Joliet, IL Building Safety: Carbon Monoxide Detectors (2026)

Sec. 5, Carbon Monoxide Alarms. The amendment requires that, at a minimum, carbon monoxide alarms be installed throughout every dwelling as required by the State of Illinois Carbon Monoxide Alarm Detector Act, 430 ILCS 135, and sets three specific placement and power rules: an alarm within 15 feet of every room used for sleeping purposes, which can be a combination smoke/CO unit as long as it clearly differentiates the two hazards; at least one approved carbon monoxide alarm within 15 feet of every sleeping room in any structure with more than one dwelling unit; and alarms that may be battery powered, plug-in with battery backup, or hardwired into the structure's AC power with secondary battery backup.

Responsibility for the equipment tracks the property maintenance code's general responsibility rule elsewhere in Sec. 8-335: in owner-occupied and small rental properties, Use Groups R-2 and R-3, the owner must supply and install required detectors, while the tenant is responsible for replacing batteries, except that the owner must ensure batteries work at the start of a tenancy. A missing or inoperable carbon monoxide detector is also listed as an "emergency code violation" under the rental inspection ordinance, Sec. 7(d), which can trigger an emergency reinspection.