Family Found Dead Overnight. I bought 3 more household Carbon Monoxide monitors today

[Mr.X]

Terrible news. Having HVAC checked yearly, in addition to the monitors would have helped the family. In my historic home I had a geezer of a furnace which I replaced with a newer 95% efficient model which now intakes and exhausts through a singular port. Much safer.

The HVAC technician told me that if I hadn't kept my attic window (ajar) chances were pretty high that occupants (if they slept in the finished attic area) would not have woken up. WHOA! So sad to hear as I have a renewed understanding of the dangers of carbon monoxide.

X

 

[pjhansman]

Forced air electric heating here.....no CO issues at all.

But the wood-burning fireplace has resulted in the installation of several CO detectors.

 

[D_B]

Electric heating here too, but I have a gas range , and a fake gas fireplace (that I do not use, but that doesnt count for others in the appartment building using theirs)

A CO detector is now something to look for

 

[Mr.X]

Forced air electric heating here.....no CO issues at all.

But the wood-burning fireplace has resulted in the installation of several CO detectors.

I have a couple of wood stoves in the historic home. However, I've not fired them up as I am afraid I would smoke the living daylights out of the place. In my apartment we have wood fireplaces and the minute someone lights up a presto log, or a piece of paper it fills my place with fumes and smoke. Just awful.

Feel so bad for this family + knowing how many people didn't have to die if they had detectors, or had someone do a quick safety check of their homes. I do know that we'll be seeing a slew of more fatalities as the economy might make folks use those terrible kerosene heaters for home heating. :depressed:

X

 

[DandyDon]

Forced air electric heating here.....no CO issues at all.

But the wood-burning fireplace has resulted in the installation of several CO detectors.

I feel really dumb about not thinking about the daughter's fireplace at first. They think I'm a fanatic (so what's new?), but I have one in each bedroom now.

Electric heating here too, but I have a gas range , and a fake gas fireplace (that I do not use, but that doesnt count for others in the appartment building using theirs)

A CO detector is now something to look for

Get plug in with battery backup. Anywhere hardware is sold. Check date on back.

Carbon Monoxide Detector Saves Brooklyn Residents - Gothamist
Yesterday at 7:30 a.m., a carbon monoxide detector sounded in a Midwood apartment building. A tenant told the Daily News, "When I got up, I was dizzy," and it turns out there were "130 parts per million of carbon monoxide in the air... The FDNY evacuates buildings when carbon monoxide levels are more than 10 parts per million." The cause? A faulty basement boiler, which was turned on by the super at 6 a.m.; luckily, no one was hurt. Make sure you have a carbon monoxide detector (and make sure the batteries work) and follow these tips from the FDNY.

Bay Stater dies from poisonous leak at ski chalet - BostonHerald.com
MONTPELIER, Vt. — A propane wall heater apparently leaked poisonous carbon monoxide into a Vermont ski chalet yesterday, killing a Massachusetts man who owned the home and sickening eight others, police said.

Bucks church evacuated by carbon monoxide fumes | Philadelphia Inquirer | 01/03/2011
BUCKS COUNTY, Pa. - A church with more than 100 parishioners in attendance was evacuated Sunday morning when carbon monoxide fumes disrupted services, according to authorities. Six parishioners at St. Cyril of Jerusalem in Jamison, two police officers, four firefighters, and five members of emergency units were taken to Abington Memorial and Doylestown Hospitals, according to Mark Goldberg of the Warwick Township Police Department and Deputy Chief Bob Weber of the Warwick Fire Department. Jamison is about 45 minutes northeast of Philadelphia.

17 hospitalized for carbon monoxide - BostonHerald.com
High carbon monoxide levels in a single-family home in Mattapan sent 17 people to local hospitals last night as a precaution, emergency officials said.

FD: Grill Fumes Send Mesa Family To Hospital - Valley News Story - KPHO Phoenix
MESA, Ariz. -- Nine members of a Mesa family were taken to a hospital after becoming sick from carbon monoxide poisoning. Blu Caton with the Mesa Fire Department said the victims became sick after fumes from a charcoal grill began blowing inside their home through a sliding glass door. (My daughter sent me pics of them roasting marshmallows on the back porch last night.)

Two Weyers Cave Residents Treated for Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
Augusta County Sheriff's Deputies rescued a woman and her son from carbon monoxide poisoning on Saturday.

2 women found dead of apparent carbon monoxide poisoning | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times
Two women were found dead in their Willowbrook home Saturday afternoon after accidentally inhaling carbon monoxide from an oven they may have been using to stay warm, police said.

 

[novicediver]

This needs to be standard equipment in all homes. Hopefully people are becoming more aware of CO hazards.

 

[DandyDon]

The more I read about CO risks, the more I see how we're generally in the habit of not doing much - perhaps because low cost, effective detectors are relatively new? State and province regulations vary a lot and are often applied to new buildings only...

Carbon monoxide detectors to be mandatory - Carman Valley Leader - Manitoba, CA
The Manitoba government will not be requiring all existing homeowners to install carbon monoxide detectors.

New law mandates carbon monoxide alarms in homes - ContraCostaTimes.com
They call it the silent killer - an odorless, colorless gas that creeps out of malfunctioning appliances, lulling everyone on its path into an eternal slumber.
But California is no longer silent about it.
State's new residential and building codes require installation of carbon monoxide alarms in all new homes starting today.

Can you imagine a school not having detectors? Surprises me, but for all I know - might be common?
Carbon Monoxide Sends 40 Students to Hospital | NBC Connecticut
Waterbury has a plan in place to install permanent CO detectors in its schools, but the plan has not been implemented. The District bought temporary CO detectors to be installed in all schools by the end of the day Tuesday, according to the superintendent's office.

City sanitation workers sickened by carbon monoxide from snow melter exhaust fumes
The giant snow melters the city uses have been sickening sanitation workers with potentially deadly fumes, the Daily News has learned.

Safety starts at home tho...
KTEN.com - Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Offers Warning this Winter
ADA, OK--A mother and her three children were lucky to be alive Tuesday night after being rushed to the hospital with carbon monoxide poisoning that morning.

 

[novicediver]

Give it time, it will happen but it requires persistence.

 

[DandyDon]

I'm probly already doing all I can get away with, but may buy one more for my daughter's classroom...?

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Don,

Here's a few more:

Southeast Portland man dies of carbon monoxide poisoning


Portland man saves his family from carbon monoxide poisoning


I would urge people to watch the short video which accompanies this last article. We have a CO alarm in our house, and last week I did CO sampling at my work, as we have a warehouse which we need to have auxiliary heating, and are using propane heaters (I found a high of 10 ppm CO in the heat plume of the heater).

In addition, our church had a heater malfunction too. Two people from the choir went downstairs to investigate loud bangs, which turned out to be small natural gas explosions. They called the fire department, and had headaches afterwards. The headaches were attributed to CO poisoning. I would like to point out that going into a basement, or closet, could be what we at work call "confined spaces," and if CO is present lethal concentrations could be built up fairly quickly.

In addition to that, at our local meeting of the American Society of Safety Engineers, we found out about natural gas leaking through the ground. If it does, the ground and water could remove the mercaptains in it to make it smell bad. This happened here in the Portland area, and resulted in a buildup of natural gas (odorless) in a garage which resulted in an explosion which severely damaged a house, and threatened a whole neighborhood for a while.

If there's a doubt, call 911 and get out.

John (SeaRat)