Carbon Monoxide Safety

Most households have an average of 4 to 6 fuel-burning appliances that produce carbon monoxide. Never use a portable fuel-burning appliance inside your house or garage (such as barbeques, portable heaters and generators). Don’t leave your car, lawnmower, snowblower, ATV or other gas-powered engine running in your garage, even if the garage door is open.

• Barbeques
• Dryers
• Generators
• Fireplaces
• Furnaces
• Hot water heaters and portable heaters
• Stoves
• Vehicle exhaust

Have your appliances checked by a professional

If your appliances are not maintained properly, if their vents get damaged or blocked, or if there isn’t enough airflow, dangerous levels of CO can build up inside your home, garage, or any enclosed space. Have a trained, TSSA-certified technician check your furnace, gas, stove, fireplace, fuel-burning appliances and vents yearly.

• Visit COsafety.ca to find a registered contractor near you.

• Install alarms according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
• Test your alarms once a month. Change the batteries at least once per year.
• For the best protection, interconnect all CO alarms throughout the home so that when one sounds, they all sound.
• When buying a CO alarm, look for a Canadian certification symbol, which indicates that it has been tested and meets safety standards.

Alarms in your house

Every home with a source of CO or an attached garage must have alarms to detect this deadly gas. A working CO alarm must be adjacent to each sleeping area and on every level of the home.

Alarms in your apartment or condo

The Ontario Fire Code requires that CO alarms be installed in condo and apartment buildings with a service room and adjacent to each sleeping area of all homes above, below, and beside the service room. In condos or apartment buildings with a garage, CO alarms must be installed adjacent to each sleeping area of all homes above, below, and beside the garage.

Landlord/tenant responsibilities

Landlords

• Must install and maintain CO alarms in their rental units
• Must test CO alarms in rental units annually, including when the battery is replaced, when changes are made to the electric circuit, or when a change of tenancy occurs.

Tenants

• Must notify the landlord if the alarm is not working properly
• It is against the law for tenants to remove the batteries or tamper with CO alarms.
• If the landlord does not provide working carbon monoxide alarms, call the Fire Department, and a Fire Inspector will attend.

Your CO alarm sounds different than your smoke alarm. Test both alarms monthly and ensure everyone in your home knows the difference between the sounds.

• Know the difference between the low-battery warning, the “end-of-life” warning, and the emergency alarm alerting you to the presence of CO in your home.
• A continuous set of four loud beeps - beep, beep, beep, beep - means carbon monoxide is present. Go outside, call 911, and stay out.
• A single chirp every 30 or 60 seconds means the battery is low and must be replaced.
• Chirping that continues after the battery has been replaced means the alarm is at the end of its life, and the unit must be replaced.  This sound can vary by manufacturer.

CO enters the body when you breathe and can poison you. High levels can be fatal, causing death within minutes. Symptoms include shortness of breath, headaches, nausea, dizziness, confusion, drowsiness, loss of consciousness and death.

If the carbon monoxide alarm sounds:

• Leave your home immediately and move to fresh air
• Do not try to locate the source of carbon monoxide
• Once outside, call 9-1-1
• Return to your home only after the problem has been fixed by a professional

Niagara Falls Fire Department
Fire Prevention Services
905-356-7521 ext. 2207
[email protected] 

• Canadian Gas Association – Carbon Monoxide Safety
• Fire Protection and Prevention Act
• Government of Canada – Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
• Government of Ontario – Office of the Fire Marshal - Carbon Monoxide Safety
• Ontario Fire Code
• Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) – Carbon Monoxide Safety
• Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) – Resources