Standard Considerations Moving Forward

By G. E. Kerr

As you may have noticed in the previous Writings in this Section, I STRONGLY feel that  ANY  STANDARD  that does  NOT  REQUIRE  “Time of Manufacture”  and “Life -Time”  Reliability   TESTING   REQUIREMENTS,  CAN  NOT,  MUST  NOT,   be  CALLED  a  “LIFE - SAFETY”  STANDARD   ! ! !

 REQUIREMENTS for  “ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, and REPEATABILITY”, ..... MUST be a KEY part of   ANY  STANDARD.

How can the CONSUMER have ANY CONFIDENCE in a STANDARD that PERMITS a Manufacturer to build a CO Alarm, who ADMITS that under “Perfect Conditions”, with an “Un-Contaminated” Sensor, their ACCURACY is ..... PLUS 100%, ..... MINUS 40%.

In FACT, ..... maybe this  EXPLAINS  WHY, a “Standard” would give a Manufacturer a THREE, [ 3 ], HOUR  “Loop Hole”  in which the C O Alarm can  “FINALLY”  Activate, ... at   70 ppm, ..... whereas, ...  a  BETTER,  EN50291,  CENELEC  STANDARD, ..... permits  ONLY ..... 30 MINUTES ..... “Loop-Hole”, [ Elapsed Time ], within which the Alarm  MUST ACTIVATE, ..... at   50 ppm, .............. NOT ..... 70 ppm. 

Also,   IF, ... you read closely the previous comments in my “Be Aware” Section on the TWO, [ 2 ], Sensor Technologies used in the Majority of the C O Alarms presently in the Homes, [& Stores] in North America, ... you have Learned that  EVERY ONE, ... will Eventually go into a “FULL FALSE Alarm”,  if they have NOT become Contaminated, or previously replaced for some other reason. ..... EVERY   ONE, ..... EVERY   TIME  ! ! !

This being the CASE, ..... since the  Standard  Writing  Organizations  WILL   NOT,   PROHIBIT the use of these Sensors, ..... does it not make TOTAL COMMON SENSE to REQUIRE that ALL CO Alarms, ... ALL ..., incorporate a “KILL  SWITCH”, ..... [ End of Life Control ], that will put the Alarms into an “ERROR” Mode, thereby Notifying the Consumer that it is TIME to REPLACE  the CO Alarm, .... and  therein  GREATLY REDUCING the TOTAL Number of  “FALSE”  CO  Alarm  Responses required of our First Responders.

To Provide the PROPER Level of Protection, that the CONSUMER is ENTITLED to Expect  from a  “Life-Safety” Product, ..... WILL  REQUIRE  IMPROVED  QUALITY CONTROL  Procedures  by the Manufacturers, ..... and  WILL add Slightly to the END COST to the Consumer; however, ..... there is NO QUESTION, ..... that in the Name of “LIFE - SAFETY”, .......... these things   MUST   BE   DONE  ! ! !

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