Carbon Monoxide and Public Awareness

I felt this issue deserved its own thread. Like Hambden Bob posted on another thread, most here promote Carbon Monoxide detectors to new members. Take a moment also to discuss their importance with friends and family members. This morning I posted the paragraph below to my FaceBook account.

There has been many reports of Carbon Monoxide poisoning in the media this winter. In every case, a detector would have saved lives. Any appliance that burns fossil fuels such as natural gas, propane, fuel oil, kerosene, coal or wood, can produce Carbon Monoxide.. The cost of a detector is insignificant as compared to the loss of loved ones. Get Carbon Monoxide detectors.

Feel free to copy and paste that on any social media you have an account with. Take a moment and do it now...

I would add that even if your home is totally electric and you have none of the fuels mentioned, if you have an attached garage you should also have CO detectors. A surprising number of CO incidents are related to a source from the garage (car, generator, etc.).

coalkirk and titleist1, thank you for contributing.
Here's an updated version of the warning I sketched up this morning..

There has been many reports of Carbon Monoxide (CO) poisoning in the media this winter. In every case, a detector would have saved lives. Any appliance that burns fossil fuels such as natural gas, propane, fuel oil, kerosene, coal, fire wood or wood pellets, can produce Carbon Monoxide.. An attached garage containing an idling car, a running generator or operational heating appliance may expel Carbon Monoxide that can infiltrate your home. Carbon Monoxide is a toxic odorless gas that replaces Oxygen in the bloodstream which can lead to death. The cost of a detector is insignificant as compared to the loss of loved ones. Use Carbon Monoxide detectors...

I have 12 "likes" on my FaceBook post since this morning so at least people are seeing it .. I talked to one of my customers this morning that saw my post. He doesn't have a CO detector. He plans to change that.

Another thing that blows my mind is that in the reports of CO poisoning, the media doesn't convey to any degree how important it is to use detectors..

Here in NY, it's law to have CO detectors. A girl in Buffalo lost her life from a malfunctioning furnace. The parents really pushed it and even bought a lot of them and gave them away to anyone.

http://centralnewyork.com/userfiles/Carbon%20Mono ... %20Law.pdf

http://www.amandaslaw.org/

Somehow we have to change the Stigma that seems to be attached to both CO and Fire Alarms. That Stigma to me is that they're an Afterthought and Forgettable. Alot of Our Old Salts here have Personal Tales of an Alarm going Off. We've got Tinkerer's,Inventive Types and even Flueologists that challenge Draft Situations that can have some dire consequences. Usually nothing gets in our way of getting the Word further out on issues. I think we've been doing a pretty damned good job together on this one! Thanx Alot,Lightning for firing this Thread up.

About five years ago while trying to figure out what my mother could use as part of a Christmas gift I knew she had no CO detector but should have one so as part of her Christmas I got her a CO detector and installed it in the kitchen near the cellar door. I found out from my brother that one night a few weeks ago it went off. Naturally the first thing she did was call a nearby granddaughter to bring her detector to the house to make sure it was not a false alarm or faulty detector. When the second one went off she figured it was best to get out of the house. My brother and uncles came and found the flue pipe completely blocked with fly ash. My brother and I had completely cleaned this boiler in October and usually do it once a year every October. The flue has never been close to being blocked up but something different happened this year but I don’t know what.

So now mom replaced the old CO detector that may have saved her life and bought three new ones. She said it is best to replace them because they don’t last for more than a few years. I told her when one goes off she best believe it and not fool around wondering if it could be a false alarm.

I posted it on my FB page. I have taken my stove down twice this winter for a cleaning and both times found a significant amount of fly ash in the horizontal pipe coming out the back of the stove. It's only about a foot in length from the back of the stove to the 90 but in January I found it about 25% clogged. Space your check and cleaning based on fuel burned, not time on line. This winter has had breakers pumping out coal especially rice coal and some of it's pretty gritty. The gritty rice makes for extra light ash that can travel to your pipes and drop out of the gas stream there.

Check and clean your pipes.

Rev. Larry
New Beginning Church
Ashland Pa.

@gaw..... Best gift ever!!

blrman07 wrote:I posted it on my FB page. I have taken my stove down twice this winter for a cleaning and both times found a significant amount of fly ash in the horizontal pipe coming out the back of the stove. It's only about a foot in length from the back of the stove to the 90 but in January I found it about 25% clogged. Space your check and cleaning based on fuel burned, not time on line. This winter has had breakers pumping out coal especially rice coal and some of it's pretty gritty. The gritty rice makes for extra light ash that can travel to your pipes and drop out of the gas stream there.

Check and clean your pipes.

Rev. Larry
New Beginning Church
Ashland Pa.

These two posts agree with the PSA I also posted about cleaning flue pipes again this year. I have heard a lot of stories like this this year.

PSA::: Clean Your Flue Pipes.

WNY wrote:Here in NY, it's law to have CO detectors. A girl in Buffalo lost her life from a malfunctioning furnace. The parents really pushed it and even bought a lot of them and gave them away to anyone.

http://centralnewyork.com/userfiles/Carbon%20Mono ... %20Law.pdf

http://www.amandaslaw.org/

I remember this. Although, I didn't realize that CO detectors were made law. Good to know!

Last night my daughter spent the night at my sister's house. I made sure they have carbon monoxide detectors...