Test the CO alarm near fuel-burning equipment

Fuel-burning equipment can leak carbon monoxide as it ages.

Who: You can do it yourself.

How often: Monthly (NFPA); Kidde and First Alert say weekly. For: the furnace, water heater, boiler, clothes dryer, range / oven.

Which do you have?

Which kind is yours: an AA battery alarm, a 10-year sealed alarm (no battery; the whole alarm is replaced), plug-in, hardwired, or a combination smoke and CO alarm. A combination alarm: press and release Test; the signal runs to every connected unit.

Never test with vehicle exhaust.
If it alarms and you didn’t press Test: everyone out, then call 911 from outside.

Time: The test sounds for 5-6 seconds.

Stand about 2.5 feet back, or cover your ears.
Press Test the way your model says: Kidde, press and release for more than a second; First Alert, press until it chirps.
Good: four beeps, a pause, four beeps. Digital models show 888, then numbers in the 200s, 888, then 0: these are not readings.
No sound, or a weak or erratic one: replace the alarm.
Vacuum the cover with the soft brush (First Alert: monthly; Kidde: at least yearly). No water, cleaners or paint.
Where they go: NFPA says on every level including the basement, outside each sleeping area, and in every bedroom.

Kidde: a chirp every 30 seconds means end of life or an error. First Alert: 5 chirps a minute means end of life, 3 a malfunction.
A number on the display with no alarm: Kidde’s pages say both “assume CO, leave and call 911” and “the peak level is a memory”. Follow your manual.

Add your home to My homes: each piece of equipment gets this on its own schedule, with “Mark done” and reminders you can turn on.

Your owner’s manual comes first: where it says something different for your model, follow it.

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