Colorado Requires CO Alarms Near Bedrooms
· 1 min read
Colorado has required carbon monoxide alarms in a large share of houses since 2009. The law is the Lofgren & Johnson Memorial CO Safety Act. A smoke detector does not satisfy it. CO is a different gas, and it needs its own sensor.
Who has to have one
The requirement covers homes with a fuel-burning appliance or an attached garage. Gas heat counts. So does a gas water heater, a gas fireplace, or a garage that shares a wall with the house. A lot of south-metro houses have both: a gas furnace and an attached garage. Those homes qualify twice over. One of those facts would have been enough.
Where it goes
The alarm has to work, and it has to be within 15 feet of the bedrooms. Also put one on each level. A combo unit in the hallway can cover smoke and CO in that spot. A smoke-only alarm in the bedroom does not.
The date on a CO sensor is often shorter than the smoke alarm next to it. Many CO sensors expire at seven years. The replace-by date is on the back. A unit installed to meet the 2009 law can be years past that date and still look like compliance from the hallway.
What we see in 2000-era houses
Homes built around 2000 were already standing when the law arrived. Some got a plug-in CO alarm on a bedroom outlet. Some got nothing. Plug-ins get unplugged for a vacuum and stay unplugged. A hardwired combo outside the bedrooms stays put, and the date on the back tells you whether it still counts.
On a visit we look at the heat source and the garage, then say where a CO alarm belongs. The price for that unit is the same per-detector price on the pricing page.