Aico 260 User Manual
®
Product Guide for
Carbon Monoxide Alarms
(68.6)
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Effective Solutions from
Why you should fit Ca
The Ei range of Carbon Monoxide alarms from Aico provides high quality,reliable detection of Carbon Monoxide (CO).With over 30 years
experience in the fire and gas detection industry our proven high quality design,manufacturing and testing processes have established us as
Europe's leading manufacturer of residential smoke, heat and carbon monoxide detection products.We provide high performance products
tailored to the needs of specifiers,contractors and house-owners .
Quality in our life saving products is never compromised.We have a record of industry firsts including the first BSI Kitemarked range,the first
rechargeable back-up power supply in a smoke alarm,the first mains powered heat alarm,the first with hush technology across the range and
the
only
Easi-fit design.
CO - The Housing Health & Safety
Rating System - the Landlords
responsibility.
The Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) is the
new risk assessment procedure to replace the Housing Fitness
Regime and the Fitness Standard as an element of the Decent
Homes Standard.It came into force on 6th April
2006 in England and it will follow in Wales later in
the year. The HHSRS Operating Guidance
recognises that CO exposure can be a
significant hazard to occupants and states
that it is the landlords responsibility to assess
the risk of a CO leak in a property.
Scotland has a similar scheme to the
HHSRS in the Scottish Housing
Quality Standard.
House of Commons All Party
Parliamentary Gas Safety Group Shouting about a silent killer: Raising
CO awareness
Report as Published 14th September 2006
“We believe that there are ways of increasing the number of
reliable CO detectors in the home and would expect the
mortgage and insurance industries to find innovative ways to
ensure every home has one which is both audible and
approved to British Standard.There should be an expectation
that in order to complete a mortgage, or insure a property,
both CO and smoke detectors should be a requirement for all
homes.”
What is CO & why does it need to
be monitored?
Carbon Monoxide is an invisible,odourless , tasteless and
extremely toxic gas that,if inhaled, can cause serious ill effects
- justifying its name as 'The Silent Killer'.CO is readily a bsorbed
by haemoglobin in the blood - approximately 240 times more
efficiently than oxygen. This causes serious damage to the
heart and brain from oxygen starvation.
How is CO produced?
Carbon Monoxide originates from the combustion of any
fossil fuel coal,bottled and natural gas, paraffin,wood,petrol, diesel,
charcoal etc.
What are the main sources of CO?
All Fossil fuel burning appliances produce CO,this is nor mally
vented through flues and chimneys to the outside atmosphere.
However, if the process is not entirely efficient,CO can build up to
dangerous levels.Examples of possible causes are:
Poorly connected, blocked, cracked or corroded
flue pipe/vent
Flue pipes/vents are designed to allow the CO produced by the
appliance to vent to the outside atmosphere.If the flue is not
operating correctly or is damaged,CO may leak into the
property. Even if there is an annual check on the appliance/s,
flues and vents remain a potential hazard.
Back drafting
Building Regulation requirements
for energy efficient homes and a
greater emphasis on air extraction
e.g.bathroom and kitchen fans,
means there is a risk of creating
negative air pressure.This can
cause reverse airflow through
appliances resulting in dangerous
levels of CO being drawn back
into the property.
Cracked heat exchanger on gas central heating
system
This will result in a large amount of CO leakage and is therefore a
particularly dangerous possibility.
Appliances without flues
Some fuel burning appliances do not have flues. Portable
heaters, cooking rings and grills are particular ly vulnerable as are
old appliances. Whether burning liquid gas, paraffin, natural gas
or wood,each are capa ble of emitting dangerous levels of CO.
2
The UK Market Leader
chimney
or
flue
Europe's Leading Manufacturer
3
Service & Availability
At Aico we believe the ver y best alar m technology should be
accompanied by the very best support possible.We offer
unrivalled product information for specifiers, installers and end users
of our products.
On the ground we have an experienced regionally based
technical sales team,a highly trained customer ser vices
department and a responsive sales office. Our products are
distributed to the trade locally via most electrical wholesalers
throughout the UK. Expert training and on site installation advice is
readily available.
What are the effects of CO poisoning?
Carbon Monoxide poisoning can have a very serious,even fatal,
effect on the body. Unfortunately, most people are unaware that a
relatively low level of CO exposure for a prolonged period can
have the same effect as a high level of CO exposure for a short
period.A major problem is that the symptoms of CO poisoning can
easily be confused with other common illnesses - such as cold and
flu.The table details the effects of cumulative CO exposure.
Is there any evidence of CO in
the home?
In January 2006, the Bartlett School of Graduate Studies at the
University College London,in par tnership with Guys & St. Thomas
Hospital,carr ied out a sur vey into indoor CO exposure. It was
found that 18% of the homes monitored had CO levels that
exceeded the World Health Organisation (W.H.O.) guidelines.
