So, I just got some battery operated, wirelessly inter connected, voice announcing, smoke or smoke and Carbon Monoxide detectors.
I got one combination smoke and C O detector, and two smoke detectors. The combo unit will go in the basement, and then one smoke detector on the main floor, and one in the hallway on the second floor. You program each one for the location it is in, and then if any one of them go off, all of them go off and tell you what the danger is, and where it is. IE, if the unit in the basement activates because of a carbon monoxide issue,, and it is late at night and we are snug in our beds on the second floor, all of the units, will alarm, then say, "EVACUATE! CARBON MONOXIDE IN THE BASEMENT!" Since these are battery operated, and wireless, there are no wires to run. Makes it quite easy to install. Just hang them on the ceiling and you are good to go. Before anyone starts raising your hand and saying that Carbon Monoxide is heavier than air and thus the detectors should be near the floor, you are mistaken. I've done a lot of research on this. There are many web sites that make this invalid claim. But the real science is more convincing. Air is made of Nitrogen, N2, with an molecular mass of 28. And Oxygen, O2, with an molecular mass of 32. Carbon Monoxide is made of a Carbon atom, atomic mass 12, and one Oxygen, atomic mass 16, giving it an molecular mass of 28, equal to N2, and lighter than Oxygen. Add to that, the fact that C O is going to be a product of combustion, IE, it will be warm and thus convect upward, and you get quite a good mix of the air and C O. Some manufacturers say to put the Co detector on the wall at eye level, but that is more for the fact that many CO detectors have visual displays showing the Parts Per Million of CO in the air, and thus it makes more sense to put it somewhere where it is more easily seen on a regular basis. I thought these were worth mentioning. They're not that cheap, the combo unit was 70 bucks, and the two pack of smoke detectors was 90 I think. I got the combo direct from amazon, but the smoke detector twin pack came from EAccess via amazon. -- Blue skies. Dan Rossi Carnegie Mellon University. E-Mail: [email protected] Tel: (412) 268-9081
