Warning over faulty CO2 alarm

3:00pm Thursday 12th July 2007

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A WARNING about the dangers of using a faulty 'killer gas' alarm has been issued by Kent Trading Standards.

The organisation says the Proteam carbon monoxide gas alarm can not be relied to on detect the potentially fatal gas.

The alarm which comes with an adapter so it can be used abroad, has been available over the last four months from high street outlets as well as via the internet and through newspapers and other mail order publications.

The alarms are sold either individually or in a pack with the travel adapter, and are claimed to sound an alarm when potentially dangerous levels of carbon monoxide gas are detected.

There are various defects with the items, but crucially some batches fail to detect carbon monoxide and sound the alarm before consumers are exposed to potentially dangerous levels of the gas.

The instruction leaflet does not make clear how the alarm operates or what action to take if the alarm does sound.

Additionally, the travel adapter may present a risk of electric shock.

The importer of the alarms is recalling items marked with batch numbers P06/001400, P06/001474 and P06/001481 but it is feared that faulty products may still be in use in peoples' homes, or being kept for holidays abroad.

Carbon monoxide gas is a colourless, odourless, tasteless, toxic gas which is produced by the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels such as gas, oil, coal and wood, which are used in boilers, gas fires, water heaters and open fires.

Dangerous amounts of carbon monoxide can collect as a result of poor installation, poor maintenance or failure or damage to an appliance, when fuel is not burned properly, or when rooms are poorly ventilated and the carbon monoxide gas is unable to escape.

Early symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, such as headaches, nausea, and fatigue, are often mistaken for flu when the deadly gas goes undetected.

Prolonged exposure can lead to brain damage and death.

The packaging for the alarm and travel adapter set carries the British Standards Institution (BSI) Kitemark, but the product does not carry a Kitemark licence and has not been tested by BSI.

Products or services which bear a valid Kitemark symbol should display their Kitemark licence and standard number adjacent to, or underneath the symbol.

Trading Standards advises anyone who has the alarm and the adapter to stop using them immediately.

A spokesman for the organisation said: "Consumers who purchase goods which are not of satisfactory quality are entitled to a refund from their supplier."

For further advice, call 08454 04 05 06.