Alecto COA26 Low Level Carbon Monoxide Alarm Instruction Manual

Alecto COA26 Low-Level Carbon Monoxide Alarm

GENERAL

What is carbon monoxide?
Carbon monoxide, designated CO, is also called carbon monoxide. It is a colorless, tasteless, odorless, and poisonous gas. ATTENTION This is CO (carbon monoxide) and not CO2 (carbon dioxide).

YOU CAN NOT SEE, SMELL OR TASTE CARBON MONOXIDE

AND IT CAN BE FATAL.
CO is emitted as part of a hot gas mix and therefore it tends to rise until it cools down. This is in contrast to CO2, which is heavier than air and drops.
All fuel types can produce carbon monoxide.

Most common CO sources:
The most common carbon monoxide sources are (faulty) gas devices used for:

• Heating (Central heating boiler, Geyser, gas heater, portable fuel stoves)
• Cooking
• Vehicles running in an adjacent garage
• Clogged chimneys, smoke ducts or fireplaces
• Fuel-powered tools
• The use of open fire in an enclosed space

The COA26 does not detect any gases other than CO gas.
Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning:
Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning are dizziness, fatigue, weakness, headaches, nausea, vomiting, sleepiness and confusion.
Everybody is sensitive to the dangers of carbon monoxide, experts agree however that small children, pregnant women and their unborn babies, elderly people and persons with heart or breathing problems have the highest risk of serious or even fatal injuries. Every year an authorized installer must inspect and clean your heating system, vents, chimney and smoke ducts.

Important:

• This CO detector is not a replacement for smoke, fire or other detectors.
• The detector must be installed by a competent person.
• This detector cannot protect people with special medical conditions
• This detector might not prevent any chronic health effects of carbon monoxide on the body.
• This CO detector is not a replacement for the correct installation, use and periodic maintenance of combustion equipment, nor adequate ventilation of spaces in which these devices are being used.
• We recommend you to weekly test the CO detector using the “TEST” button on the CO detector.
• This CO detector only sounds the alarm when carbon monoxide is present at its sensor. Therefore, it’s possible for carbon monoxide to be present elsewhere and the alarm doesn’t sound.
• When the alarm sounds, possible harmful carbon monoxide levels are present.

Carbon monoxide can be deadly.

CO

concentration

| Period of inhaling and symptoms
---|---
50PPM| The maximum concentration a healthy adult can withstand in 8 hours.
200PPM| After 2-3 hours, mild headache, sensations of weakness, dizziness, nausea.
400PPM| Within 1-2 hours, ache in forehead; after 3 hours, life-threatening.
800PPM| Within 45 mins, dizziness, nausea, convulsions; Loss of consciousness within 2 hours; Fatal within 2-3 hours.
1600PPM| Within 20 mins, headache, dizziness, nausea; Fatal within 1 hour.
3200PPM| Within 5-10 mins, headache, dizziness, nausea; Fatal within 25-30 mins.
6400PPM| Within 1-2 min, headache, dizziness, nausea; Fatal within 10-15 mins.
12800PPM| Fatal within 1-3 min.

Alarm

When the CO detector sounds the alarm, carbon monoxide (CO) might be present which can be fatal. Therefore, never ignore this alarm. On alarm, the red ALARM LED will flash rapidly 8 times and emit 8 short audible beeps. When the carbon monoxide concentration drops below 40PPM, the alarm will stop.

What to do when the alarm sounds:

1.  Open doors and windows and immediately do outside into the fresh air. Check whether everybody has left the building.
2.  Call an official installer to inspect the correct functioning and state of maintenance of the combustion source (gas or oil powered equipment) that could be the cause for the CO alarm.
3.  Only enter the building again after the cause has been resolved and the building has been well ventilated.

The alarm sound can be turned off for 10 minutes by pressing the TEST button (<150PPM). If the CO concentration drops, the alarm will eventually stop automatically.

Recommended locations for the installation of the COA26 General

• Install the CO detector in a location where the alarm can be heard inside bedrooms.
• In houses with multiple floors, it’s recommended to install a CO detector on each floor.
• Install the detector on a spot where the weekly check can be performed easily.

In spaces without combustion devices

• Install the CO detector in spaces without combustion devices, preferably at breathing height.
• Install the CO detector way from of roof ridges, corners. arched ceilings or front roofs.
• Install the CO detector 60 centimeters from surrounding walls and ceilings.

In spaces with combustion devices

• Install the CO detector at 1 to 3 meters away from combustion devices, within the air flow from the combustion device.
• Install the CO detector way from of roof ridges, corners. arched ceilings or front roofs.
• In the case of smaller spaces (<4m³), the detector should be installed outside these spaces.
• Install the CO detector 60 centimeters from surrounding walls and ceilings.
• Installation on both walls and ceiling is possible in rooms with a combustion device.

In bedrooms

• Install the CO alarm in bedrooms at breathing height while sleeping.
• Install the CO detector way from of roof ridges, corners. arched ceilings or front roofs.

