Carbon Monoxide Detectors

[retro-man]

Well we had an incident this week in which we almost bought the farm. We have 2 new Standard American furnaces and air conditioners. One does the basement and first floor which is standing in an upright postion and another in the attic crawl space on the 3rd floor which does the second and third floors of our house and this one is mounted horizontally. I was working on the humidifier in the one in the crawl space, I had to take out a limiting valve so more water could come into the unit. Took it apart and put it back together. Turned the furnace on and waited for the blower to start to see the water input. All was fine great amount of flowage. All of a sudden I realize where is all this heat coming from in the crawl space and why so much noise from the furnace. Started looking around and realized that the exhaust from the furnace which is pvc direct vented had come off completely. All the exhaust was being blown into the crawl space and into our family room. I have notice in the past 2 weeks that the upstairs has been about 80 degrees without the zone even being on and the dogs have been vomiting and peeing in the house, something they never do and one of them has been barking for no reason. I have been yawning a real lot and sneezing incredibly. Very sensitive sinuses. The only reason I believe we are alive is because I always have at least one if not more windows open a little in the house and always the bedroom. The levels must have been incredibly high in the house. Fixed the exhaust and went and bought the best detector I could find and plugged it in upstairs. It is registering zero on the readout meaning no carbon monoxide in the house. I think this was going on for like 2 weeks. Never would have thought that this would happen. Never even realized how close to death we were. So please all go and get at least one detector and plug it in. The one I purchased is good for 7 years. It will beep to let you know when its life is up. And check your exhausts regularly on gas dryers, furnaces and water heaters. It doesn't take long for this gas to fill your houses.
Jon

 

[tolivac]

Finding the disconnected exhaust vent and getting the CO detectors saved your life-the dog puking and peeing was a warning sign!

 

[westie2]

We have 2 dectors in our house. 

 

Jon you are so lucky to have found the (unknown) problem.

 

[drewz]

Jon glad to hear that everyone is ok.  Realizing the problem and finding the source before anyone was hurt or killed is the best present you could receive for the holidays!

 

I have detectors on each floor and two in the unfinished basement one on the side with the gas dryer and one on the other side not too from the gas furnace and gas hot water heater.  I know it is probably over kill but rather be extra safe, but I still would not trade my total gas home for electric or any other source.

 

 

[whirlcool]

A few years ago we gave Co2 detectors out to our friends at Christmas time. Most people looked at them and said "Oh, we already have one of those, it's a smoke detector?" I said no it isn't it's for carbon monoxide. And they just replied that "doesn't the smoke detector cover that?". Nope, it doesn't. Sometimes I'll even hear something like "Well that reminds me, I probably should get some batteries for our smoke detectors, they haven't had any in them for years.".

And for safeties sake you should get your heating system inspected once per year.
Now how many people do that?

And about 20 years ago we had a good friend die from Co2 poisoning. He came home from a trip, got in the bath and lit the gas furnace heater in the bathroom and little did he know but birds had built a nest in the flue pipe coming out of it.
I think he was around 28 when that happened. His girlfriend found him the next morning. So it does happen!

 

[tolivac]

another warning sign for moderate CO poisoning is a SPLITTING headache!If you get that headache check for possible CO sources right away!-the next step from the headache is---DEATH!

 

[retro-man]

I spoke with my plumber/heating specialist yesterday and informed him of the situation and he was really glad i found this and that we were actually alive. He has seen people die from this with a lot less input into the house. He is coming by next week and gluing it back into place, then screwing it into the coupling and also I want metal straping around that pvc and screwed to the furnace houseing. I told him no way is this going to happen again. He is not the person who installed the units, they are no longer in business,no wonder. Hey at least I can laugh about this and we are still alive and doing much better. Thanks all.
Jon