Rock Island County, IL Building Safety: Carbon Monoxide Detectors (2026)
Key Facts
- Alarm placement
- Within 15 ft of every sleeping room
- Applies to
- Every dwelling unit, single or multi-family
- Furnace testing
- Annual test if furnace is 10+ years old
- Combined units
- Must have different CO/smoke tones
- Battery-only allowed
- If no commercial power service
- Fine
- $25-$1,000 per violation, per day
Summary
Every dwelling unit in unincorporated Rock Island County must have a working carbon monoxide alarm within 15 feet of every bedroom. Section 150.22(J), adding new text 603.1.2 to the county's amended International Property Maintenance Code, sets that requirement along with a separate annual test mandate for older furnaces.
“603.1.2: Every dwelling until shall be equipped with at least one approved carbon monoxide alarm in an operating condition within 15 feet of every room used for sleeping purposes. Carbon monoxide detector/smoke detector alarms may be installed only if the combined unit provides different alarm tones for the carbon monoxide detection and the smoke detection. Every structure that contains more than one dwelling unit shall contain at least one approved carbon monoxide alarm in operating condition within 15 feet of every room used for sleeping purposes. ... Exceptions: Carbon Monoxide Detectors are not required if: 1. A residential unit in a building that does not rely on combustion of fossil fuel for heat, ventilation, or hot water. 2. A residential unit in a building that is not connected in any way to a garage and not close to a source of carbon monoxide.”
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: 2025 S-1: Supplement contains: Local legislation current through Ord. 2024-12-A, passed 12-17-2024; and State legislation current through 2024 Illinois Legislative Service, Pamphlet #6).
Full Breakdown
22(J) adds two new subsections to the county's 2009 International Property Maintenance Code. 1 requires property owners to have "annual carbon monoxide tests of furnaces performed for all fuel-burning furnaces that are 10 years old or older" or that have sat idle for a year or more, done by "a properly certified and registered mechanical contractor," with a copy of the passing results due to the Code Official within 30 days; a CO detector installed within 10 feet of the furnace satisfies the same intent instead.
2 is the alarm mandate itself: "every dwelling until shall be equipped with at least one approved carbon monoxide alarm in an operating condition within 15 feet of every room used for sleeping purposes," extending to every dwelling unit in a multi-unit building as well. A combined carbon monoxide/smoke unit is allowed only if it gives "different alarm tones" for each hazard. Battery-only alarms are permitted where a building isn't served by commercial power or where retrofitting would mean tearing into finished walls or ceilings.
Two exceptions drop the requirement entirely: a unit with no fossil-fuel combustion for heat, ventilation, or hot water, and a unit with no connection to a garage and no nearby CO source. 22(B).
Violations & Fines
Failing to install or maintain the required carbon monoxide alarm, or skipping the annual furnace test on a furnace 10 years or older, is enforced as an IPMC violation under § 150.22(D), which sets fines of not less than $25 and not more than $1,000 per violation. Each day the condition continues is treated as a separate violation, and the Building Official can order the condition corrected on a timetable set in the notice of violation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are carbon monoxide alarms required in Rock Island County homes?
Do older furnaces need to be tested for carbon monoxide?
Can one alarm cover both smoke and carbon monoxide?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Rock Island County
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