Hi Lyledunn,

In Scotland the 2019 Acy for domestic dwellings changed indicating doesnt matter if rented, social or indeed private dwelling then smoke and Carbon Monoxide detectors needed, things were delayed of course due to Covid, then trying to purchase detectors.

I dont do domestic work, but did fit long life interlinked battery operated detectors in my own home, and although not required the Carbon Monoxide detectors are linked to my smoke ones. I fitted a Monoxide detector in my lounge where we have a gas fire, albeit its wall mounted no open hearth and a balanced flue up and thru the cavity to outside, Fitted another in my utility room where central heating bolier is, and although not needed one in my kitchen where I have a gas hob.

What the general detail indicates is "

Every home must now have:

• 1 smoke alarm in the room you spend most of the day, usually your living room
• 1 smoke alarm in every circulation space on each storey, such as hallways and landings
• 1 heat alarm in the kitchen

All smoke and heat alarms should be mounted on the ceiling and be interlinked. Check the manufacturers guidance on each alarm for instructions on where the alarm should be placed.

If you have a carbon-fuelled appliance, like a boiler, fire, non-electric heater or flue you must also have a carbon monoxide detector. This does not need to be linked to the fire alarms. Gas cookers and hobs do not need a carbon monoxide detector."

PDF

What I have also enclosed above is the tolerable standard for Min requirements, and to be honest see nothing about rooms where Flues pass through, I do suppose there is a diffrence if Flue is built into fabric or its some fancy "Feature" the later I could see as a possbility.

My own view is rooms with the appliances not a room where flue is within a cavity, then again happy to be corrected, common sense of course will prevail,

Cheers GTB 

lyledunn said:

It would seem to me to be a stretch of the credible to consider that a ground floor chimney breast without further openings, extending upwards to carry the flue through a first-floor room to the chimney stack outside, would require a CO detector to be fitted in that room. 

I agree.

The engineering argument might be that a flue could leak. Debris such as a bird's nest, or dead birds, etc. could (partially) block the flue at the top and there might be an over-pressure. On the whole, however, flues suck rather than blow.

In a moment, Graham will be reminding us that only a judge can interpret the words. In the mean time, I would say that it is the wall which contains the flue and not the room(s) contained by the wall. Put another way, the flue is a cavity within the wall.

It would seem to me to be a stretch of the credible to consider that a ground floor chimney breast without further openings, extending upwards to carry the flue through a first-floor room to the chimney stack outside, would require a CO detector to be fitted in that room.

I can see two possible interpretations - the upper room has a flue passing through it, or the upper room (defined by the inner surfaces of its walls) is just adjacent to a flue which embedded in a wall (possibly between two upstairs rooms).  A steel tube type flue passing through a upper room would count though.

That said, I remember my parent's next door complaining about heat and smoke appearing in their upstairs bedroom even though they didn't have a fire below - turned out it was from my parent's fireplace and was leaking through the party wall (it was one of those 17th C cottages that was probably built with clay rather than mortar between the stones, but still the possibility exists).

   - Andy.