AVOID THE FOLLOWING PLACES FOR INSTALLATION

• Do not install the CO-detector in the turbulent air created by ceiling fans.
• Do not install the CO-detector near vents with fresh air.
• Do not install the CO-detector near doors and windows leading outdoors.
• Do not install the CO-detector near extremely dusty, dirty or greasy spaces such as heating spaces <4m³ or pantries. Dust, grease and household chemicals can affect the sensor.
• Install the CO detector at least 0.5 meters away from gas discharge lamps (halogen) because of electronic interferences that can lead to false alarms.
• Do not install the CO detector in humid and wet spaces, such as the bathroom.
• Never install the CO detector in spaces with temperatures lower than 0°C or higher than 45°C.
• Never install the CO detector in spaces with humidity higher than 90%RH.
• Never install the CO detector behind curtains or furniture. Carbon monoxide must be able to reach the sensor to ensure the sensor can properly detect carbon monoxide levels.
• Never install the CO detector flat on a table or similar surface.
• Never install the CO detector in spaces where spray cans may be used (hair spray, deodorant)

INSTALLATION

1. Insert the included batteries into the detector.
   • Turn the securing pins inward
   • Insert the three AA batteries. (High Energy Alkaline batteries 1.5V AA – LR6)
   •  All LEDs will briefly illuminate, the detector will emit a short audiosignal.
2.  Install the mounting plate on a suitable spot
3.  Use the included plugs and screws.
4.  You can perform the first test by briefly pressing the test button, see also paragraph “Testing”.
5.  The CO detector is now functional.

USE

1. Every 24 seconds the green LED lights briefly to indicate that the detector is working.
2. If the detector gives a short blip every 24 seconds and the yellow “Fault” LED flashes, the batteries should be replaced as soon as possible. The detector will continue to operate in standby mode for 30 days or in alarm mode for 2 hours.
3. The table below shows when the detector will sound the alarm.
   CO concentration| NO ALARM

for

| ALARM

for

---|---|---
33PPM| 120 min.| –
55PPM| 60 min.| 90 min.
110PPM| 10 min.| 40 min.
330PPM| –| 3 min.

In accordance to the EN50291 standard.

4. When the alarm sounds, it will turn off after moving the detector to a space with a CO concentration below 40PPM.
5.  The alarm sound can be turned off by pressing the TEST / MENU button (<150PPM).
6.  Every 120 seconds, the detector will automatically perform an error check.

TESTING:
When the CO detector is working under normal conditions, the sensor and siren should be tested at least every month. Press the “TEST” button. The “POWER”,”FAULT” and “ALARM” LEDs will illuminate.
The detector will then emit 3 beeps while the red “ALARM” LED flashes 3 times.
If the sensor detects an error, the yellow “FAULT” LED will flash 2 times while 2 beep tones are emitted.

MUTE THE ALARM :

• The alarm can sometimes activate because of environmental influences, for example due to smoke with certain carbon monoxide concentrations or other chemical gaseskand. If the CO value is
• below 150PPM, you can press the “TEST” button. The alarm will stop and the detector immediately starts checking the gas again.
• If the concentration is above 150PPM, it’ll be impossible to stop the alarm.
• The red LED blinks 8 times per second and the audible signal stops 5 minutes. If the concentration is above 150PPM after those 5 minutes, the alarm will continue.

LED INDICATION:

• Red LED
• Yellow LED
• Green LED
• Alarm, carbon monoxide present
• Sensor problem
• Normal functioning, the LED flashes every 24 seconds

WARNING ALARM LOG:

• The alarm log is just an additional feature for the user to easily view if a carbon monoxide alarm has occur-red. The log data is for reference only and cannot be used for medical or scientific
• purposes or as evidence in case of an accident. This device has no memory function when a power failure occurs. In case of a power failure, all recorded data will be deleted and all data from before
• the power failure cannot be viewed again.
• The COA26 device is equipped with several logs for alarm and concentration data. These logs go from C0 to C9. The most recent record is C0 and the oldest record is C9. When a new event is
• logged, C0 is updated and all other values move up 1 position. Only the last 10 events are logged.
• The device records an alarm if the carbon monoxide concentration exceeds 30 ppm for 3 minutes. When the concentration drops below 5 ppm the recording is completed.

LOGGING OPERATION AND DISPLAY:

1. Operation Keys:
   The “MENU” button can be pressed long or short.
   Long press: press for more than 5 seconds.
   Short press: press for 3 seconds
   The “TEST” button can only be pressed one way, short or long press has the same effect.

2. Display options:
   By pressing the menu button, the screen displays the different values of the logs C0 to C9. After C9, “dEL” is displayed. This function is used to delete the log data.

3. Displaying log data:
   When values are indicated at C0 to C9, the values with message “ALARM” indicate that an alarm has occurred. The recorded data are the concentration values at the first alarm.
   The values without “ALARM” indicate the highest concentration value during the entire period that a carbon monoxide alarm occurred if the total duration of the alarm was less than 3 minutes.

Display of each record:

Press “shortly” on the “MENU” button. It will display the sequence from C0 to C9. During the sequence number indication, it will automatically display the recorded data if there is no operation within 8 seconds. Press the “MENU” button again within 8 seconds to move to the next option.
If the “TEST” button is pressed, the recorded value will be displayed immediately.
The screen will switch back to the normal modus after about 8 seconds. Press the “MENU” button to stop immediately during displaying the records if you do not want to wait.

