibility of accidentally splashing water onto the
>carbon monoxide detector while filling the humidifier, is there any
>valid reason why they can't be located near each other?

I don't know-- but I have a CO/Gas detector in my family room with a
propane ventless heater. adjacent to that room are the bathroom and
kitchen. The only time my CO detector has gone off was when I had
all the burners on my stove going, including a huge pasta pot-- and
after someone showers in an adjacent bathroom.

I'd been blaming CO from the burners and powder or deodorant from the
bathroom. Maybe humidity sets off or disrupts CO detectors.

Jim

missin...@brainchampagne.com

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Nov 12, 2012, 8:09:00 AM11/12/12
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I heard a story of people who went out and bought their first CO detector, got it home, plugged it in, and it sounded an alert. Of course the first thought is- it's defective. But they called the FD and discovered that it wasn't defective, their furnace was.

One risk in putting it near the humidifier is that if the humidifier goes on and the CO detector sounds, that someone says "Oh, it's only because it's too close to the humidifier" and they all die.

Frank

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Nov 12, 2012, 8:11:35 AM11/12/12
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On 11/11/2012 10:43 PM, Jeff Wisnia wrote:
>
> My sister has a stand alone humidifier located against a wall a few
> inches away from where a carbon monoxide detector is plugged into a wall
> outlet.
>
> An electrician doing some work in her home told he the detector
> shouldn't be located so close to the humidifier but didn't tell her why.
>
> Other than the possibility of accidentally splashing water onto the
> carbon monoxide detector while filling the humidifier, is there any
> valid reason why they can't be located near each other?
>
> Thanks guys,
>
> Jeff

I guess because they do rely on chemical changes and wear out with time.
Probably best if just exposed to ambient air.

Percival P. Cassidy

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Nov 12, 2012, 9:36:09 AM11/12/12
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On 11/12/12 08:11 am, Frank wrote:

>> My sister has a stand alone humidifier located against a wall a few
>> inches away from where a carbon monoxide detector is plugged into a wall
>> outlet.
>>
>> An electrician doing some work in her home told he the detector
>> shouldn't be located so close to the humidifier but didn't tell her why.
>>
>> Other than the possibility of accidentally splashing water onto the
>> carbon monoxide detector while filling the humidifier, is there any
>> valid reason why they can't be located near each other?
>>
>> Thanks guys,

> I guess because they do rely on chemical changes and wear out with time.
> Probably best if just exposed to ambient air.

The latest ones seem to be capable of operating only for seven years,
after which they time out. I have an old one with a manufacturing date
of 1999 that still passes its own self-test, but I do have a current
model as a backup.

Perce

Bob F

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Nov 12, 2012, 10:36:56 AM11/12/12
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Jeff Wisnia wrote:
> My sister has a stand alone humidifier located against a wall a few
> inches away from where a carbon monoxide detector is plugged into a
> wall outlet.
>
> An electrician doing some work in her home told he the detector
> shouldn't be located so close to the humidifier but didn't tell her
> why.
> Other than the possibility of accidentally splashing water onto the
> carbon monoxide detector while filling the humidifier, is there any
> valid reason why they can't be located near each other?

These are fairly sensitive electronic devices. Water, even high humidity, could
damage electronic devices, or change conductivity/resistivity of sensitive
circuits, so they don't operate correctly.


Stormin Mormon

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Nov 12, 2012, 11:44:05 AM11/12/12
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Have we heard from the OP?

Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
.

<missin...@brainchampagne.com> wrote in message
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Josh

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Nov 12, 2012, 12:19:30 PM11/12/12
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On Mon, 12 Nov 2012 04:36:54 +0000 (UTC), gregz <ze...@comcast.net>
wrote:

>"Stormin Mormon" <cayoung61***spam...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> Maybe cause the humidifier puts out vapors
>> of dihydrogen monoxide, and might cause
>> false alerts?
>>
>
>The only thing I can think of, the detector will gather more dust withgregz <ze...@comcast.net>
>higher air currents, and other deposits.
>
>I still got to recheck my detector. I put it near my car exaust and it did
>not sound.

My understanding is that a modern car does not produce all that much
carbon monoxide when in good working order -- I'm not willing to click
on the links I'm finding, as they are not appropriate for where I am,
but one reference says that 99% of the produced CO is eliminated by
the catalytic converter. It's supposedly quite difficult to kill
yourself these days with your car in the garage. Of course an old
car, or one with a defect in the emission system (that might not
otherwise be obvious) can still produce plenty, so you still have to
be careful.

There are test kits available that have a can with a high ppm of CO
for this purpose.

Josh

Steve Barker

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Nov 12, 2012, 12:38:31 PM11/12/12
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if your car was warmed up and was built since '74, you probably won't
get a reading out of it. Try the lawn mower. it should set it off
within a minute.


--
Steve Barker
remove the "not" from my address to email

micky

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Nov 12, 2012, 6:14:24 PM11/12/12
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On Mon, 12 Nov 2012 09:19:30 -0800, Josh <no_need...@nobody.org>
wrote:
i CAME across little foil envelopes with CO for testing. I bought one
and eventually tried it and the CO detector went off. I still have
that detector, but I bought a newer one.

>Josh

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