A new law that aims to keep families safe from carbon monoxide poisoning goes into effect Monday in Michigan.
Signed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm last Thursday, the “Overbeck Law” requires all new homes built in the state to have carbon monoxide detectors.
Lawmakers said the detectors must be installed within 10 feet of a bedroom, but state codes may be revised to require at least one detector on each floor of a home.
A second bill has been proposed that would require carbon monoxide detectors in Michigan hotel rooms. The bill is awaiting Granholm’s approval.
The bill is named after Patty and Gene Overbeck, who died in 2003 from carbon monoxide poisoning in their retirement home on Elk Lake in Antrim County.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, carbon monoxide poisoning is the leading cause of accidental poisoning in the U.S. and kills more than 500 people a year.
I also recommend a carbon monoxide alarm, I test for it too ( just started awhile ago).
Just last week found a unit 16ppm . (Old furnace) I away tried checking the heat exchanger and always recommend service . A lot of people do not get their furnace checked around here. I am always hearing i have not had a problem for years . This year alone had 3 furnaces with holes and buyer,s got a new one .
So let me get this straight. You own one, use it on occasion, but never report on the findings? Do you just communicate to your client verbally when something is found?
One county in my service area requires CO monitors in ALL residential buildings. Even all electric homes and without attached garages. (BIG BROTHER is watching you!)
I disclaim them because I am not required by my state’s SOP to report about CO alarms or to enforce silly laws passed by silly people.
They are usually impossible to distinguish from a smoke alarm anyway.