Rochester, MN Building Safety: Carbon Monoxide Detectors (2026)

The city's fire safety chapter folds carbon monoxide protection into the same ordinance that governs smoke alarms, adopted by Ordinance No. 4466, section 8, effective April 18, 2022. 2 of the Minnesota Fire Code. Section 7-8-49 places the detector outside each separate sleeping area, within ten feet of the bedrooms; if a fuel-burning appliance sits in the bedroom or its attached bathroom, the detector has to go inside the bedroom itself. Section 7-8-50 applies the same rule to sleeping units, though it allows the detector to sit outside the sleeping area within ten feet if the attached sleeping unit has no fuel-burning appliance and is not served by a fuel-burning forced-air furnace.

Section 7-8-51 covers upkeep: carbon monoxide alarms and detection systems must be maintained under NFPA 720, and any unit that becomes inoperable or starts giving an end-of-life signal has to be replaced, not left until the next inspection cycle. Because this sits inside the fire code, compliance is checked the same way as other fire-safety items: through rental registration inspections under chapter 7-9 for rental units, and through routine fire code enforcement for owner-occupied homes. There is no exemption for owner-occupied single-family houses; the "dwellings" language in section 7-8-48 is unqualified.