I’m still recovering from CO poisoning from a broken furnace exhaust vent. I’m super active and put in several hours of aerobic exercise a day, such as running on my treadmill. In my home. My health dramatically deteriorated all winter long. It started with IBS, difficulty concentrating and fainting spells that progressed to stroke like symptoms and neuropathy. None of my doctors took me seriously when I told them I felt like I was slowly dying. When I went to the ER, I would present as if I were drunk and was incapable of advocating for myself so they just assumed I was an addict. Or just crazy. By the end of it, I had, and still somewhat have, Parkinsonism and my family and pet started throwing up so I finally called Xcel energy who then found the leak. The sad part is that I thought of CO months before I got that bad and told multiple people but everyone said not to worry and trust the 4 smoke detectors in my home. Turns out, they won’t go off until I’m already unconscious or dead. Hence why I’m here, to learn more so I can better protect myself and my family moving forward. I could have lost my life, or worse, my child’s life, from placing blind trust in a useless piece of plastic. I won’t ever make that mistake again! Thank you for speaking the truth! Edited to add: for reference, I’m a 29 year old, 110 lb female (although I lost a good 15 lbs throughout and it wasn’t pretty).

Alarm, sensor and monitor each have different meanings. Invest in a monitor that will continually provide a reading on current levels in your home. An alarm doesn’t tell you anything until it gets to a deadly point and beeps.

Thank you so much! This is very important information. I am going to check out my CO monitor’s

I have several UL listed CO detectors but also kids, so thank you for the heads up about that, Corbett!

I read the manual also and found that info and decided to look at chart levels for health hazards. The scale starts at 20 - 200 you would have issues at 20 and my first thought is alarm devices are useless needs a live readout.

Wow this video needs more views. Everyone should know this information to be safe at home

I always try to keep my home ventilated For many reasons anyway. I’m definitely getting the mini for travel

This was great and very helpful.Thank y'all for taking the time to put this up.🙏👍

Wow I recently read about a lady and her son who passed from carbon monoxide poisoning in Texas, during the cold front. They were trying to keep warm in the car in the garage with the heat on. Such a tragedy. Thanks for the information guys, we’ll definitely be checking out our alarm!

I am a home inspector in California and truly appreciate your work on this topic. I also do some expert witness work on CO poisoning cases. Since you have a pretty broad audience, I would only suggest using caution when saying that something is required or required by code. Unfortunately, there are a number of states that do not mandate CO alarms in residential occupancies. There are also states that do not adopt building codes in certain residential and other building types. In California, we are lucky enough to require CO alarms in every residential occupancy type.

Thank you for shearing this important information! I didn’t know this and most people that buy these don’t know either!

I have two Defender CA6150 ($99 each) Carbon Monoxide Alarms and the one lasted 7 years until the alarm kept going off. No, it did not show any levels of CO. I brought the Defender from the basement to replace the one upstairs and there was no problem. It did not show any CO and I had no problem with the alarm going off. The real problem is the CA6150 has a 10 Year Warranty, but lots of luck in getting any answers for a return or replacement. It's the old run around game with this Canadian company.

This is a very good presentation. I would venture to say, most areas would allow low-level CO detectors and encourage their use, since they exceed basic requirements. Contractors may have difficulty sourcing rapid-response detectors and find them significantly more expensive than brand name UL-2034 detectors. This becomes an integrity issue, since with knowledge comes responsibility, even to the point of educating local inspectors to their benefits. Best practice is never dismiss a CO alarm activation simply as a nuisance alarm; Exit and call 9-11. Your local fire department and/or gas utility technician should carry rapid-response detectors that are intrinsically safe and can diagnose the problem in a safe and timely manner. Please remember to take a CO travel detector with you on vacation, especially out of the country!

Thank you both for this life saving information and demonstration of these different carbon monoxide alarms ... you have woken me up to what is the right type to buy and install ... its amazing that the UL type do not sound there alarm for some time almost defeats the point that they are there for ... many thanks again for your video.

