Carbon Monoxide kills again, while they slept - Exuma, Bahamas

[DandyDon]

I think that I am known to be a fanatic about CO risks, while diving or not, but I really feel that too little is done to protect from this common yet toxic gas. I try to get my daughter as well as anyone else I know to take a CO alarm on any overnight trip. Hotels seldom have those in the rooms, sometimes not even Smoke alarms, but they all have water heaters, probably have room heaters even in the Caribbean and Central America, and many of those are gas burner heaters. These tourists paid a lot to stay at a Sandals resort, then again with their lives...

Carbon monoxide poisoning killed 3 U.S. tourists at Sandals Bahamas resort, reports say

Three American tourists found dead inside two villas at a resort in the Bahamas earlier this month suffered monoxide poisoning, local media reported.

www.seattletimes.com

 

[FettSolo]

Terrible to see that. Any recommendations on a reliable CO detector to travel with?

 

[DandyDon]

Terrible to see that. Any recommendations on a reliable CO detector to travel with?

Just grab one from a wall in your home. I hope that you have one in each bedroom. I think that they are all small and lightweight enough to be insignificant in your checked bags. Just make sure it's the first thing you unpack at the hotel, then again when you get home.

If you want one dedicated to travel, there are dozens of choices these days. Get one that detects CO and Smoke both. Walmart for example lists a couple hundred, but you would need to shop the details. The cheaper ones are unknown brands from overseas while Kidde and First Alert are the leading US brands even tho they are made overseas. Those cheaper models probably work ok, but I hate that most use AAA batteries - a personal objection of mine since I think that anything built with AAAs could have built to use AAs that have so much more reserve power.

I travel with a small Inspector (CO) INS2-CO-01 hung on my backpack as I enter the airport and go thru security, still there on the plane since none have their own CO alarms, then in my room until I leave for a dive, then used to check my tanks using a gallon ziplock. But then I take it everywhere as I know that most stores and even restaurants don't bother keeping one active. For important accuracy needs it'd need to be calibrated periodically, but for our needs - they have software that adjusts for sensor drift enough to keep us safe. Leave it on 24x7 and the battery will last at least a couple of years. Two years ago I bought a new one on sale instead of sending my old one back for biennial battery and sensor replacement, left the old one on to see how long it'll last, and it's almost to four years now, still working.

The problem with CO alarms is most are impossible to test. I'll take my smoke alarms out on my driveway in the fall along with a fire extinguisher, a metal coffee can, and rags and test them to confirm that they respond to smoke. Home CO alarms cannot be tested as they're designed to go off only at dangerous home levels, so all you can do is test them monthly and keep the batteries up to date, so I keep several even tho I live alone. Sensorcon CO alarms can be tested in a closed garage with a car and remote start, but that's risky. Be careful if you do.

By the way, today is the first of the month, the day I suggest everyone tests their Smoke and CO alarms. Push those buttons and check those batteries.

 

[FettSolo]

Thank you @DandyDon ! I'll look into the Inspector model you linked to.

 

[Thunder Struck]

I'm going to second @DandyDon 's suggestion about the SensorCon Inspector. I picked up one of these back in January 2022. I've used it for all sorts of things from the house, my work vehicle that spends a lot of time idling with me in it, as well as scuba tanks. I keep mine in the large ziplock bag in my dive bag, and will fill the bag with air from a cracked tank and let it sit in the back for a minute. My regular shop has an electrical compressor. A nice unit, filtered and tested to E grade O2 compatible, that they are proud of and maintain regularly. Not as much of a worry there as jumping onto a boat with unknown fills or from new shops.

There's a good video (non-diving related) covering the product here at the 7 minute mark. They also have a discount code in the video's description to get 20% off.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I got C0 poisoning once. Man, what an ordeal!
It gook me three days to get out of it and feel normal. Now whenever I’m in a shop somewhere working and someone’s running a vehicle I leave that instant or get them to shut it off. Those propane open flame space heaters are just as bad.
C0 poisoning is VERY REAL!!
Many people have probably had mild hits through their life but not bad enough to even suspect it. They probably just think they feel like crap for some other reason.
The scary part about C0 poisoning is that even if you remove yourself from the toxic environment while you are still conscious, you can still starve out for O2 and die. No amount of breathing pure O2 will help.