6) Testing requirements have been inserted into the new standard. However, functional tests won’t take effect until 2012, and sensitivity tests won’t take effect until 2015.
One of the more significant requirements in NFPA 720-2009 pertains to CO detector testing. Many AHJs, engineers and building owners have requested the ability to test a CO detector just as they are able to test a smoke detector with canned smoke. The NFPA technical committee agreed that testing should be required, but it wanted to give manufacturers enough time to implement safe testing protocols.
The new CO1224T detector from System Sensor already meets this testing requirement. (See “New Carbon Monoxide Detector Tests Cells to Assure Functionality.”)
Thus, functional testing will only apply to system detectors installed after January 1, 2012. At that time, CO tests will be required at initial acceptance and then annually by introduction of CO into the sensing chamber or element. An electronic check (magnets, analog values, etc.) would not comply with this requirement.
Sensitivity testing will take effect January 1, 2015. In units other than one- and two-family dwellings, sensitivity of CO detectors and single- and multiple-station CO alarms will need to be checked within one year after installation and every alternate year thereafter, unless otherwise permitted. After the second required calibration test, if sensitivity tests indicate that the device has remained within its listed and marked sensitivity range, the length of time between calibration tests can be extended to five years.
7) NFPA 720 clarifies what supervisory stations should do when they receive a CO alarm signal.
One area of considerable confusion in the industry has been what the supervising station should do when a CO alarm signal from the protected premises is received. Off-premises signal transmission requirements for commercial buildings now set a priority of signals. A CO alarm signal must be distinctively indicated as a CO alarm signal and needs to be distinct from a fire alarm signal and take priority over supervisory or trouble signals.
If the communications methodology is shared with any other usage, all fire alarm, CO alarm, supervisory and trouble signals will take priority, in that order of priority, over all other signals unless otherwise permitted by the AHJ. If the order of the signal priority cannot be assured, the maximum duration between the initiation of an alarm signal at the protected premises, transmission of the signal, and subsequent display and recording of the alarm signal at the supervising station shall not exceed 90 seconds.
Upon receipt of a CO alarm signal, supervising station personnel will immediately retransmit indication of the signal to the communications center (where required by the emergency response agency) and contact responsible party(s) in accordance with the notification plan.
For households, off-premise transmissions shall immediately retransmit indication of the CO alarm signal to the emergency response agency, where required, and contact the responsible party(s). Once contacted, the occupants must be informed of proper actions, such as evacuating and counting heads.
Carbon Monoxide Deaths Prompt Legislative, Legal Action• North Branch, Minn., resident Andrew Carlson, 17, was killed and his parents were hospitalized in December 2006 as a result of faulty installation of a boiler system in their home. According to a state report, CO built up in the home because a contractor failed to completely hook up the boiler’s combustion ducts. The state of Minnesota now requires building inspectors to have national certification documenting their competency to ensure furnace installations meet code requirements. • A pool mechanic was acquitted in the death of tennis star Vitas Gerulaitis, who was overcome by CO from an improperly vented pool heater in September 1994. Gerulaitis, 40, died while napping in a pool-house bedroom on a Long Island, New York, estate. • A British jury found a builder guilty of manslaughter in April 2008 in the death of Robert Schenker, who died of CO poisoning after the builder blocked the flue leading from Schenker’s kitchen boiler. |
8 ) CO notification appliances must meet certain audible and visible requirements.
In most cases, the integral sounder of a CO detector will be sufficient for notifying occupants of commercial and residential buildings. The audible CO alarm shall be a temporal 4 signal consisting of a single-tone pattern including four cycles of 100 milliseconds ±10 percent “on” and 100 milliseconds ±10 percent “off,” followed by five seconds ±10 percent “off.” After the initial four minutes of alarm, the five-second “off ” time can be changed to 60 seconds ±10 percent. The alarm signal should repeat until the alarm resets or is manually silenced and is synchronized within the notification zone.
The new standard does not require the installation of CO horns and strobes throughout a building. It allows occupant notification to be limited to the notification zone encompassing the area where the CO signal is originated, if the CO alarm signal is transmitted to a constantly attended on-site location or off-premises location.
The new standard spells out specific requirements for A/V devices, if they are installed. Notification appliances for CO signaling cannot have the word FIRE, or any form of a fire symbol, on the appliance that is visible to the public. Notification appliances with multiple visible elements shall be permitted to have fire markings only on those visible elements used for fire signaling.
Lights used for CO signaling shall be clear or nominal white, or it can be another color as required by the emergency plan or AHJ for the area or building. Lights shall not exceed 1000 cd.
Tags: Carbon monoxide, Guidelines
Posted in Carbon Monoxide Detection, Commercial, Fall 2008, Guidelines, NFPA
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