What the warning covers
CPSC Product Safety Warning 26-706 covers 4 in 1 Plug in Natural Gas and Carbon Monoxide Detectors, model KH158. They plug into a wall outlet, come in white, gray or black plastic, and have a digital display, a SELF-TEST button and three lights marked POWER, FAULT and ALARM. They were sold online under at least 18 different brand names, singly and in multipacks, from June 2024 through July 2026.
The CPSC says the detectors can fail to alert people to dangerous carbon monoxide. The agency is aware of 91 reports of the units failing to alarm when gas or CO was present. About 376,974 units are affected. Because the manufacturer has not agreed to a recall, there is no refund or replacement program; the CPSC advice is to stop using them and dispose of them.
What a good CO alarm setup looks like
The CPSC's guidance is to install CO detectors on each level of the home and outside separate sleeping areas, to use battery-operated units or ones with battery backup, to test them often and replace batteries as needed, and to buy only detectors that meet the UL 2034 safety standard. Check the label or packaging for that standard when replacing a KH158 unit.
Battery backup matters most in this region, where winter storms knock out power at the very moment people turn to fireplaces, stoves and generators.
Where CO comes from in an older house
In many homes in New York, New Jersey and the Philadelphia area, a gas or oil boiler and a water heater share a masonry chimney. Their exhaust is supposed to travel through a metal connector pipe into the chimney and up a flue that is the right size and in sound condition. Carbon monoxide can enter the living space when any link in that path fails: a connector pipe that has rusted through or slipped loose at the breach, a flue blocked by fallen tile, debris or a bird's nest, an unlined or oversized flue that will not draft, or a chimney top missing its cap.
None of those faults is visible from the living room, which is why an alarm that actually works is the backstop. If a CO alarm sounds, or people in the house feel headachy, dizzy or sick for no clear reason, get everyone outside and call 911 or the gas utility from there.
Pairing the alarm with the chimney
An alarm tells you something is wrong; it does not fix the cause. An annual inspection of the flue serving the boiler and water heater, including the connector and the base of the chimney, is the way to catch the faults above before they matter.
Seasonal changes matter here. A flue that drafted well in a mild October can behave differently on the coldest night, when the boiler runs constantly, or on a windy day, when air is pushed down the chimney. Condensation that forms inside an unlined flue in deep cold can also loosen tiles that later fall and block the base. That is one reason an alarm that works in all seasons, and not only on the day it was tested, is the backstop.
Want a professional look? See our boiler flue cleaning service, or call (844) 468-2410 for a free written estimate.
