Carbon Monoxide

janeybug.refurber.com

If you have gas appliances in your home I urge you to go out and get a good carbon monoxide alarm.  Today!

We have been having water heater problems.  Our water heater is propane.  There had been a funny smell coming from the system after the technicians worked on it.  It was not a smell of gas but a smell that I can only compare to the smell at buffet's where they have chafing dishes.  Everyone smelled it (including the techs) but no one knew what it was.  It is probably not the source of the excess carbon monoxide either.

Anyway, my brother had mentioned that we really needed carbon monoxide detectors in the house and I had just not gotten around to it.  He had several close friends die on a boat where the fumes built up while they were napping.

I decided that since we were having some problems now was a good time to put some in.

There was a range of prices from $24 to $49.  I was going back and forth on whether or not to just get the cheap ones but since this is a life or death situation I decided to get the $49 one with the CO level display. That's what credit cards are for right?? It plugs into the wall but also has a battery back up in case of power outages.

I placed them around the house where we have gas appliances.  My Mom's was reading 30 (she is on the ground floor near the garage where the troublesome water heater is)  All the others were at 0.  You can have a maximum reading of 50 for healthy adults.  I took the detector out to the garage and it quickly read over 100 and climbing.  We opened up the garage doors and windows to air out the house and unplugged the water heater.  Something it still very wrong with it.

One of the first signs in Carbon Monoxide poisening is your pets (particulary cats) we get sick and my Mom's cat had been acting funny all week.

So, even though we thought the problem was contained in the garage and that having the garage window open was enough the CO was leaking in to the lower floor.  We would have never known this without the detector.

I would say don't wait for a problem.  Depending on how many gas appliances and floors you have you can spend any where from $49 to a few hundred bucks.  A small price to pay to perhaps save your life one day.

Here is an article about how to choose a carbon monoxide alarm.  Go ahead, read it, while you are thinking about it. 

Comments

[Barb]

That would have really sucked to wake up dead Jane. I am glad you went and got those detectors for the house and animals and people. Good call!

[Jane]

Check out my friend Wally's review on CO detectors. http://arfarfarf.com/review/000078.php
Click on his google ads, it's how he makes his living.

[Jimmy]

Jane, the maximum acceptable exposure is 5 PPM (parts per million) over an 8 hour period, at 30 – 50 PPM you would defiantly be feeling some effects such as frontal headaches, slight dizziness (but I know that’s normal for you!) confusion, flu like symptoms, ect. Animals, especially cats show symptoms long before adults do, so if your animals are behaving strangely that’s a good sign that there is trouble somewhere.

[Jane]

Right you are about the cat. She had been throwing up and not eating right. We figured it was a hairball. 5ppm huh? The information seems to be inconsistant but I would like to just keep it at 0! Now that I have detectors that give me the numbers I can keep tabs on it. What happened to us shows you how easy it is to be poisened and not even know it! They really ought to make CO detectors mandatory in homes with gas appliances like they do smoke alarms. Why don't they do that? Not enough dead people or lawsuits I guess.