I LOVE the way the whole family is involved in production! I think your family saved my family from the ills of Carbon Dioxide poisoning. Symptoms: My wife, daughter and I have been waking up with headaches, upset stomachs and dizziness for a couple of years. 'doh de dum de dumb' I go off to work and within an hour or so the symptoms disappear. I am starting to look into checking out detectors. I'll install them after the in-laws leave at Christmas. I am going to hire your group for a video consultation at some point. THANK YOU for all you have done for the Harry home owners like me of the world.

Thank you fir shearing this important information! I didn’t know this and most people that buy these don’t know either!

Honestly It never occurred to me to read all of that. More importantly however, without the rest of the information you gave, I don't know that I would have known what it meant to me. And I'm a bit more technical than most average people, so you know the average consumer will read that, feel confused, and then just go back to the "well, it's UL listed, so therefore it must be what's needed to keep me safe" kind of thinking.

Thanks for the education. Just placed my order for the one that reads down to 5 ppm. It's not cheap but totally worth it.

Thanks for this information. Is one low level monitor sufficient for a single story home or should there be one in each room? Thanks for your help.

Hi. Thank you SO much for your very informative video, I appreciate it a lot. I have a question, Could you post the link in your description of the other carbon monoxide monitors you recommend there? I believe the link in the description is only to one. Thanks!

Thank you for sharing the detailed video. In our home, the carbon monoxide and smoke detectors in the basement go off every month. It appears there may be an issue with the furnace or water heater. Could you please provide the brand name or a list of professional-grade carbon monoxide detectors with a digital display that you used in the video? Specifically the portable orange one.

This is an amazing resource, thank you! I'm getting one of those monitors you linked.

I ordered the CO2 Low level detector and the personal wear one also. I have a rv and will use the personal wear on to monitor it on camping trips and then use it when I check out attic furnace on the home we have been discussing.

And so basically what I’m getting out of this is I need to buy another more expensive detector . So that’s what I’m gonna do . I’m sure I can order it online . Anyway carbon monoxide has always been one of my biggest fears . A guy I work with back in the 80s he came home to his wife and 2 kids unconcious . He pulled them out of the house and by the time he got them out he had passed out also . Thankfully they were all rushed to the hospital and recovered over time . But just knowing that story scares me half to death .

Your video says it all! Thank you so much. Are there any less expensive options available? I live in an apartment with incorrectly vented heaters..I have been going down hill health wise for 5 years. I thought it was from neighbors cigarette smoke. I got a little air monitor that was showing me extremely high levels of TVOC when the smokers were away and the heater was on. NO CO alarms! I found out last week the heater was very poorly vented with the wrong size duct and the flue is also obstructed.!! I wouldnt be alive had I not slept with door and windows open ( not safe) during the coldest months to try and eliminate the cigarette smoke. the little air monitor was a life saver in pointing out an issue.. I have no idea how much CO i have been exposed to .. the utility company came out and shut down the heater on thursday for too much CO. all week long people kept telling me.. "you are safe as long as your carbon monoxide alarms are not going off!" I am 90% positive the 3 others heaters are also incorrectly installed as I am still getting high TVOC reading especially when it is cold at nite and early morning.. is there any less expensive $100 or so option for checking what the levels are ? thank you so very much! I hope we can get the codes changed. I am convinced this may be causing some of the neurological conditions so many people are impacted with.

What do i need to protect my family from health risks? Can you tell us the model to buy?

This was an outstanding video! I wish I could like it more than once.

Thanks for making this very informative video.

