Safeguard your Homes and Family

[jim34671]

Fellow members,

Just passing on a note of caution.
I'm tight to my stomach as I type this..
I lost a fellow collegue and good friend as well as his ENTIRE family of 3 children and wife this week in Anchorage,Alaska.
A carbon monoxide leak from a furnace malfuncton inside their home took their lives in silence.
The entire family is now deceased.
Him 42,his wife 33 and 3 children ages 3,6, and 11.
They went to bed, kissed good night and that was the end.
Please be careful as winter has fast approached us.
Those of you doing those winter restorations and "midnight tweeks" on that engine inside the garage...please pay special tribute to safety.
Most of our cars spend a lot of time "sitting" so always do a good walkaround before you take it out for that Holiday drive.
You would be surprised what you can find beneath the wheels and beneath the chassis...
Same goes for gas fireplaces and all gas furnaces that have sat dormant all summer long.
Go out there and invest in a Carbon Monoxide detector (CO).
CO is a silent killer...invisible and odourless.
It is an ABSOLUTE MUST.
Have a safe and blessed holiday season and hug your loved ones.
May this family rest in peace together.
Jim

[George C.]

Re: Safeguard your Homes and Family

Jim, Just got home from church and read your post and I am sorry to hear of your lost, but thank you for reminding us of just how many things we take for granted,our family and all the material things we own, Hope you and yours will have a Happy Holiday also, God bless all our members and all the Brave servicemen throughout the world.>George
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[Jim Ward]

Re: Safeguard your Homes and Family

I have a carbo monoxide detector and I really believe all homes should have one.Here in Philadelphia about twenty people have died this year from this gas.

[Joe L.]

Re: Safeguard your Homes and Family

Jim-----

In my opinion, CO detectors are FAR more important than smoke detectors. In waking situations, smoke can be easily detected without a detector. CO can NEVER be detected, waking or asleep, without a detector. I recommend MORE THAN ONE in most houses, especially if they are large and/or multi-story. We have 2 in our house and I may add more.

[Chuck S.]

This May Seem Self-Evident...

Like only a moron would do it...but, if you get a CO detector for your garage, and you plan to park your car inside, better expect to be frequently startled and annoyed by having to reset the alarm. The peace of mind may be worth the hassle.

I bought one for protection against CO from my unvented space heater, thinking that the short transient from parking the Corvette in the garage would not set it off...I was WRONG. Those instruments are so sensitive that even the small amount of CO from parking the car, diluted in an entire garage of fresh air with the garage door open, would set the alarm off almost instantly.

Jim, my condolences in your loss.

[Clare Carpenter]

Re: Safeguard your Homes and Family

So sorry to read of such a tragic loss of life. Your sharing it here may prevent someone else from suffering the same fate. Furnaces should be checked out annually but more importantly, as you pointed out, it is very important to have a carbon monoxide detector or two in every home and shop. My condolences.

[Terry M.]

Re: This May Seem Self-Evident...

Unfortunately the sensitivity of the CO detectors was/is one of their drawbacks. Technology has improved the more recent models, but false positives are still a problem. That, however, is small price to pay for their life-saving ability.
I hope we can all learn from this tragedy.

[Jon #40768]

Re: Some other signs may be manifested

Signs of a small ongoing CO problem can be headachs and nausia that is exibited at home, but not away from the house or outside, and excessive moisture on the windows. The moisture can also be caused by many other sources. Many utilities, such as PG&E in northern california will inspect gas appliances for free. It is very common for me to find dislocated water heater and furnace flues after roofs are replaced and the pipes bumped by the roofers. I have been a house inspector for 18 years and find an amazing aount of furnace and water heater problems that can cause carbon monoxide and fire problems. I also sad for the lose of the family and hope these messages can help prevent further losses.
Jon

[kelly theaker]

Re: Safeguard your Homes and Family

An attitude that" it will never happen to me" continues
#1 place smoke alarms on each level of your home -close to sleeping quarters

Buy quality

Test your smoke alarm once a month and change the battery twice a year -when you change the clocks
Fact - The majority of fatal fires happen at night
Fact - The majority of fires are caused by unattended cooking
if your smoke alarm is older than 10 years replace it
As for "CO" an odorless , colorless gas caused by incomplete combustion
Co detectors should be placed near the sleeping quarters and a quality unit should be purchased
not only should you have both these in place you should have two ways out and have a meeting place - too many go back in after the children and perish , when they were outside already,
I too feel for the families and friends of this loss, lets maybe call our local fire dept and educate ourselves .

