If Carbon Monoxide is induced in a room, will it tend to be heaver than air and hug the floor, or not??
Question:All the internet sites which claim it will mix evenly with air, are also selling carbon monoxide/smoke detectors in a single package. I always believed that carbon monoxide was heavier and would build from the floor up as volumn increased in the room. Obviously smoke {ionized particles} will seek a higher level in a room. Seems like efficiency would be increased by having seperate detector locations.
Answers:
Carbon Monoxide is heavier than air, and if it is allowed to settle it will sink to the floor or build up in the basement. If you have one combo smoke/CO detector upstairs near the ceiling, you could have a dangerous buildup in the basement that would not be detected.
Yes, the air will mix and distribute more evenly if you have fans blowing it around to mix it up, but how many people use a barn fan in their basement? The furnace blower fan would not necessarily be enough air movement in the basement to stir it up. Think about helium...it is just another gas too but it will rise to the ceiling every time.
I have separate smoke detectors and CO detectors in the basement AND upstairs. Be careful with this. People that died from CO poisoning almost always died in their garage or the basement.
I almost never criticize another answer, but this is serious business. The above answer is plain wrong.
Carbon monoxide is heavier than air. In a sealed room it would go down. But in living conditions there are always air currents which keep it afloat. On most smoke detectors there are instructions where to place it or not.
No. Any gas will distribute itself uniformly throughout any enclosed space. Carbon monoxide has very nearly the same density as air, so will distribute itself rapidly. But put your detectors high up, as fumes from a fire will be hot and tend to rise.
The directions for your CO monitor will tell you how to place it, probably at the same level as the AC thermostat.
Air is a combination of gasses, not just oxygen. However, there is absolutely no way that CO is heavier than O^2.
Oxygen has an atomic weight of 16, so O^2 which is the way it would be found in the air you breath would be 32.
Carbon Monoxide is made up of two elements, Carbon with an atomic weight of 12 and Oxygen with an atomic weight of 16, which adds up to a combined weight of 28, so CO is lighter than O^2.
Since the air in your house is jostled about by AC and heater fans, as well as people walking around, things would be mixed up pretty evenly. However, if you let the temp level out in the house, the gases would stratify over time. That would mean of the gasses that you are interested in, Carbon Dioxide, with an atomic weight of 44 would rest on the bottom, Oxygen would rest in the middle, and CO would be at the top of the room.
I think your CO monitor should be about 5 feet off the floor.
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