Great, informative video! So expertly presented also. I was unfortunately exposed to low level carbon monoxide for almost 5 months. I just moved into a condo and immediately started feeling sick. People were telling me it’s the stress of moving, etc. etc., I even had 8 Dr. appointments in one month, back in Dec.. of 2018. I mentioned to them that I just moved but no one thought that co could be the problem. I lost 28 lbs in a about 3 months, had horrendous stomach pain, diarrhea, headaches, severe tiredness,, depression, forgetfulness, etc.. I just thought I was dying. I had carbon monoxide detectors and they never went off until I came home one night from work and part of my furnas split in 2 and was spewing pure carbon monoxide. This is what probably saved my life. 32 ppm were detected. It was a bad heat exchanger. I also had a home inspection and was told it was fully functional. I had planned to get a new heater due to its older age but thought I was protected by having those co detectors. Learn from my situation, get the low level detectors. I developed polyps in my stomach, gastritis, signs of macular degeneration, and short and long term memory issues, ptsd, and seem to have less patience overall. I’m glad we’re making strides in low level detection that could save people from dying or harming themselves….

Decades ago my wife used to drive junker delivery cars for her Dad's auto parts business. She always got headaches that cleared up after driving was done for the day in the clunker

Thank you for this video. I have been having headaches and stomach aches and nausea. I have a mini fridge in the room that has poor ventilation. Do you think CO could be coming from the mini fridge?

Worked for a year at a car repair facility. Winter time was tough.. yup carbon monoxide poisoning . Next house will have no gas burning appliances. I know you beat this horse a lot and Thank you for doing so.

So, which one for my camper van with a diesel heater that exhausts outside? By the way, you both did an excellent job in this video.

what about benzene monitoring, is there anything for that? thanks again!

Great info guys. Did u guys test the Defender LL6170 Low Level CO Monitor Alarm at $199? How is it different from CA6150 or the CD8180?

Forget the home detector. I want the Osha certified clip on detectors. What is the brand name, and how can I get one of those?

This was extremely helpful, thank you

Where do you recommend we place them in our home? Are there any low level monitors that install within an ERV ventilation system so one device could monitor the entire home?

Wonder if you can just take it outside and hold it in front of the riding mower, or car exhaust just to see if it works. My Nighthawk detector that I've had for decades sounded off near a Mr Heater and it went to 300 PPM in about 5 minutes and nearly busted my ear drum when it went off. Upon retesting around the heater it now reads 0 ppm. I've got a feeling it bit the dust after that first alert.

Very interesting...Ok so I'm from Jamaica in the mountains,never had no type Corbon monoxide experience,I only know that it comes out of cars tail pipe, question does it come from electric heaters,??

Good after noon! I am still confused with this technology. BRUNSWICK COUNTY, N.C. (WECT) - Brunswick County Schools provided an update Friday on its efforts to install ionized purification systems to its buildings and buses.

What is that personal monitor you use? As an hvac tech I personally carry a Testo 317 with me.

Hello, I have two parrots in my home and was going to replace my carbon monoxide detector when I learned that I should be using a low level one. I am retired so I can check it quite frequently. Defender vs co experts vs nci600 Or any others you recommend Thank you

I'm glad I watched this video and Thank you 👍

Guess it's always worth having one system for compliance and regulation [necessary but often the lowest common denominator] and the 'over and above' top up.

How much would a profesional one like the one the firefighters use cost?

I have ZERO KNOWLEDGE of this. Upgrading now! For 1,400 sq. ft. home would you suggest 1 in a central area? Or one upstairs and one downstairs? You know these are “expensive” compared to others but OMG so worth it to save a life or lifelong health problems.

Great information. Thank you. I love the real facts.

Thank you, Much appreciated.

Very useful!! Thanks!!!

Can anyone please recommend a good CO unit? I love the LL 6170 but would prefer to save a few bucks- are there any other that can also get near 10 ppm but closer to $100-$150?

Hi, would you recommend the AimSafety PM100-CO Carbon Monoxide Single-Gas Monitor for Home Inspectors. I need a CO detector for when inspecting furnaces and HWH?

This morning I was awakened 8am from my kidde smoke and CO detector went off. Fire dept called and nothing detected. It was made 2016. I opened the box March 2021 and this was the 1st time it went off none stop. Last 1 or 2 was. Ago it went off for very short time. I had nothing running outside my normal appliance. Received a New water heater this past summer. Pilot light was not orange or red according to the fire dept. I saw blue light when my electric furnish heat came on but no red or orange flames. I believe by breathing in cold winter breath I was hyper venting which may have caused slight headache lasting short time after leaving my home and calling the fire dept. what is a quality smoke and co detector combo or should I purchase separate one?