Automatic display mode of each record:

• The automatic display mode automatically refers to all recorded log data in order from C0 to C9. The screen automatically displays all values.
• The sequence number shown on the screen has an additional symbol “=” to indicate that the automatic display mode is enabled.
• Press “long” on the “MENU” button. When the display shows “C0=”, stop pressing to view the automatic display mode of each record. During display, press the “TEST” button to quickly change
• records and press the “MENU” button to exit the display mode.
• The numerical values displayed with the sequence number is the value associated with the sequence.
• Values without “ALARM” indicate that no alarm occurred, and the recorded value is the highest concentration throughout the sequence.
• Values with “ALARM” indicate that an alarm occurred, and the recorded value is the concentration when the alarm occurred.

Deleting recordings

Shortly press the “MENU” button and select “dELl” and press the “TEST” button to delete all 10 records at once.

BATTERY INFORMATION INDICATION:

1. Every 24 seconds, the battery is checked automatically.
2. Every 24 seconds, the green power LED will flash for as long as the battery power is higher than 3.5 Volts. This means the battery capacity is sufficient. As soon as the battery power drops below 3.5 Volts, a beep tone will be emitted when the yellow LED flashes briefly. At that time, please replace the batteries as soon as possible.

When empty batteries are indicated, the batteries should be replaced as soon as possible. Use High Energy Alkaline batteries (3 x LR6 / 1.5V AA). Rechargeable batteries are not suitable. With both the supplied batteries and most A brand batteries on the market, it will take approximately eighteen months before these are empty.

SCREEN MESSAGES :

REASON FOR SENSOR FAULT:
Faults can be caused by broken circuitry, a faulty sensor or faulty electronic parts.

SENSOR FAULT CAUSED BY CHEMICAL GASES:

• When volatile chemical gases such as alcohol are the cause for error detection, this may be corrected by switching the detector off and leave it in fresh air for 24 hours. This will restore the sensor. If
• the error is not cleared after these 24 hours, the detector is faulty and should be replaced. Don’t repair the detector yourself, but have it repaired by the importer.
• When the alarm is contaminated and damaged by high concentrations of chemical gases, the sensor could be affected. This will lead to a temporary error or permanent damage. When the alarm
• sounds and you can smell a chemical gas, this could be the reason. Carbon monoxide is a colourless and odourless gas. Chemical gases do have an odour.
• The following substances and gases can cause false alarms or permanently damage the detector: Methane, propane, iso-butane, ethylene, ethanol, alcohol, iso-propanol, benzene, toluene, acid, ether,
• hydrogen, hepatic gas, sulphur dioxide, aerosol, propellant, alcohol preparation, paint, thinner, dissolvent, bonding agents, shampoo, aftershave balm, perfume, car exhaust (cold start) and certain cleaning agents.

MAINTENANCE

To keep your CO detector in proper working order, please follow these easy steps:

• Check whether the alarm is working properly by pressing the test button every week.
• Clean the CO detector with a vacuum cleaner or with a soft cloth or brush once every month to remove excess dust.
• Check whether the batteries are damaged, exhausted or corroded.
• Explain to children that they should not play with the CO detector.
• Ensure children are aware of the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning.
• Never use cleaning agents or other solutions to clean the CO detector.
• Never use air fresheners, hair spray or other aerosols near the CO detector.
• Don’t paint the CO detector. Paint covers the vents preventing the sensor from detecting CO.
• Never disassemble, repair or modify the product yourself; there’s a high risk that it will no longer function correctly or reliably.

BATTERY REPLACEMENT
Remove the battery cover on the back of the unit by sliding the cover off the product, you will now have access to the batteries. Remove the batteries from the unit and replace them with 3x new High Energy Alkaline batteries 1,5V AA – LR6, making sure that the battery polarity matches the instructions in the battery compartment. Do not use rechargeable batteries.

SENSOR REPLACEMENT:
The sensor has a lifetime of 10 years. After 10 years you need to replace the complete product, the sensor itself is not exchangeable.
If the yellow LED illuminates within these 10 years, even though you’ve reconnected or replaced the batteries, please refer to the paragraphs Reason for sensor fault and Sensor fault caused by chemical gases.
If the red LED switches on, the yellow “FAULT” LED illuminates 3x and 3 beep tones are emitted while appears in the display, the entire product should be replaced.

SPECIFICATIONS

• Power supply:      3 x LR6, 1,5V AA high energy Alkaline batteries
• Sensitivity and time:  33ppm, alarm is not activated within 120 minutes 50ppm, alarm is activated within 60~90 minutes 100ppm, alarm is activated within 10~40 minutes 300ppm, alarm is activated
• within 3 minutes
• standby consumption: <35µA
• consumption at alarm: <85mA
• Sound pressure at alarm: >85dB (3m distance)
• Environmental conditions during use: 0~45°C, 0~90% humidity.
• Type: Type B (unchecked output)

References

• Alecto.nl | 45+ jaar een betrouwbaar merk voor Consument Elektronica

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