Description
Since 2018, a carbon monoxide detector must be installed in a dwelling with a gas appliance connected to a chimney. The detector is not mandatory if technical and structural measures have eliminated the formation of carbon monoxide and its entry into the room.
According to the legislation, a carbon monoxide detector must be installed in every dwelling where there is a gas appliance connected to a chimney. These are primarily gas water heaters.
However, it is reasonable to install a carbon monoxide detector in every dwelling where there is a combustion-based appliance and where carbon monoxide may therefore also be generated and enter the indoor air. When using a wood-burning heating appliance (stove, fireplace, etc.), carbon monoxide can also enter the inhaled air in concentrations that are harmful to health or life-threatening.
Carbon monoxide: people cannot perceive its presence through their senses. It is dangerous and affects a person’s quality of life even at low concentrations; a high concentration of carbon monoxide is life-threatening even during a short period of exposure, and the person may not realize that they are endangering their life and remaining in conditions harmful to their health.
Carbon monoxide poisoning can be mild and limited to headache, dizziness, fatigue, or flu-like symptoms. Longer-term exposure in an indoor space with a low concentration of carbon monoxide can also increase the risk of, for example, a heart attack or stroke, and it impairs decision-making and concentration.
However, inhaling air with a high concentration of carbon monoxide causes life-threatening poisoning, which often ends in death.
Under the legislation, the requirement to have a carbon monoxide detector must be complied with at the earliest opportunity, but no later than January 1, 2018.
Do not risk your family’s health—make sure to install a carbon monoxide detector!
