Carbon monoxide/smoke alarm

My smoke alarm needs replacing is it possible to get one that does smoke and carbon or will I need two

I installed one for both CO and Fire - its not compact but better than two hanging of the roof.
Test Weekly also - boy its loud in the unit

I for one am concerned about putting a CO/Smoke Alarm low down.

Both Smoke and CO are a lot lighter than air and rise quickly so if put low down say below Bed height by the time they set off the alarm if you were asleep the alarm is unlikely to wake you up or at best you would have inhaled a lot of poison.

Gas such as used in the van is very heavy hence the number of drop holes so that if it does escape it falls thro these and as far as I can find do not set off either a CO or Smoke alarm except after long exposure damages the sensors. Much more important to ensure that ALL the drop holes are not covered by mats, saucepans or anything else. I know that they can cause a draft in winter but better than not waking up as this is the main source of people being killed by gas in caravans/Motorhomes etc. Told this small item (making drop holes for gas lockers and under hobs ovens fridge etc) is often missed in self build or revamped units

I have separate CO and smoke alarms wall mounted level with my nose and test these every time before a trip.

Would love to hear other peoples comments on this very important issue

David

david,

being ignorant, but what are drop holes. Thanks for all that info. it is very important to discuss this issue, and i wonder do motorhome owners get the gas checked on a regular basis.

Jetty
Drop holes are where there is a hole drilled thro all the floors of the van usually about 2 inch 25mm diameter with either a plastic or metal mesh grill cover
On my van there are three where the gas bottles are stored, two under the cooker, two in the bed locker where the water heater is and two under the fridge.

Agree very important to have the gas checked every year for example although my van came with a good service history discovered that the gas pipe was out of date and was infact leaking very slightly but because of the drop holes all the escaping gas was just falling out of the van, without the drop holes we may not be here.

Problems occur of course when people do not have Habitational Checks and quite a lot don't or don't use a registered engineer
David