Amazon removes listing of unsafe carbon monoxide alarm

The Office for Product Safety and Standards has published a product safety report on an unbranded carbon monoxide alarm sold through Amazon, with a recall and alert date of 28 January 2022. The report, published on 27 March 2022, records that the listing has been removed by the online marketplace. The case was notified by Local Authority Trading Standards and carries the PSD case number 2112-0591¹.

The product is described as an unbranded carbon monoxide alarm for domestic use with an LCD ppm display, powered by three AA batteries and packaged in black and orange cardboard packaging. Its ASIN is X001FDH8EZ and its country of origin is China¹.

The report states that the alarm does not sufficiently detect carbon monoxide at the minimum permissible levels of 55ppm and 110ppm as required by the standard, and that it presents a risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. It says the product does not meet the requirements of the General Product Safety Regulations 2005, and classifies the hazard as a serious risk of asphyxiation¹.

The report lists two measures: removal of the listing by the online marketplace and warning consumers of the risks¹.

Why it matters for households

A carbon monoxide alarm is the backstop between a faulty appliance or flue and poisoning, so an alarm that under-responds at the concentrations named in the report offers less protection than its owner would assume. The report concerns a single unbranded product sold under ASIN X001FDH8EZ, not carbon monoxide alarms generally. Anyone who bought this model is affected, and the Office for Product Safety and Standards states that owners should stop using it immediately, seek alternative carbon monoxide detection and contact the distributor they purchased from to request redress¹. The listing is no longer on Amazon, so the product is not available there new¹. Households wanting to understand what an alarm does and how to choose one can read the guide to carbon monoxide alarms, and those unsure whether they need one at all can start with do I need a carbon monoxide alarm?. Placement matters as much as the unit itself; the guide on where to put a carbon monoxide alarm sets out the positions. A carbon monoxide alarm is not a gas leak detector, as explained in can a carbon monoxide alarm detect a gas leak?. The wider home emergencies section covers other household risks.

What happens next

The report records the removal of the listing and the warning to consumers as the corrective actions taken. No further steps, such as a recall scheme or refund process run by the marketplace, have been reported¹.