A multi-family residential building has an indoor garage. Would you put CO detectors in the garage or is that just a nuisance waiting to happen?
Thanks
Yes; it would be a nuisance especially with the exhaust from your car or lawnmower
Mhm: just as you should not install a smoke detector in a garage, you should not put a CO detector in there either (both because of the likelyhood of false alarms & because the detector will be exposed to the elements, not to mention extreme temperatures given most garages are not HVAC’ed, when the door is open).
CO detectors are not recommended to be in garages as it can have false alarms, smoke detectors might also be prone to false activation however heat detectors would be perfectly fine instead (as long as it’s placed in the coolest part of the garage out of sunlight)
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I mean I see a lot of CO sensors in parking garages but they are special fire alarm/parking garage CO detectors which detect a different form of CO. I wouldnt put a residential detector in your garage unless you have gas powered appliances in there.
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Pretty sure CO is CO no matter what, & the only likely difference with those CO detectors is that they’re system-wired/connected (like System Sensor’s CO1224T). From what I’ve seen parking garages usually don’t have smoke or CO detectors due to the fact that they would be exposed to the elements, which would cause all sorts of problems (& no manufacturers make outdoor-rated detectors as far as I know).
Which is why I want to make an outdoor protected detector
CO detectors wouldn’t be needed for outside since there’s always fresh air coming through and it won’t be enough to make anyone experience the symptoms.
Yeah. Smoke detectors on the other hand would likely still be a necessity since while most parking garages are made of solid concrete (& thus are non-flammable) there’s still always the potential threat of one or more cars catching on fire & then that fire spreading to the other cars, endangering anyone inside the structure.
I heard they system detectors detect different symptoms of CO or here at least. In the UK they sometimes put residential detector with a relay tied to the FA. Apollo CO detectors detect CO from fires not pure CO. also for enclosed parking garages, we have CO detectors. You can see it on my instagram.
Are you referring to the fact that some kinds of CO detectors (such as Masterguard’s) detect carbon monoxide in a similar way to how the human body reacts to CO? (in the case of Masterguard’s they use synthetic hemoglobin, though it’s also a residential unit & I don’t know what sensor commercial units like System Sensor’s CO1224T use)
As I said, pretty sure CO is CO no matter what, whether it’s generated by a gas appliance not burning fuel 100% or from a fire: in any case it’s important to detect it no matter the source.
Don’t know how that’s possible unless Europe is the only continent to have developed weatherproof/outdoor CO detectors (unless the garages are enclosed enough that the weather & temperature aren’t issues).
Yeah but CO produced from a fire what that apollo detectors try to detect. I bet they also detect normal CO but not as sensitive as residential ones. Also the parking garages i see is sometimes underground and fully enclosed.
here is an example of one. they are also IP rated. they also detect a different proportion or something than standard CO detectors.
No idea why that CO would be any different but alright.
Maybe. Ideally they should according to probably most standards.
Ah: that would explain it then.
Ah, so aspirating CO detectors? (like aspirating smoke detectors, which draw air in through a network of pipes. Not sure I knew aspirating CO detectors existed though)
How would these CO fire detectors tell the difference between ordinary CO (that would be generated from a gas appliance) and the CO that fires would put out? It would make sense for it to detect any kind of CO and then activate the alarm if it happens.
thats what ive been told
its not aspirating, its a special parking garage meant “spot” CO detector
Oh, alright. Kind of an unusual design for a spot-type detector though.
In Canada you would rarely see detectors in parking garages at all. Only one building I know has a smoke detector in the garage, and it is right at the entrance to the building interior. Some older buildings have heat detectors everywhere, but it is mainly sprinklers.
CO detection is actually common in residental parking garages. We service many systems. The difference between them and a regular plug in CO detector is that they will detect the CO based on PPM levels (Particles Per Minute). Obviously cars coming in and out would trigger the detectors, but they will only go into alarm mode if the PPM level reaches a certain threshold. Usually they will have an audible bell, visual signal or horn.
According to many sources “PPM” means “Parts Per Million” & is supposedly how most CO detectors work (including plug-in ones).
Even commercial detectors are required to have a horn since there may be no way for the larger system they’re connected to to alert the occupants (aside from maybe if it’s a voice system but those aren’t in every building, & even if it is a voice system a CO message may not be available for it).
Even commercial detectors are required to have a horn since there may be no way for the larger system they’re connected to to alert the occupants
Notifier’s FSCO-951 is only “recommended” to be installed in a sounder base. I think future CO detectors will be less likely to have internal horns because of the T3/T4 mode present in some notification appliances such as Eluxa horns and Gentex low frequency sounders.
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