get out of the house and go to a neigbhor's and call the fire department!

Yes, just get out. It's odorless, so you have no warning from your own senses that it's at dangerous levels.

Yes, call the fire department. They will contact the gas company once the area is safe, at least here in Maryland. Our neighbor has had to call twice, and the fire department came, post haste. They have big fans so they can blow fresh air in once they've turned off the gas. Another neighbor had a gas leak and called the gas company and they told her to call 911, too.

thanks. appreciate the quick response. never thought the fire company.

maryanne

911 is also good!!
My son and his family had a very close call several years ago....
Pay attention...the scary part is it makes you stupid and you can't think clearly to do what needs to be done.
But get out of the house is the first thing to do.
Linda C

Fire Department here too. Please let us know you are alright after the problem is fixed.

About 15 years ago, we all woke up with headaches one morning. The oldest DH had the worst one and she was kinda loopy too. I opened the windows and called the home warranty company, who immediately sent out a furnace guy. That was 2 days before Christmas, 1992. The furnace guy disconnected the furnace from the gas and from the electricity, had us blow air completely through the house, and told us we were lucky to be alive.

Call 911, the fire department, and your furnace repair guy.

DonnaR/CA

When I got home from the hospital after having Rhiannon, my mom,Dh, baby and I all had symptoms of CO poisoning. In our case we called the fire department and they told us there was nothing they could do, they didnt have a detector. We called our natural Gas provider and they came right out at 10 at night and did readings all over the house and sent us to the hospital. Luckily we were all okay after staying over night in oxygen including the 3 day old baby.

Stacie

Maryanne? Are you guys alright?

yes, thank you i am fine.

as a part of my home study, i have to develope an emergency escape plan, where smoke detectors and fire extinguishers are and emergency contacts, etc. my mind was totally blanking on who gets called for carbon monoxide, certainly isn't anything covered by any PSA or commercial i've ever seen.

thank you all again.
maryanne

I better buy a carbon monoxide detector.

How does one test a CO detector? I have one...have had for about 10 years....how do you test the thing?
Linda C

Linda, I bought a new one when we moved and it plugs into a regular outlet. It has a digital readout that shows the current (0%). There are some buttons on the unit that are pushed for testing.

Maryanne, you scared me. When I read your first post I thought that maybe you were already suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning. Glad you clarified.

Ann

Where is the best place in the house to install the carbon monoxide detector?

I almost died from this when I was 12. Now I always keep windows open in the house, no matter how cold it is.

Here's more info.

Linda, if it's 10 yrs old, I'd buy a new one.

It should have buttons on it.. I don't have any outlets in my hallway, so I have a battery operated CO and smoke/heat alarm.

You should have both on every floor in your house, and some say CO alarms for every bedroom.
My house is so small and the bedrooms so close that I just have one of each.

We put the CO alarm in when we went to natural gas..the house didn't come with it.

Our CO was 10 years old last year and it nearly caught on fire!