Voluntary Standards - Vented Gas Appliances/CO Sensors

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Vented Gas Appliances/CO Sensors (Last Updated 05/09/2006)

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) staff is participating in voluntary standards activities to address CO poisoning hazards associated with vented gas heating appliances in support of CPSC’s strategic goal of reducing carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning deaths. The staff is working with the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Z21/83 Committee to develop a performance requirement that appliances shut down, or exhibit some other preemptive response, when dangerous levels of CO within the appliance are detected. The scope of this project includes vented residential gas heating appliances, such as gas furnaces, boilers, and vented space heaters and fireplaces, that use natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LP-gas) for fuel. If these products are not properly installed or maintained, or if they experience component malfunction or defect, they may not burn their fuel completely, resulting in the production of dangerous levels of CO.

Heating systems historically have been the leading cause of unintentional, non-fire CO poisoning deaths associated with consumer products. From 1999-2002, heating systems of all types were associated with 77 of the 141 average estimated non-fire CO poisoning deaths associated with consumer products. During the same period, natural gas, LP-gas, and unspecified gas heating systems were associated with an average yearly estimate of 66 deaths, or 86% of all heating system deaths.

In 2001, CPSC staff began an investigation of combustion gas sensing technologies that might be used to detect CO in appliance flue passageways and provide a shutoff or other preemptive response to dangerous levels of CO. The staff has conducted demonstrations of the efficacy of some of these technologies. Currently, the staff is working with Sandia National Laboratories on a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) sensor technology. In 2006, staff will work with Sandia to demonstrate the use of this sensor to shut down a gas furnace in response to excess CO levels in the flue. The staff will also continue to explore and demonstrate the efficacy of promising commercially available sensor technologies.

Additional Information

Safety Alerts:

Fact Sheets:

  • The INvisible Killer (PDF)

  • What You Should Know About Combustion Appliances and Indoor Air Pollution (HTML)

Incident Data:

Voluntary Standard and Code Activities:

CPSC Staff Reports, Memoranda and Contracts:

Contact Canadian Standards Association-America

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