Smoke alarms get all the attention, and rightly so. But smoke is something you can see and smell. The hazard you cannot detect at all is carbon monoxide, and that is the alarm people forget.
Why it is different
Carbon monoxide has no colour, no smell and no taste. It is produced when fuel does not burn completely, which is why it is associated with boilers, stoves, open fires and any appliance burning gas, oil, coal or wood.
You cannot notice it. That is the entire point. There is no version of paying attention that protects you.
What an alarm needs to be
An audible carbon monoxide alarm that meets the relevant standard, positioned according to its instructions, and tested regularly. Alarms also have an expiry date — they do not last forever, and one that is past its life is decoration.
Check the date on yours. A lot of people find it expired several years ago.
The other half of it
An alarm tells you something has already gone wrong. Servicing is what stops it going wrong. An appliance that is burning correctly, venting correctly and has been checked by a registered installer is the actual protection; the alarm is the backstop.
Both. Not one or the other.
If an alarm ever goes off
Treat it as real, every single time. Get everyone out into fresh air, do not go back in to investigate, and get emergency help. Do not turn appliances back on to "test" it.
The boring conclusion
Working alarm, in date, tested. Appliances serviced annually by someone registered. That is it — and it is genuinely the cheapest insurance in the house.
Book a boiler service or talk to us if you are unsure when yours was last done.