So you might have seen my FB post yesterday about the carbon monoxide drama. Let me elaborate...ugh
Wed night, Kevin hears a beeping that wakes him up around 1 am. He goes downstairs and BOTH CO detectors are beeping. He turns them off and comes back to bed. I was concerned that both were going off, so I decided to call the police. I just had to go with my instinct, and the fact that I couldn't sleep restfully with the worry that we were going to die of CO poisoning.
Long story short, the cops, firemen, gas company are all in my house until 3 am while we wait outside in the cold. They got a pretty high reading. Not high enough that we couldn't stay in the house, but high enough that we had to get our boiler fixed ASAP. So at 3 am I left a msg for the heating company. By 3pm yesterday they were at our house fixing it. It turns out we need a new boiler ($5,000!!!!! ughhhh) and he turned the heat off because he felt the levels would have been dangerous if we left it on.
So last night and this morning were VERY cold
Saturday morning our new boiler is getting installed.
I mean, I'm grateful that we took action and this was not an emergency, but it just sucks because it's soo much money. No vacation for us this year. There goes all of the money we saved last year, basically.
Moral of the story: GET A CO ALARM AND DON'T IGNORE IT!!!
Re: A story
Wow, I missed this on FB! That's really scary. Thank goodness you had the detectors, but why did your H just turn them off and not do anything about it!?
I'm sorry you have to spend all that money, that sucks. I've been meaning to go buy a detector and now I think I will definitely add that to my shopping/to do list for the weekend. This is the first house I've lived in since I was 8 that had gas heat.
Glad you are both safe!
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That is so scarey and I'm glad you are both ok!!!
DH was not home one night when we were living in the apt and I ended up calling the police/fire because our CO2 detector went off and turns out it was ok but the detector was 7 years old WAY older then we should have had it so that night (it was almost midnight) I went to the 24 hour CVS and bought a new one. Of course the apt complex wouldn't pay us back for replacing it which made me SO mad but it was worth the peace of mind.
We have a home alarm system now that has a dedicated CO2 and Fire Alarm on each floor that go directly to the local fire/police which makes me feel a lot better!!
I dunno, we were just kinda sitting in bed like, "What do you wanna do? Do you think we should call the police? I don't know, what do you think?" Back and forth for 5 minutes. I'm like, Ok, I'm calling! Kevin went to get our coats and we went outside to wait. I think most people would rather just ignore it than make the call, you want to assume everything's fine. Thank God we did!!!
ETA: and our alarms and batteries were only a few months old, so we were pretty sure it wasn't a false alarm!
Ok, I thought he just ran downstairs and ran back up and went to sleep. That makes more sense. It's a really good thing you did call even if they said the levels were safe. That is not something that I would risk. CO poisoning is one of those things that scares the crap out of me.
wow - so glad you got out okay! that's crazy! we have one outside our bedroom but maybe we'll get a second for the basement considering we have a tenant downstairs and the co dectector is on the 3rd floor! (and iknow it's a heavy gas so it would take a while to get up there!)
thanks for the info and again - so glad you guys got out!
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I saw this! Totally insane. I'm glad you're okay - and I know the feeling of dumping a lot (or all, wahh!) of your savings on something not "fun" but you do have to remember that's what savings are for. I mean, it totally sucks but at least you had that cushion there rather than going "uhhhh where are we gonna get 5K for a boiler?"
I have a stupid question b/c someone mentioned gas heat -- is that where CO comes from? Or can it be from anything? I've never heard of anyone down here having a CO detector, but then again it's not really something that would come up in conversatino at a bar. Just wondering if I need to get me one of those since I use heat maybe twice a year!
From the EPA website, it really comes from all sources of gasoline. I had to look it up to be sure.
Sources of Carbon Monoxide
Unvented kerosene and gas space heaters; leaking chimneys and furnaces; back-drafting from furnaces, gas water heaters, wood stoves, and fireplaces; gas stoves; generators and other gasoline powered equipment; automobile exhaust from attached garages; and tobacco smoke. Incomplete oxidation during combustion in gas ranges and unvented gas or kerosene heaters may cause high concentrations of CO in indoor air. Worn or poorly adjusted and maintained combustion devices (e.g., boilers, furnaces) can be significant sources, or if the flue is improperly sized, blocked, disconnected, or is leaking. Auto, truck, or bus exhaust from attached garages, nearby roads, or parking areas can also be a source.
Ugh. I am sorry that you had to replace the boiler, that sucks so bad.
I am glad that you and DH are alright though!
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