When settling in to the new place,,,

16 years ago

Please, please, please get a CO detector. Take it out of the box and set it up, too.

Saturday morning at 3:30 ours woke us up. We opened the windows and doors, shut off the furnace, and the numbers went down quickly. We then started smelling gas, so DH got Dad into a wheelchair and out of the house. I went on the porch and called 911, then grabbed leashes and got the three dogs into my car in the driveway. DH went back in for shoes, socks, a coat for himself and down comforters to wrap around Dad.

Fire squad went into the basement, but retreated when their meters measured 60. Our Nighthawk had read 139 when we woke up. Once it cleared more, the firefighters went back in and opened basement windows and it aired out within a half hour. They never measured any gas in the house, but one guy said that some folks can smell the "colorless, odorless" CO.

We knew our furnace was original from 1978. We had it checked last year and it was safe, if not efficient. We planned to replace it as soon as our old house sold...

I was planning to start up the furnace soon during the day so we could air out the burned smell that you get when you first turn it on, then watch the CO alarm after closing the house up again. We had told Dad's caregivers to not turn on the furnace, stick to his space heater for now. But on Friday, the caregiver called in sick and Sis-in-Law stayed with Dad. We never realized she had turned on the furnace, so it was a bit of a surprise to have the CO detector alarming. We never looked at the thermostat to see the furnace was turned on. We also forgot that I had purchased a service agreement last spring when the AC was checked, and I had essentially already paid for the furnace check in the fall! We have just been too busy with a sick dog having surgery last week, Dad's sudden blindness in June, his recent diagnosis of cancer, the main plumbing stack replacement in the old house last week, my blowing out my knee by going up and down from the basement to see what the plumber wanted me to see, planning for some home improvements (that cost less than the furnace) and so on.

Our CO detector saved us. When you move into your new houses, you really don't know what may go wrong, since you were not there doing the preventative maintenance. Be safe and set up smoke alarms and co alarms where ever recommended.

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Comments (9)

sparksals
16 years ago
OMG Nancy!! What a frightening story!! I'm glad everyone is ok.

Do you have a home warranty? It may cover this issue.
Nancy in Mich
Original Author
16 years ago
Yeah, the Home Warranty was a joke. The water heater was also original, and we had trouble from Day One having enough water for two showers, let alone enough later in the day for a slower, elderly father to shower. So we checked the warranty papers. It would replace the water heater only if it broke. Since we still got some hot water from it, it was functioning. Unless it broke completely and did not give any hot water, we were out of luck. So we ended up replacing it ourselves so Dad could get a warm shower.

Last fall, just before the warranty expired, I had the furnace inspected. It had one section of the heat exchanger plugged. Again, it did produce heat, just really inefficiently. Since it did, no repair or replacement. At that time, the heat exchanger was intact with no leaks. Needless to say, we did not renew the warranty for a second year.

We never expected it to take a year and a half to get the old house sold (and it is not really sold, we have a rent-to-own tennant in it now). We expected to have the money to replace the furnace, water heater, windows, doors, and to insulate in the first two or three years. In two weeks it will be two years since we closed on the house. We have two new doors in the garage, waiting for our favoirite carpenter to have time to install them. These are the first improvements.
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zeebee
16 years ago
I'm SO GLAD everything turned out OK for you - how scary!

DH reminded me that I need to take CO detectors over to our new house, even though we won't move in for a few weeks. We had a small gas leak that I suspect was around since the weekend, and I would have trusted my senses sooner if the CO alarm had gone off. As it was, I'd go in the basement and think "is that gas I smell?", sniff a couple of times, become desensitized to it and go back upstairs.
minet
16 years ago
I'm glad your family is ok - sounds like a scary incident. And thanks for the reminder ...
housekeeping
16 years ago
Nancy I am so glad you are all OK, Father and pets and all!

Zeebee, the CO detector won't discover gas leaks, for that you need a different alarm that detects gas. A CO one only does carbon monoxide. I don't know if there are natural gas detectors, but I know you can get LP (propane) ones as I have one in my kitchen near my gas stove.

Molly~
Nancy in Mich
Original Author
16 years ago
My Nighthawk detects both gas and CO, Molly. If both are present, though, it reverts to the CO reading. If only gas is present, it says GAS in the readout area. It does not measure it like it does CO, but I imagine ANY gas should send us to the phone and out the front door.

Thanks, everybody, for the good wishes. I tell you, we'd be dead without the alarm. It really wasn't scary in the process of it all, just when thinking back on what would have happened without the alarm.
quiltglo
16 years ago
Five years ago we had a family die in a brand new home. The furnace had been shut off for something and when they turned it back on, the flue was too cold. That can be a problem here if the flue is long. The city quickly passed a new code that all structures needed CO detectors for a sale to occur.

I'm surprised by how many of my acquaintances still haven't put them in their home. Such a simple thing to do.

Gloria
Boopadaboo
16 years ago
thank goodness you are all OK! thanks for the warning. I just had ADT set up an alarm system for me and they don't sell propane detectors. I thought that meant there werent any. I will have to get some. Thanks Molly!
mmmagique
16 years ago
(((((HUGS))))) Big hugs to you and yours for all you're going through. I am going to look up the 'nighthawk' right now, and tell my honey that we need one...NOW!

~Christina

When settling in to the new place,,,

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sparksals

Nancy in Mich
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When settling in to the new place,,,

Comments (9)

sparksals

Nancy in MichOriginal Author

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