Upgrading asap. Thanks.

On the subject of mounting, CO is only slightly heavier than air as opposed to CO2 is considerably heavier than air. Where do you mount the CO monitor? High or low on the wall?

what is the manufacturer / model for that small orange one? Thank you

So, UL listed means the alarm must delay at dangerous levels until the situation is dire? What was the reasoning process that led to that standard?

Thank you!

So which model would you recommend? Thank you

I'm confused. A specific brand wasn't recommended so I guess as long as they have the features you highlighted they're all good? And when I went to amazon and searched 'carbon monoxide low level detectors' it retrieved the same detectors as when I searched 'carbon monoxide detectors'. I clicked on one of them and none of the features said, 'low level detector'? Please clarify, thank you.

I've got a few medical problems. Two relevant issues are that I have Meniere's disease, and another problem that has me taking opioid painkillers. Some of the symptoms of Meniere's and side effects of the painkillers are Dizziness, Slight mental "Fuzziness", Headache, Nausea, Vomiting............. Does this collection of symptoms sound familiar?..... Bingo ! It could just as easily be CO poisoning. This means where most people would see any one of these symptoms as something to look into, I'd most likely brush them off as just another day with my unpredictable health. I also heat the house with paraffin (Kerosene) heaters, so as there's a very credible risk that I COULD wind up dead before realising anything was out of the usual, I have cheap CO alarms with LCD displays dotted around the house. I also have a hand held CO meter that I occasionally use to check that what the alarms show is at least roughly right. With portable paraffin heaters you always going to get some CO build up, but through varying the ventilation I can usually keep the parts per million in my arbitrarily set single digits limit for my 24/7 exposure (I already spend 90% of my life feeling like cr*p, so I don't want to risk adding to that). By glancing at the display on one of the CO alarms as I pass them, then using the highly scientific method of varying how far a couple of windows are cracked open, I can usually keep it below that

Can you give us the brand name of the low level. We have the Kidde nighthawks with digital read out. We just bought a hand held. We had the FD out here Thursday because our detector was at 32. The FD was getting 16 ppm in our mud room. We had HVAC check the furnace and it's functioning properly. I'm just trying to figure this out and want my kids safe while we do. So I'd love the brand name on the low level you were demonstrating.

I 100% agree with everything that you said. Smoke alarms next???

I'm living in an older RV a 1998 Fleetwood bounder to be exactly,I use a harbor freight electric heater ,am I in any way exposed to carbon monoxide???

For months, at least, my old gas heater was malfunctioning. I didn't get headaches (weirdly), but I did get increasingly dazed and fatigued, just more and more out of it - so badly out of it I couldn't think clearly. I couldn't even think, "Hey, there's a problem here. What can I do?" I would stagger against door frames, was extremely unwell generally. Finally, one time I was out of the house for most of the day and got enough oxygen to my brain (or my guardian angels told me subconsciously, I don't know), but whatever the cause I realized my problem was really quite serious, whatever was causing it. AND that symptoms were much worse when I was IN the house, that I really felt much better when outside the house - so maybe there was an air problem. I called the gas company to come check, and they detected the CO problem. Those First Alert brand detectors my landlady had dutifully installed in each room had given me no warning whatsoever. Buy a reliable brand folks, it's worth the extra $$. And I would get a monitor, not an alarm. Low grade continual lack of oxygen which increases over time still causes brain damage - I'm still trying to recover, over a year later. Brain damage affects a lot of things - cognition, memory, mood, reactivity, energy levels... You don't want the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning. Sure wish I had known sooner!

What a quality video!

I can't tell if you are recommending the LL 6170 or the 6150. To put it another way, is the 6170 really worth twice the price? Thanks.

