PSA: CO Monitors
Had a frightening personal experience last night. My hope is that posting it here may help a few mgoReaders.
I bought my first home 2 years ago. The house is about 20 years old and just last month I noticed that the smoke detectors had never been changed out (it is recommended these are replaced every ~10 years). Went to Home Depot to buy the replacements and decided to pay a bit more for the model that not only detects smoke, but also carbon monoxide and natural gas; a decision I am very happy I made.
Last night when everyone was asleep the CO alarm starts sounding, so I called the gas company and sent the wife, kids, and dog to an accommodating relative's home in town. Upon inspection, it turns out the furnace and water heater intake/exhaust pipes on the exterior of the home got buried in a snow drift and the fumes were backing up into the house. Had we not installed the new detectors with CO sensors just a few weeks ago, I'm not sure any of us would have woken up...perhaps ever.
Some mgoHomeowners may be thinking, "duh, just keep your appliance intake/exhaust pipes unobstructed and you won't have an issue." Normally our intake/exhaust pipes don't get buried, even with the extreme levels of snow these last two winters, but with the rare high eastern winds and icy mix recently, they were covered in just a few hours, and we never knew because we were asleep. Could happen to anyone.
So the tl;dr lessons from this mgoPSA:
- This winter be sure to keep your appliance intake/exhaust pipes clear of drifting snow the best you can.
- If your home doesn't already have them, install a carbon monoxide alarm on every floor. This way you're covered in unexpected circumstances and while sleeping.
Now you know. And knowing is half the battle. G.I. Joe
December 29th, 2015 at 1:02 PM ^
Thought this was some sort of abbreviation for compliance officer until I started reading the post. Lucky timing on getting those installed and good job not blowing off the alarm and going back to bed.
December 29th, 2015 at 2:58 PM ^
December 29th, 2015 at 1:10 PM ^
They had a new furnace put in and it was defective in some way (don't remember the details). Long story short, the CO alarm went off and alerted them to the fact that the furnace was pumping CO into the house and most likely saved both of their lives.
Most likely you will never need them, but the price for not having them if you do need them is just too high. Definitely worth the pretty modest investment.
Oh and be aware that they have something like a 7-year shelf life, so if your detectors are old at all, go get some new ones.
December 29th, 2015 at 1:08 PM ^
Glad everyone is safe.
December 29th, 2015 at 1:11 PM ^
you're not dead.
December 29th, 2015 at 1:48 PM ^
You stole that from a greeting card, didn't you?
December 29th, 2015 at 1:51 PM ^
I made my fortune off that greeting card.
December 29th, 2015 at 1:18 PM ^
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December 29th, 2015 at 1:22 PM ^
December 29th, 2015 at 1:25 PM ^
First and foremost, glad to hear everyone is safe and sound.
The importance of having these in your house cannot be understressed, especially if you have appliances on any kind that vent to the outside as mentioned in the OP.
We were testing our detectors in the house about a month ago and found that our basement CO monitor (perhaps the most important of the two) was no longer functional, so occasional testing is a big deal too.
December 29th, 2015 at 1:50 PM ^
That's a devious way of saying you hate everybody.
December 29th, 2015 at 2:17 PM ^
As the OP said, smoke and other substance detectors have a useful life and need to be REPLACED periodically.
As for buried exhaust stacks caused by too much snow, I'd look to raise them higher or change the place where they vent so being buried by snow cannot occur. I have my HVAC system inspected annually. More than once, preventive maintenance has avoided a more expensive failure later or losing heat/cooling when a nasty storm hits and repair people can't show up.
December 29th, 2015 at 1:29 PM ^
December 29th, 2015 at 11:28 PM ^
December 29th, 2015 at 1:44 PM ^
Side Note PSA:
If you are renting, ALWAYS get Renter's Insurance. It's mega-cheap, but covers a ton.
December 29th, 2015 at 1:47 PM ^
I had a friend and his family almost die due to CO poinsoning in their house. They had horrible headaches for a day and lucky for them, they were able to figure it out. I immediately went out and bought detectors for every floor.
December 29th, 2015 at 2:27 PM ^
and your family are ok!
December 29th, 2015 at 2:36 PM ^
Several years ago my furnace had a crack in the heat exchanger. We had a digital readout on the CO2 monitor and while the alarm did not sound for long it was reading higher than zero. Called the furnace guy and had a new heat exchanger installed. CO2 can come from lots of places you can't see.
You need to periodically change both smoke detectors and CO2 detectors as they evidently go bad after a few years.
December 29th, 2015 at 3:02 PM ^
December 29th, 2015 at 2:38 PM ^
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December 29th, 2015 at 2:44 PM ^
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December 29th, 2015 at 2:50 PM ^
One of my childhood friend's entire family was killed by carbon monoxide. He had brain damage that none of us noticed except as we aged and matured he couldn't keep up. You don't notice in 2nd grade that someone isn't a good reader but by 7th it was apparent something was wrong.
I have multiple units in the house and moved our wallmount boiler to the sunporch so it's not in the living area.
I'm glad the OP and family are OK. I don"t believe in coincedence.
December 29th, 2015 at 3:44 PM ^
December 29th, 2015 at 6:18 PM ^
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December 29th, 2015 at 6:29 PM ^
December 29th, 2015 at 4:03 PM ^
December 29th, 2015 at 4:20 PM ^
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December 29th, 2015 at 4:40 PM ^
December 29th, 2015 at 5:46 PM ^
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December 29th, 2015 at 4:22 PM ^
Glad everyone is safe in your house, op!
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December 29th, 2015 at 6:16 PM ^
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December 29th, 2015 at 7:45 PM ^
December 29th, 2015 at 11:34 PM ^
December 29th, 2015 at 11:42 PM ^
December 30th, 2015 at 11:35 PM ^
I spent the night in a recompression chamber at Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids after a serious CO poisoning incident. My roomate and I were living at the Forum apartments in Mt. Pleasant (went to CMU). Cracked heat exchanger on our furnace caused the poisoning. We went to the hospital and they sent us all the way to GR with lights and sirens only because the helicopter was not available.
My roomates blood levels were higher than mine because he weighed about 160 pounds while I was about 200. He went in the chamber first for about 6 hours. I went in for 4.
It was not fun.
December 30th, 2015 at 11:36 PM ^
I keep 4 detectors in my house. One near the furnace, one near the bedrooms and 2 others spread out. One of them is hard wired with battery backup. The other 3 are all battery operated.