32 Members of Parliament repor t to
the Gover nment on the danger s of
CO poisoning
The publication of a report by the House of Commons All Party
Parliamentary Gas Safety Group (APPGSG) in September
2006 has once again raised serious questions concerning the
dangers of CO poisoning in the home.The repor t titled “
Shouting
about a silent killer: Raising carbon monoxide awareness”
looks
at all aspects of the dangers that CO can create and makes
proposals on what action should be taken to address these
issues.As the title suggests , the main focus is on raising awareness
of CO and its dangers with the general public,but it makes
some very pertinent comments for Landlords to take into serious
consideration:
Excerpts from APPGSG Report 14th September 2006
• Too many people continue to be harmed or even killed as a
result of this entirely preventable problem.
• One death from CO poisoning is one too many.
• Improving CO detection by emergency workers and
increasing the number of reliable CO detectors in the home is
key to the fight to tackle CO poisoning incidents.Every home
should have a CO detector with an audible alarm.We call on
mortgage and insurance companies to investigate whether
requiring all homes to have such an alarm should be part of
granting a mortgage or insurance cover.
CO Parts
per
million
Symptoms
Ei Alarm
Response
time
50ppm
Shortness of breath on
physical exertion, tightness
felt across forehead.
Within 90
mins
150ppm Headache after 1 hr.
Within 40
mins
200ppm
Headache, fatigue, dizziness,
nausea after 2-3hrs.
Within 40
mins
400ppm
Frontal headache within 12hrs, life threatening after
3hrs.
Within 3
mins
800ppm
Dizziness, nausea &
convulsions within 45
minutes. Unconsciousness
Within 3
mins
1,600pp Headache, dizziness & nausea
within 20 minutes. Death
within 1hr.
Within 3
mins
3,200pp Headache, dizziness & nausea
within 5-10 minutes. Death
within 25-30 minutes.
Within 3
mins
6,400pp
Headache, dizziness & nausea
within 1-2 minutes. Death
within 10-15 minutes.
Within 3
mins
• The HSE has an important role to play.We press the HSE to
introduce a zero-fatality target on CO poisoning.
• Stacy Rogers [Dominic Rogers Trust] proposed that CO
detectors should be a mandatory requirement for all rented
accommodation.
Calibration The Answer to Reliable Detection
4
The BS EN 50291 British and European Standard for CO Alarms requires a much lower trigger level than the previous BS 7860,w hich it
supersedes.This is designed to give added protection to the more vulnerable members of society: the ver y young and the elderly.
However, this can mean that nuisance alarm from very low levels of CO can occur if the sensor is not very accurately calibrated.To
minimise this risk:
• Prior to alar m assembly every Ei CO sensor is independently calibrated at the factor y in CO gas
• After alarm assembly every Ei CO Alarm is fur ther tested in CO gas at the factor y
These facts,coupled with sustained levels of quality throughout the manufacturing process ensure the ver y highest standard of
reliability and immunity from nuisance alarm.
Comprehensive Precision Calibration and Tes ting at 5 s tages of the
Manufacturing Process
The sensors are analysed
and are grouped
according to their
response.Each group is
then installed into a
specifically calibrated
circuit within the alarm,
ensuring that all alarms
accurately respond
when subjected to CO
gas.
* When CO is inhaled,it combines with the
haemoglobin in the blood to form
Carboxyhaemoglobin (COHb).The CO displaces
the oxygen attached to the haemoglobin and as
such causes oxygen starvation throughout various
parts of the body.
BS EN 50291:2001 requires CO Alarms to trigger
before the %COHb in a typical user has risen
above approx 5 % COHb at low CO levels, such
as 50 ppm CO.At higher levels,such as 300 ppm
CO,the alarms must trigger before the level in a
typical user has risen above 2 %COHb.The effects
of COHb vary from one person to another,
people at most risk are the elderly,the very
young,pregnant women and those whose health
is already compromised.The adjacent chart
shows that the level of CO present over a period
of time increases the %COHb and that Ei CO
alarms respond well before a dangerous %COHb
level is reached.However, it should be noted that
people with heart disease and other associated
illnesses may suffer har mful effects even at low
COHb levels.
1
Ei CO alarms made to exceed BS EN 50291: 2001 Precise and reliable calibration is now even more important
2
3
Sensors mounted on
bespoke calibration
circuits are loaded into
the CO enclosure,w here
the CO gas exposure
program can be run.
Once recorded,the
sensors are loaded into
a custom interface to
extract data on each
individual sensor’s
response.
As the CO gas exposure
program is run,the
sensors are subject to
precise CO levels for set
times with each sensor’s
individual response
being recorded by the
calibration circuitry.
4
Following assembly, all
finished alarms are
functionally checked for
response and accuracy
in CO gas before
despatch.
5
Nominal Time to Alarm & % COHb
80
70
60
50
40
30
Time (minutes)
20
Alarm Response
10
0
0
Ei CO Alarm Trigger Level
▲
▲
50 100 150 200 250
CO Parts per million
Every Ei Alarm calibrated at these critical points
Nominal COHb level at
Ei Alarm Trigger points
▲
▲
▲
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
% COHb*
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