New Requirements for Carbon Monoxide Detectors

November 1 to 8 2014, is Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week in Ontario. As a part of Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week, we thought we would write about the recent changes to the Ontario Fire Code, in relation to Carbon Monoxide Detectors (‘CO Detectors’), and their impact upon condominium corporations.

Very generally, the new requirements – for condominiums – are as follows:

• For smaller condominiums (six units or less)* CO Detectors must be installed by April 15, 2015.
• For larger condominiums (more than six units)* CO Detectors must be installed by October 15, 2015.

[*if the building contains a fuel burning appliance, a fireplace, or a storage garage]

Note that CO Detectors will not necessarily be required in every unit. For specific direction on this, we refer you to the website of the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs: http://www.oafc.on.ca/carbon-monoxide.

For a full discussion of this topic, see Cheryll Wood’s full article on New Requirements for CO Detectors.