DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Huge scare at my house this morning!

Our carbon monoxide detector went off at 3:00am! Our furnace was actually leaking some horrible horrible fumes and the basement was full of a hazey smoke. We packed up our daughter, Kelsey, and the dog, put the cats outside and left. We went to my father in law's house (he's in St. Croix right now) and Kelsey and me just got home in time for her lunch and her nap.

The man who came out to fix it said the furnace was all clogged up with black soot and that we're lucky that we had a carbon monoxide detector in our home!

It scares me to death just thinking what could've happened if we didn't have a detector. We very well could have all died in our sleep. You see it on the news all the time. Very very scary!

So to those of you that do NOT have a carbon monoxide detector in your homes GO GET ONE TODAY! It could save your life!!!!!!!!!!

Glad to see you are all safe!

Wow you are lucky, thank the lord.

Why was it clogged with black soot?

Glad to hear that you all are ok.

good tip

They develop black soot over time.

Regular preventative maintenance is needed on a burner system. Like anything, they lose efficiency over time and need to be serviced to keep them running clean and well.

OMG, thank goodness you guys are alright! That really is scary.

Mine went off one night when I got home from work. They sent the fire department out to check on it. Everyone needs to have one especially with children in the house.

Good advice, sure am glad you had one! I think my fire dept cleans more chimenies than the local chimney sweeps. Very common all winter long.

Also if you burn wood, and even oil, you should have the chimeny cleaned every few years. It can create more problems than just gas back ups (insert GM joke here)

Glad to hear everyone is safe, Brownsgirl! That would be a horrible thing to wake up to...but at least you woke up. I'm sure you are counting your blessings today.

Quote:

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Everyone needs to have one especially with children in the house.

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Uhhh....you should have just ended that sentence after the word one.

j/c

Glad you and your family are ok BG.

but it's for the children.

Yeah....screw the adults. Let 'em die!

Glad you're ok. My parents had the same thing happen to them about 4 years ago - brand new furnace, not hooked up right. First night - BAM off goes the carbon monoxide detector.......

My furnace is in the garage - propane boiler - so I put the carbon monoxide detect. out there - which is right by the bedroom anyway................furnace guy, out for a "check up" one day, moved it into our bedroom, saying "doesn't matter if the garage is full of gas......"

Well, I moved it back to the garage, cause that is where the furnace is, the water heater - if there's gonna be a problem, it will be there first. Plus, I've checked, I can hear the alarm in the family room, and the bedroom...................was I wrong to move it to where the problem would start?

Probably yes. But the solution is to have two

Well, maybe we need 2, but I thought putting one where the problem would occur first would be better than putting it where it could occur second.

If the one in the garage goes off, all I need to do is open the doors, problem is taken care of until the furnace guys get there.....if it's in the bedroom, the problem has now crept into my house............but, they don't cost that much............so 2 is def. the way to go.

Thanks for talking me through that little dilemma.

I think two would be better than one, as well. But, my MIL told me one is sufficient.

She doesn't care a thing about us.

That's what I'm thinking.

One is better than none... 8 is better than 1..

Seriously though, we have one near the most likely source of a possible gas leak and another one at the top of the steps near the bedroom.

This is why I don't care about adults.... they wait til you get offline then start making fun of you.

All that's true. The problem is, if it's in the garage, how often do you check it? Will it wake you up? If it's in your room, gas can be in virtually any room in you house, and not yours, so it won't go off. That may not make sense, but we track gas in homes all the time, sometimes there is no rhyme or reason why one room is affected and not another.

They make really good combo detectors now. There should be one in each occupied bedroom of the house. I have to check to see if it's still so, but the inserts in CO detectors used to wear out after about a year, I know they were going to change it, I don't know if they ever did. Some have a changeable cartidge, like mine, and some were just toss away. Allthough I don't actually recommend it as an end all beat all test, if you hold it near your car exahust, and it doesn't go off, chuck it or fix it. That is a ton of CO though, just because it does go off doesn't necessarily mean it perfect.

The detector in our hallway is dual...smoke/carbon monoxide...just got it last fall. There are no inserts and it says to replace any detector after 7 years just as general precaution.

BTW, I'm glad you are alright. I don't think I mentioned that... Sorry.

Yeah, the one in the garage is loud enough to wake me up, (plus, our house isn't insulated well enough - a cat mewoing will wake me up).

In the garage, say Sunday morning for example, when I start the car and wait for my wife, ours goes off............

Regardless, we're going to get another one. Probably 2 more............If I can afford to spend $16 for a case of beer for 2,3, 4 people to drink watching a game, I can afford to buy 2 more detectors.

Sounds like they got around to making them better, that's good to know. I may have to go get a new one. The inserts are like 13 bucks a year. At least it doesn't use batteries though.

NOt sure why, but my old man always said that CO detectors were completely unnecessary. With 30 years in the plumbing and heating industry I took his judgement to heart.

Good way to think about it!

And that's how we check our multi detectors. If we question a reading in a home, we put it by the exhaust of one of the diesles, it trips just about every detectable gas back there.

Ah, mine uses AA's. And it talks to you to tell you which alarm is going off.

Oh, god, I hate things that talk to me. I'm right on the verge of sanity as it is. When I start chatting with my "stuff", it's time to see the men in white coats!


And Tyler, somehow I'm not surprised one of your relatives said something like that.

WOW, glad your safe and sound though!!

LOL...well, in an emergency, it would be nice not to stand around staring up at the thing trying to decide which it is. Of course, I realize it would be pretty clear if it were smoke.

I'm glad everyone is ok BG. How scary - I need to check mine at home. Thanks for the reminder.

Thanks gobrowns and everyone else. Now that I'm home and playing with my daughter I keep thinking "what if we didn't have a detector?" You just never know what can happen and it's very scary.

The way things have been going here lately, I'd probably start arguing with the thing and pass out. My mother board talks (except I turn it off), talk about annoying! Talking GPS, talking cars!

Just makes me shudder.

You do have a point though. It is nice to know why the damn thing is going off.

I think he was just talking about our house. It would be unnecessary in our home. He works with that kind of stuff, so I take his word for it.

I'm not advocating that you go throw yours out or anything.

Just stating what the old man said. I don't exactly know why he made this claim, but, well, just my .02

Maybe electric furnace? Do they give off carbon monoxide?