[Frank H.]

Re: other signs ...almost a victim

I'm sorry to hear of this sensless loss,I was almost almost a victim to this silent killer,one saturday about five years ago I had spent all day working in the garage, stripping windows, stair railings, heat registers, doors and painting or staining these type trim. coming in the house or out in the driveway and back in the garage. That night I showered and lay down to sleep to find that if I laid down my chest hurt like the worst heart burn you could imagine and hurt more the deeper I breathed, not wanting to alarm my wife I got up and sat in the lazyboy recliner and it relieved the pain some and I could get deeper breaths.About a half hour later my wife comes in and said someone coming to watch the kids and were going to the hospital, Once there they give me nitro pill to see if its a heart attack,no change,now I'm on oxygen for about 15 minutes and the pains about 80% better and x-ray shows I have water in the sack around my heart (paracardidis),but since no other members of the family are affected .I'm going for manditory observation in ICU for 24 hours with a heart monitor,they do a ultrasound on my heart and tech says my heart looks younger then me.
Now I wonder do they think I made it up or ?.They send me home and things are fine till saturday night ,same thing as last week ,I call the gas company and the serviceman comes right away and checks the house furnace....OK The wood stove and chiminey...OK the garage furnace..CO..........220ppm...it..would have killed you in 30min if you had stopped opening and closing the door going in and out.
He said the first sign was the furnace flame should be blue, a yellow or red flame is a dirty flame .....CO
We have Two CO monitors now and I take on out to the garage when I'm out their.
I,ve found that any car running in the driveway with garage door open in the winter sets the CO monitor off in the house ,but not in the summer.
Best Wishes
Frank

[Paul L.]

Re: Safeguard your Homes and Family

That is a terrible tragedy...so sad. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. My home is still on fuel oil and generally the situation you have described is attributed to natural gas malfunctons. A fuel oil problem just smokes/stinks when not working properly. But I do have a plug-in CO detector as a back-up to normal smoke detectors. They are not expensive and I agree it is wise to have one or more. Again, that is terrible news at this time of year or whatever time for that matter.

[Clem Z.]

always check on your older neighbors

we have had older people in my area pull their car into the garage and go upstairs and forget to shut of the car and died from CO. the fireman find the car with the ignition on and out of gas. sad. the idea of the CO coming up thru the ductwork if the furnace plenum springs a leak has made me build my homes with hot water heat instead of forced air. i still have the detectors also

[Craig S.]

Re: Safeguard your Homes and Family

Joe - I have the typical home units in bedroom and kitchen. I recently bought a Bacharach Monoxor II hand held sampling unit with digital readout in PPM from 0-2000 with a 5% accuracy. However, it is used and after reading the literature they require recalibration on an occasional basis and apparently the active chamber supposedly needs exchange every few years. Maybe in this case saving on eBay was not the best plan....I am calling Bacharach this week, just got it late last week. I was concerned as I see some dust on one of my heat exchangers in my furnace, and got worried I have a small leak. Kind of scarey....I want to know we aren't getting gassed and this thread doesn't calm my nerves any....at least our furnace barely runs here in Tucson...Craig

[Dick W.]

Re: Safeguard your Homes and Family

And most people do not realize that the victims in a house fire, where an autopsy was performed, died from smoke inhalation, not burns. A very large percentage! Change batteries in detectors when time changes from standard time to daylight and again when it changes back. One fire or carbon monoxide victim is one too many.

[Craig S.]

Re: Some other signs may be manifested

Jon - see my thread above, I bought a Monoxor II CO test instrument to test my furnace.....maybe you can email me offline if you know any details about levels in PPM for flues and directly above the heat exchanger discharge...Craig