I appreciate this video. My interest is in a house we bought to rent out. The garage was converted to interior space with its own supply air and return air. There is a gas water heater in this room that is in a space with a door that is not sealed. It does have two supply air through the outside wall. Still there is a concern for Carbon Monoxide problems in the house so I will be ordering one of the detectors from the company you provided the link to and hopefully can get Nashville, TN codes department to help me determine if I must do more. Cannot find much information on proper room for this water heater to make it the safest. Is there a code book or can you make any suggestions. Thanks, :)

Hi, so my father and I both had carbon monoxide in our system. I had the fire department come out twice and they measured 0 on the meter. Not sure were it's coming from. Is there a meter I can purchase of high quality that is a 100 percent accurate?

Whats that music in the outro called?

The description link for CO alarms returned zero result.

where can i get the orange one.

Do you have any other recommended brands?

Great video! Our neighbors entire household of 7 just passed in what is believed carbon monoxide poisoning. I never knew that some alarms won't signal until it's too high. How scary! Our whole town is out buy Co2 detectors right now!

I had my carbon monoxide alarm go off 1 day at 3am. The only reason why i heard it was myself and 2 other roommates all got up at 3AM for work and it was a very low 4 beeps. I had top look it up online to see it meant danger. That alarm would have not woke any of us up. Looking for a new one to place in all of our rooms and in the hallway.

Great information

WOW! Amazing information! True Tools is out of stock. I WILL be checking back with them in 3 weeks! I hit the "like" and "subscribe" buttons.

I never leave comments but I get frustrated with videos that do not list all products on screen. What is the name of the little orange detector? Price is not an option. I’m taking screen shots and surfing the internet to match it visually and finally gave up. Please if something is on screen we want to know what it is.

Why not tell us what to get. The link goes to several UL listed units I thought you didn't like...???

My CO monitor keeps going off and the beeping is giving me a head ache and making me dizzy! :(

What is the brand of the portable monitor you carry with you?

you have to mount the detector in a certain way a distance from the stove and heater and mid height on the wall and not on the ceiling like a smoke alarm. RTFM.

Knowledge is power

Great presentation and thanks for the information

WHats the little sebsor caled and where can i buy it?

Please list make and model of small orange unit.

I want to buy the ORANGE one.

Ok did I hear you right that you need both a low level and a UL listed detector?

Do you recommend one even in an all electric home

What model is the small commercial model that you wore to the restaurant?

Ware do I get the one fire fighters wear???

I really wish the nest protect was not just an alarm. An actual reading is really useful.

That's crazy!!!!! Most ppl don't know this

dont need a co detector in this house. Figure the ACH is likely above 7. The house was built in 1948. Little to no insulation. 1 x 4 t&g walls. Aluminum siding and who knows what kind of clab boards under that siding. Ah life before Building Science showed what actually is great best practice in construction. Next house I think will have hempcrete. Might even put in a balanced hrv

from clinical treatment guidelines "The half-life of COHb in a patient breathing clean room air is approximately 250 to 320 minutes; this decreases to 90 minutes with high-flow oxygen (>15 L/minute) provided via a nonrebreathing mask." or about 5.5 hrs for a healthy adult doing some math, amount of time since acute exposure vs CO dose remaining in blood Room air 2.75 hrs, 70% 5.5 hrs, 50% 11 hrs, 25% 16.5 hrs, 12.5% 22 hrs, 6.125% Pure oxygen 45 min, 70% 1.5 hrs, 50% 3 hrs, 25% 4.5 hrs, 12.5% 6 hrs, 6.125%

They just don't make the alarm user friendly or fail proof. And most of us aren't scientists to know if it's a true detection or a false detection.

Inexpensive detectors are available from the pilots shop at your local airport. They are compulsary on all UK registered aircraft used for profit.

I just want to know where I can get one of those personal orange ones. I'd rather just walk around with that tbh. Also of course have good co2 alarms but I want that personal reader! Lol

Y'all remind me of the couple on Portlandia !

I think the whole “airtight homes are more prone to carbon monoxide” thing is a bit misleading. If the flue pipe on your old 80% efficient furnace rots out and breaks away from the main vent, your goin to have a co problem even though your house was built in the 40s.