Carbon Monoxide Detector is Essential

Jules

Jules

SF VIP
Having a carbon monoxide detector is essential and make sure it’s in working order.

Friends of a friend are lucky to be alive. They raise specialty birds and she woke up to find six dead at the bottom of the cage. They’d had headaches for a couple of days. Fortunately they recognized the canary in the coal mine situation. That was a close call.
 
Last year our complex mandated that we get new smoke-carbon monoxide detectors. Its a combo unit in which the battery only needs to be changed every 10 years. Problem with that is how to remember when those 10 years are up. Good reminder that we need to check them often. Thank you Jules. Admittedly, we don't do that.

A few years ago, I saw a heartbreaking story about a family that was staying in an Air BnB. I believe it was a couple and their son (or it may have been two children). They all died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
 
I investigated an elder couple that was away all winter and lived in Florida for that time. When they came home, they relit their oil burner and went to bed. The daughter kept trying to call them, but no answer. There were no cellphones back then. I received a call at 10:30 p.m. for a welfare check. The house was dark and there were 2 cars in the garage. I used a steel bar I carried in my trunk to break out a window and went inside. I could smell something that was a bit unusual. You can’t smell CO gas.

I went upstairs and both were in bed. I couldn’t totally wake them, so I carried the female down the steps and outside and laid her on the porch. The male was fairly large, so I called for a backup who arrived about 10 minutes later. I also called for an EMT. Together, we were able to get him down the steps and outside. Both were transported to the hospital and survived.

The inspector said the heat exchanger was cracked and the chimney was clogged with weeds and sticks that birds must have been trying to build a nest. Between the 2 causes, it was enough to cause the exhaust to get into the home.

We should all have at least one CO detector on each floor.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
Last year our complex mandated that we get new smoke-carbon monoxide detectors. Its a combo unit in which the battery only needs to be changed every 10 years. Problem with that is how to remember when those 10 years are up. Good reminder that we need to check them often. Thank you Jules. Admittedly, we don't do that.

A few years ago, I saw a heartbreaking story about a family that was staying in an Air BnB. I believe it was a couple and their son (or it may have been two children). They all died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
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The best way is to use a sharpie and write on the front of the unit the date the battery was installed. That way the date won't rub off, and you can see each year how soon the 10 years are up.
 
I have been using electric for heating for quite a few years. There is a lot of people that believe electric heaters are not safe. These days almost all of them have overheating protection and a lot have tip over shutoff. With strategic placement in the home and using a selection of different sizes it is very efficient and economical.

I've used this in several modest size homes, not sure how efficient it would be for a large house? You could control different areas/rooms independently using them only as needed?

I have standard smoke detectors with batteries that you push the button to test.
 
I have several in the house, they have a ten year battery and will squeak when the battery gets low. The whole detector needs to be replaced, as the ion chamber is worn out by then .
 
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