Thousands of carbon monoxide alarms 'that don't work properly' were sold online

10 August 2023 , 23:01

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A CO alarm (Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Thousands of dangerous carbon monoxide alarms have been sold online, an investigation revealed.

Watchdog Which? found serious faults in cheap alarms it bought via Amazon, eBay, AliExpress and Wish. Which? tested five unbranded, Chinese-made models 28 times each. The worst-performing model failed to trigger in 22 of the tests.

Another failed to notify the presence of the deadly gas 15 times. A further type failed 10 times out of the 28 tests – and it was too quiet when it worked. Across the five alarms, Which? found 46 listings on AliExpress, 42 on eBay, 41 on Wish and 20 on Amazon.

Of the four marketplaces, only eBay discloses sales figures. They showed at least 1,311 of the dangerous alarms Which? tested had been bought. The five unsafe CO alarm models all featured prominently when listings were filtered by cheapest first, with some costing as little as £5.

Katie Haines was killed by carbon monoxide in 2010

CO is a colourless, odourless gas but inhaling it can be fatal. Early symptoms include headaches, dizziness and weakness. It can be produced by gas boilers and cookers if they are not working properly.

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Avril and Gordon Samuel became campaigners after their daughter Katie Haines, 31, was killed by CO in 2010. They said: “We have previously highlighted concerns about some carbon monoxide alarms being sold online, many coming from China. If the alarm is not to standard, this defence is negated and could have fatal results.”

The findings come after the Government, updating its long-delayed product safety review last week, failed to give assurances that an independent regulator would get powers to crack down on dangerous goods sold online. Sue Davies, of Which?, urged the Government to get tougher on rule-breaking online marketplaces.

All marketplaces said the items highlighted by Which? had been removed. Amazon added it was investigating. Ebay added it only allowed approved brands of CO detectors and that action had been taken against the sellers." Wish added it was reminding merchants of the importance of complying with product safety rules.

Natasha Wynarczyk