Skip to content

works for you

Member access:

Carbon monoxide alarm warning to householdsEight in ten homes don't have audible CO alarm

19 January 2010

Carbon monoxide detector

A carbon monoxide alarm is cheap and easy to fit

A new study has revealed that 81% of households don't have an audible carbon monoxide (CO) alarm in their home, putting them at risk of death or serious injury.

The survey of 1,915 adults coincided with the launch of a carbon monoxide awareness campaign to highlight the dangers of CO emitted by faulty or poorly maintained boilers, cookers and other fuel burning appliances.

Around 30 people die of carbon monoxide poisoning each year, according to the campaign - though a separate safety campaign in November suggested this number could be at least 50.

Our expert guide to carbon monoxide detectors shows you which carbon monoxide alarm to choose and how to install it.

Which? tests gas appliances

Gas appliances - including gas boilers, ovens and freestanding cookers - should always be installed by a qualified professional on the Gas Safe Register. Visit Which? Local for recommended engineers in your area.

You should also keep gas appliances regularly serviced and safety-checked. Take a look at our review of boiler servicing companies, get our verdict on boiler servicing contracts and consult our free advice guide and video on getting a good boiler service.

Carbon monoxide alarms

Of those who didn't have an audible CO alarm - a device that sounds an alarm rather just than a 'colour change' indicator tool - 13% believe CO poisoning is rare and do not consider the gas to be a significant health risk. 18% of those questioned did not know that CO has no smell and 9% did not know it was invisible to the naked eye.

More than 10% did not know an alarm was available to detect the gas.

Boots, B&Q, Homebase, Tesco, Robert Dyas and Wilkinson will be running discounts on carbon monoxide alarms in January in support of the campaign.

Read our carbon monoxide detector guide for more information.

Which? RSS news and Twitter feeds

For daily consumer news, subscribe to the Which? news RSS feed. If you have an older web browser you may need to copy and paste http://www.which.co.uk/feeds/reviews/news.xml into your newsreader. Find out more about RSS in the Which? guide to news feeds.

You can also follow WhichNews on Twitter for all the latest consumer news, or follow WhichTech for technology updates.