Carbon Monoxide Detectors Now Mandatory In Ontario

Carbon Monoxide detectors are now mandatory in all homes in Ontario.

Carbon Monoxide (CO) is a toxic gas that is odorless, tasteless and invisible.

CO is produced when fossil fuels burn incompletely due to insufficient oxygen. Fuels that can cause CO include natural gas, propane, kerosene, gasoline, coal, wood and charcoal.

Unlike smoke, Carbon Monoxide mixes evenly with the air. It is not necessary to have a CO detector installed on every floor of your home, but should be located where it would be most likely to wake you up if a dangerous situation were to suddenly occur. A typical home may have one installed upstairs in the hallway outside the bedrooms, and if there is a bedroom or sleeping area in the basement, then you should have one there too.

CO detectors come in battery-operated portable models, or can simply be plugged into any 120 volt electrical outlet. They may also be hard-wired into your home, and in this case they would normally be installed on the ceiling. Since CO does mix evenly with the air in your home, it is not crucial that your CO detector be installed on the ceiling.

Portable CO detectors need to be re-calibrated at least once every 5 years. If your’s is older than that it would be prudent to replace it.

There have been news articles in our area in recent history about people dying in their homes due to carbon monoxide poisoning, and I’m sure you have heard about this happening. We have a customer who’s carbon monoxide detector woke up their family at four o’clock in the morning. They called the Fire Department and they told him it was because of his furnace.

His gas furnace was only 12 years old but had developed a crack in the heat exchanger. He called us early in the morning and we are able to install a new furnace for him that day. He took the opportunity to upgrade to a high-efficiency model. Lucky for him and his family that they did have that carbon monoxide detector. There’s proof right there that they do save lives.