Carbon monoxide detectors required by law

June 21, 2011

California residents will be required to install carbon monoxide detectors into their single-family homes beginning July 1 to protect against poisoning and accidental death from the odorless gas. [MercuryNews]

About 30 to 40 Californians die each year from carbon monoxide poisoning; more than 400 die each year throughout the U.S.

The detectors will alert residents to dangerous accumulations of the gas before it can cause serious injury or death.

Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include headaches, fatigue, nausea, dizziness, confusion, and irritability. Advanced symptoms include vomiting, loss of consciousness, brain damage and death.

The law, written state Sen. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, aims to protect residents from carbon monoxide gases escaping from appliances that burn gas, wood or coal.

Multifamily dwellings such as apartment buildings or condominiums have until the Jan. 13, 2013, to comply with the new law.


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Yep, probably just another greedy, self-serving, good for nothing, politician out to line his own pockets as well as someone he knows in the industry. And did you know that CO detectors have a limited lifespan of maybe 3-6 years so it will be a gift that keeps on giving. How diabolicle.


I just got one of those contraptions, but the problem for me is, how to tell if the battery is good? Some of the batteries I buy seem to be bad, right off the shelf. I stick them in the detector, and they all beep, which is the way the detector tells you the battery is low and its time to replace it. Or maybe the detector is malfunctioning? I think I’ll get a canary….


Can we all say….Nanny State?


Californication is the 50th most regulated state in the union. Just what we need. What about a flatulent detectors in Sacatomatoes?