Don’t Let The Beep Steal Your Sleep – Replace Your CO Alarm

Thank you First Alert for sponsoring this post. Don’t let the beep steal your sleep.

Protecting Your Family

We all do our best to protect our families. I know that it’s quite literally the most important thing in my life today, tomorrow, and for decades to come. There are so many things we have to think about and worry about, right? We find the safest car seats and cars, we teach everyone to look both ways before they cross the street and we talk about calling 911 when help is needed. Worrying about the kids and your spouse is a daily occupation, but for very good reason. They are what life is all about it, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. We do our best to do the little things whenever we can. Sometimes the little things are either and sometimes they are a bit more complicated.

One very important, very easy way to protect your family from a silent but serious problem is to put carbon monoxide detectors throughout the house. It’s so small and so simple yet so powerful. Ever since I’ve owned a home, I’d had them in the house…and it’s great peace of mind. A good quality Carbon monoxide (CO) alarm saves lives. It’s as simple as that.

Carbon Monoxide Risk

Carbon monoxide is an invisible, odorless, and deadly gas that can be produced by any fuel-burning device, such as a furnace, boiler, stove, or car. It is one of the leading causes of accidental poisoning deaths in America, yet many people don’t know they are suffering from CO poisoning until its too late. Since symptoms of CO poisoning are like the flu, you might not even know you’re in danger at first. That’s why a carbon monoxide alarm is an excellent way to protect your family. It can detect the CO you can’t see, smell or taste in the air. CO alarms detect the poisonous gas and provide an early warning.

Carbon Monoxide is deadly because it robs you of what you need most: oxygen, which is carried to your cells and tissue by the hemoglobin in your blood. If you inhale CO, it quickly bonds with hemoglobin and displaces oxygen.

CO Alarm and Safety Tips

I really think it’s vitally important for everyone to follow this practice. It’s really just about common sense and safety. Here are some tips I think will help secure your home and family:

• Have fuel-burning heating equipment and chimneys inspected by a qualified professional every year before cold weather arrives. During the heating season, clear filters and filtering systems of dust and dirt.
• Be sure to open the flue for adequate ventilation when using a fireplace.
• Inspect the pilot lights on natural gas appliances to ensure that the flame is blue. When a flame is mostly yellow in color, it likely is producing CO.
• Clean out the lint and debris that may build up in the clothes dryer vent which leads to the outside of the house.
• Only use generators in a well-ventilated location outdoors away from windows, doors and vent openings.
• Use barbeque grills only outside and never indoors or in the garage.
• Never leave an auto running in a garage, even for a couple of minutes and not even if the overhead garage door is open.
• Install a CO alarm outside each sleeping area and on every level of the home, including the basement, as recommended by the National Fire Protection Association. Ensure that the alarms are plugged all the way in the outlet or, if battery operated, have working batteries installed. For better protection go a step further and install CO alarms inside each sleeping area.
• First Alert recommends replacing CO alarms no later than every 5-7 years.

CO Alarm Legislation

Many states adopted new building codes that took effect in 2011. In most of these cases, this means that one-and-two-family homes feature a CO alarm whose useful life of seven years is expiring or will expire soon. The states affected are California, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma Oregon, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. Even if your state isn’t listed above, I think it’s wise to do whatever you can to make sure you and your family is protected.

Where to Install CO Alarms

While I love having CO alarms all around the entire house, there are some prime places that are recommended as “must-have” locations in your home. Check out the graphic below:

Check Out This Video

I love sharing great videos. It just understanding things a lot easier for most of us. Here’s a great video from First Alert I want to share. Hopefully this really hammers home the importance of protecting you and yours with a CO alarm!

• CO Alarm with 10-Year Battery and Digital Temperature Display
• CO Alarm, Battery Powered
• Combination Photoelectric Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm with 10-Year Battery
• CO Plug-In Alarm with Battery Backup
• CO Plug-In Alarm withBattery Backup and Digital Display

These units are all awesome in their owns ways. They are all very powerful, stylish and versatile. I love that most are designed to sit on a tabletop or dresser and display ambient temperature while always on the ready to alarm if it detects carbon monoxide in the home. It’s the ideal blend of form and function plus it’s so quick and easy to set-up You don’t even have to get on a ladder!!!

One aspect that I really love with some of these units is the long life sealed lithium battery used to power the alarm for a full 10 years without replacing the battery. That’s insane and it’s the biggest issue with detectors like this. This eliminates costly battery replacements and annoying low battery chirps in the middle of the night. An end-of-life alarm signals when it’s time to replace the unit in 10 years.

Find Out More

There’s just too much to talk about with these amazing units. To find out how you can protect your greatest asset with a CO alarm by checking out:

• FirstAlert.com
• Twitter.com/firstalert
• Facebook.com/FirstAlertSafety
• YouTube.com/user/FirstAlertSafety
• Search #ReplaceYourCOAlarms

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.