Last night, we had to vacate our house per Fire Department instructions. Dave and I ran out to meet a guy at our storage unit (sold some furniture) and when we came back about an hour later, we heard a beeping. Dave tracked the sound down to the carbon monoxide detector in the basement. He thought there might be something wrong with it, so he reset it and the reading was still high. He called the fire department, who told him to hang up, call 9-11, and get everyone out of the house.
Well then. I scooped up the kids and the dog (pausing for diapers and jammies for the baby) and outside we went. The fire department was here in about four minutes, and sent a firefighter with full gear and a hand-held CO detector. He said the readings were highest around the stove. He turned off the gas and came out, and I took the kids to the in-laws’, leaving Dave to handle it all. They contacted BGE (gas company) to come check things out as well. After about a half-hour, Dave called me over at his parents’ place to sound the all-clear and we came home.
I had turkey stock on the go today, and had just baked an apple pie; I’d also been doing laundry all day. All of my appliances are gas (not the dryer, but the water heater for the washer). A pretty darned airtight house is a good thing in the winter, to save on the energy bills, but not so good when you’re using all of your appliances at once for an extended period of time.
I’ve never lived in a house with a CO detector before. I’m glad that our landlord had the presence of mind to put one in here. If we had been sleeping, we wouldn’t have heard it (basement level), so I picked up a second one last night to install upstairs. As Older boy had an upset stomach the night before, I’d have put down any symptoms of CO poisoning to a virus that he’d passed along to us and wouldn’t have thought about it twice. And then we may have not awakened in the morning, or maybe just Dave and I would have. I don’t want to think about it.
I’m still shaken, the next day, even though nothing happened to us. I took a pie to the fire department in thanks.
We have people call our firehouse all the time this time of year, saying their CO detector is beeping and we tell them the same thing - call 911 and we’ll be right over. Seems odd, but it has to go through Dispatch.
Who came, 10 or 11? I know people at Station 10. I’m sure they appreciated the pie.
Train your dog to bark when it goes off. It’s easily done and it may save your life if you’re a heavy sleeper. A friend of mine might have died in a fire if her dog hadn’t gone nuts when he heard the smoke detector.
I trained mine by setting the alarm off several times, jumping around and screeching like I was really upset and scared. The dogs didn’t know what the hell was going on and they finally barked out of confusion, upon which they got a reward. Repeat until they figure out you want them to bark whenever they hear that sound. Give them a refresher course every time you change the batteries.
I have a few gas appliances, too, stove, dryer, hot water heater and heater. I keep my detector in the kitchen which is also near the garage, the location of the other gas appliances. I always wonder how I know it’s working. I’m sure there is a test button for the alarm but how do I test to make sure it can detect C0? Should I replace it every couple years just to be sure?
I got one the day that my furnace caught on fire. Some part of it had gotten full of soot, which had ignited, and was burning the insulation on some wires hanging down in front of it. I woke up and smelled something funny… waited for the smell to go away… walked around… then called the maintenance guy, who took an hour to find the funny smell.
I mean, for gosh sakes. My furnace was on fire and I could barely smell it. I went out and got a CO detector that very day (and spent the weekend without heat, in February, until the competent maintenance guy was back at work on Monday).
Doper danceswithcats is a fire chief up in PA, and he says that CO is about the same density as your ambient room air, so it doesn’t travel. He also told me that people are told to have CO detectors on the lower levels of their houses as that’s where most gas appliances are located.
The dog sleeps in her crate in the (finished) basement and if we couldn’t hear the detector, we sure wouldn’t hear her.
I’d say, call your local fire department. I don’t know anything about them.
My little sister was engaged to a fellow years back and he decided to buy a pair of lovebirds on Valentine’s day and brought them home. They were dead within a day. He returned them to the pet shop and the replacements were both dead within 2 days. At that point a light came on in the shop clerk’s head and told my sister’s fiancee he chould have the CO levels checked in their house. Sure enough, they had a major CO leak from their furnace.
I guess the moral of the story is, CO detectors are cheaper than lovebirds. I second the motion, everyone go get a CO detector!
That’s Station 11, Hillendale.
If anyone is wondering why it took four whole minutes to get there, a CO detector beeping is a ‘non-emergency call.’ They most likely went without their lights and sirens, since WeirdDave said no one was overcome by fumes and they were able to get out under their own power.
Again, I’m glad you had the detector and that you’re all okay.
I came home one night in late fall and the house had a weird smell. I could hear the alarm beeping away. The level it detected was bad for you over about four hours, so I turned off the furnance and forced fresh air into the house with the windows open. Living where I lived heating with electric instead of propane was way cheaper, because the propane would triple in price in winter and you had to use the local distribution system. I gave the detector to mom since that was my last use of gas in the house.
I would never live somewhere’s without a cabon monoxide detector.
For you people that own one remember that some require a new cartridge each year to function, and some designed like what I recommend do not. The one I bought can detect levels that would be a concern if they stayed there for a week or two. The higher the levels the faster the response and higher the digital reading on the unit. The reading lets you know the danger level, and you can turn of the gas and air the place out on a lower reading.
Yes, that’s exactly what they said. They said they’d have been here sooner if it were an emergency call. I saw them driving up our street without lights and sirens.
(I hope station 11 appreciated the pie, even though they don’t know you :P)
Thanks for the reminder - we need to replace ours. I’ve heard they need to be replaced every few years and ours is about 6-7 years old. Then again, the only gas appliances are 2 stories away but better safe than sorry - a leaky flue pipe could also cause problems (found that out when the chimney blew off our townhouse in a windstorm).
Another cautionary tale: Even levels that aren’t lethal can make life unpleasant. Back in the early 80s, I was sharing an apartment with 2 other women. After Christmas, we realized the windows etc. leaked like a sieve and we put up plastic and weatherstripping all over. We were much more comfortable.
But over the next 2 months, all 3 of us were tired all the time no matter how much rest we got. The Student Health clinic didn’t do us any good - I think they may have tested some of us for anemia. We went away for spring break, came back, and we felt fine. We figured we had just needed a break.
It was 10 years later when I read an article about a woman who was disabled with something like chronic fatigue syndrome. She found out through sheer dumb luck that she had a CO leak in her house. Instant cure. The light bulb went off in my head: my roommates and I had low-level CO poisoning which was worsened by the improved insulation, and the reason we were better after spring break was we weren’t using the furnace any more!
I have this fantastic image of you whooping and flipping around your house like daffy duck on a bender, with your dogs looking at each other like, “what the hell did she have for breakfast? ”
Your mental picture is a very accurate one. They had no idea what had gotten into me. At first I just tried waving my arms and yelling, “Oh no! Oh no!” but that didn’t phase ‘em. So, I hit the button and jumped up and down, waving my arms like I was doing jumping jacks, making high-pitched squeals. Nothin’ doin’-- they stared at me like I’d lost my mind, ears perked and heads tilted quizziclally to the side. It was only once I hit a full Richard-Simmons-On-Crack mode that they started getting really worried. I think the barks may have been the canine way of saying “Stop it! Stop it you weirdo!”
To aid your mental image, add in that I’m as clumsy as an ox on ice. I whacked my elbow on the counter once and banged my knee twice.
First thing I did when we moved into our new home was to put in CO2 detectors and fire extinguishers. Gas is wonderful, but you have to keep an eye on it.
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