Carbon Monoxide Detectors

[spottedeagle]

Today my wife and I got a serious wake-up call. We have a wood burning pellet stove in the house we bought a year ago. Well sometime within the past week or so apparently the stove started to malfuntction. Unfortunately for us we did not have carbon monoxide detectors in our house, just smoke detectors. Over the last week the kids have been complaining of headaches, my wife has also had a couple. Last night and this morning I had them, but we didn't put two and two together until I realized it after getting to work this morning. I called home and my wife opened all the windows, turned off the stove, then had the paramedics/fire department come and check out the house and the family. Thankfully we only had low levels of carbon monoxide in our house and none of us got seriously ill. But we've all heard stories about families that go to bed and never wake-up. The dectors aren't really that much, especially considering it's your and your families safety. Needless to say the old stove is not going to be used again. Glad we also have electric heat, and tomorrow my wife is going to get the detectors from the Lowes. Just wanted to make people aware even if you don't have a woodstove, carbon monoxide can come from many things, gas furnaces, attached garages, etc. I'm sure a fire fighter could explain it better than me LOL

Just don't make the mistake and think "Oh what do we need one of those for!!!!!"

[Joe's Dad]

Can CO detectors be connected electrically like smoke detectors? The advantage is that if there is a problem in one area of the home is affected, the entire home is notified. I've hooked up smoke detectors in series, but not CO detectors.

[Annie Fawn]

I was just talking about this subject with a fire fighter the other day. Oddly enough, I never even considered our wood burning stove.
He told that people who have all electric houses are basically wasteing their money buying them. It was more for homes that run on gas.
Maybe I should look into getting one anyway.

[Privateer6]

Personally I have both smoke and CO2 detectors, and change the batteries twice a year on both of them. Any time you use open flame for heating, I'd recommend having bothl

[timmy tiger]

I was told a year ago and a repair man was supposed to get me one, but so far nothing. My mom got two of them after we were told that we should have one. So maybe I'll just go and get one or two for the house.

[White Powwow Dancer]

Can CO detectors be connected electrically like smoke detectors? The advantage is that if there is a problem in one area of the home is affected, the entire home is notified. I've hooked up smoke detectors in series, but not CO detectors.

I haven't seen one yet. I seen some came out with Flammable Gas Detectors for LP or Natural Gas leaks and CO Detection too.
Here is some info on CO detectors goto How Carbon Monoxide (CO) Detectors Work for the info.

[*Brown Eyed Gurl*]

when we were renting, we lived in this crappy old house that had a weird reallllly old natural gas furnace and we wanted it to be serviced and cleaned but the landlord wouldnt pay up so instead we bought a cm detector..this was in 97 or 98 and it cost us 45$, and plugged into the wall...well a few monthes later it went off...so we turned it off and left it alone...thought maybe we had it too close...so anyway it went off again...and again...and again...so we called bchydro(gas guys) since the l.l. came by and said it was fine...and they said that we coulda blew the place up was leaking natural gas and carbon monoxide...so i was glad that we bought it.

[OLChemist]

Spottedeagle, I'm glad you and yours are OK.

CO detectors are available as hardwired units and plug-ins as well as battery units. Some alarm companies offer the hardwired units, but you need to be sure that you are getting a gas detector and not a fire/smoke alarm.

These alarms are relatively inexpensive. First Alert's high end product is around $50. That is $10 a year over the 5 year life of the sensor unit. That is cheap safety.

BTW, the sensor units in most of these alarms wear out. The alarms need to be replaced from time to time.

[50cal]

I need to get one, since we cook inside and I am thinking of getting an inside grill.....

[Blackbear]

don't just get an all electric hardwired one.. make sure it has a battery backup, especially if you live in an area where you get frequent power outages like we do... We have one on each floor of the house... it's required for my license but I'd have one anyhow because our house is heated by oil.

[spottedeagle]

Thank you everyone for adding to this thread. I sit and think, if my wife had come home from work and gone to bed like normal, I would have lost my wife, youngest son and my daughter (who was staying home with a headache and nausea). Thinking about my daughter being sick on the way to work, then getting a headache myself is what made me realize. We feel so blessed things worked out the way they did and we feel we should spread the word to other people to prevent this from happening to anyone else.

[Wakalapi]

A little off topic (and I'm a Mod eh fine example I am ennit) but a family in central Washington just experienced the worst tragedy a family can face, loss of three of their children. This was due to the father unwittingly bringing in a portable generator and letting it run inside the house. The kids died of CO poisoning and two other family members were taken to the hospital, one of which remains in serious condition.

Please do not run generators indoors. I know that it should go without saying, but some people just don't think of that.

[spottedeagle]

A little off topic (and I'm a Mod eh fine example I am ennit) but a family in central Washington just experienced the worst tragedy a family can face, loss of three of their children. This was due to the father unwittingly bringing in a portable generator and letting it run inside the house. The kids died of CO poisoning and two other family members were taken to the hospital, one of which remains in serious condition.

Please do not run generators indoors. I know that it should go without saying, but some people just don't think of that.

I don't think that's off topic at all. Had they had a detector, it could have saved their lives.

[timmy tiger]

I have to agree---That's not off topic at all. That is important for people to know. I know people who have generators and say that they've used them in their homes and they do have kids. So, now I can tell them this.