Rant: CO detectors

[jim]

Those damned things are a pain in the ass. Case in point: About a month ago we had a plugin unit in the kitchen trigger an alarm. I unplugged it and saw that it was well over 5 years old so I just threw the damn thing in the garbage, because I've had so many false alarms on those [expletive] things that I don't believe them any more. We had two other alarms (mounted - one up and one down stairs) and they weren't going off.

Sunday night at 9pm the mounted ones go off. I unmount it and see that it is 5 years old - right on the limit. I *know* it's a false alarm, but since I have been dealing with a slight headache all weekend and since we were just about getting ready to go to bed AND these were also fire detectors I figured I best not just throw them away. I call the fire department where the phone rings and rings and ring and rings because they are probably all sleeping. Finally a voice message ... if you are calling on a CO emergency call 911. Fine, I'll call 911. Of course you get the serious questions because it's 9 [expletive] 11 ... I'm trying to tell the lady that other than a little headache and nausea I feel fine. My wife and kid both feel fine. She says she is going to send the fire department and the paramedics. Whoa! You don't need to send the paramedics lady, that's a little overkill. She insists .. and tells us to go outside if we can and wait.

So I'm standing outside and then I hear it - sirens. You can tell it's like a [expletive] mile away. They are coming with sirens blaring. Drama queens. The sirens get louder and louder, and even though I'm probably 15 houses from the corner of the main street I can see the red reflecting off the houses before I actually see the truck. [expletive]' thing is 50 feet long and has 100 god damned sirens on it. It's followed by a paramedic truck, sirens flashing on that [expletive] too.

[expletive].

So they go in and test the house and ... what do you know? High CO readings. Something like 19ppm - nothing that should have triggered the alarm (40-70 for like an hour should trigger the alarm), but higher than you expect (< 10). I was cooking on the grill and had the grill near an intake, so it's possible there was something with that. The heat was off, and the only other gas appliance we have is the stove which I didn't use. They couldn't find anything, so they called the gas company. Gas company comes out, and the level is down to 13 (still higher than 10) and he searches everywhere and he can't find the source.

So one big dramatic false alarm. Every neighbor on the block probably thought I finally had a heart attack after chasing some kid off my lawn.

Last night I bought all new fire alarms and CO monitors and installed them, so probably won't have another false alarm for 5 years.

[jim]

Ah here is the other weird thing ... both CO detectors went off at the same time AND a separate fire alarm upstairs started doing the chirp that it does when the batteries are going bad. I really wonder if all the batteries went bad at the exact same moment.

[jeffbgoofy]

I have been told recently to install the CO detectors about three feet off the floor.

[lukethedrifter]

They totally shouldn't have taken you seriously.

[stlouie_lipp]

Why do the backup batteries in those, and the batteries in smoke detectors always die in the middle of the night? Nothing more pleasant than being awaken by one of those going off.

[jim]

They totally shouldn't have taken you seriously.

So you would know this ... but are the sirens really necessary if you know the people are safe and outside? I guess they have to, it just seemed overkill to me at the time. Better safe than sorry I suppose. But damn, that was big truck. Seems like for CO related issues you could take the smaller truck.

[lukethedrifter]

They totally shouldn't have taken you seriously.

So you would know this ... but are the sirens really necessary if you know the people are safe and outside? I guess they have to, it just seemed overkill to me at the time. Better safe than sorry I suppose. But damn, that was big truck. Seems like for CO related issues you could take the smaller truck.

We don't have a smaller truck. Most of the truck is unnecessary most of the time but when you need it you need it.

Sirens necessary? Not really, I suppose, but people like to feel like their emergency is important. In recent years, many of our calls have been downgraded to non-urgent, as in no lights and siren. Had you not told them you were feeling ill, no lights and no siren.

Tracing the origin of CO can be very difficult at times. If you opened the doors or windows and changed the airflow in your house you can end up clearing the CO out and it can take quite a while to replicate and build back up to dangerous levels.

If you have a newer or tight house you can end up with a negative pressure situation and draw the CO back in or short your gas appliances of necessary fresh air leading to a CO problem. Running a car with an open garage door can fill a house with CO setting off alarm then the car takes off or shuts off and levels drop again.

Definitely having a charcoal grill near an intake is lousy idea. Generators too.

http://www.carbon-monoxide-survivor.com ... -rise.html

Does your detector have a numerical reading?


http://www.carbon-monoxide-survivor.com ... -rise.html

[jim]

They totally shouldn't have taken you seriously.

So you would know this ... but are the sirens really necessary if you know the people are safe and outside? I guess they have to, it just seemed overkill to me at the time. Better safe than sorry I suppose. But damn, that was big truck. Seems like for CO related issues you could take the smaller truck.

We don't have a smaller truck. Most of the truck is unnecessary most of the time but when you need it you need it.

Sirens necessary? Not really, I suppose, but people like to feel like their emergency is important. In recent years, many of our calls have been downgraded to non-urgent, as in no lights and siren. Had you not told them you were feeling ill, no lights and no siren.

Tracing the origin of CO can be very difficult at times. If you opened the doors or windows and changed the airflow in your house you can end up clearing the CO out and it can take quite a while to replicate and build back up to dangerous levels.

If you have a newer or tight house you can end up with a negative pressure situation and draw the CO back in or short your gas appliances of necessary fresh air leading to a CO problem. Running a car with an open garage door can fill a house with CO setting off alarm then the car takes off or shuts off and levels drop again.

Definitely having a charcoal grill near an intake is lousy idea. Generators too.

http://www.carbon-monoxide-survivor.com ... -rise.html

Does your detector have a numerical reading?


http://www.carbon-monoxide-survivor.com ... -rise.html

Older house (1950's), but newer windows. We have a car port, and I like to use the grill near that as I can cook in the rain. I'm 99% sure that was it, because when you were outside and went back in it really smelled like someone had been cooking in their even though they had not. I'll move the grill next time.

As far as the sirens, I did tell the operator that it was not an emergency. Next time if it happens I'll make sure they know it's not an emergency, which I guess with 911 operators means telling them it's not an emergency 15 times instead of the 10 times that I told her.

I didn't get the detector with the readings on it.

[slide_into_first]

Its the same with blood sugar readings, it used to be if someone had a high reading, say 170-200 it was a warning sign, now people go to health fairs and if it is 101, one point over normal and not statistically significant some idiot tells the person they are diabetic and in serious danger. This society has been dumbed down to a reality-real housewives show level.

[lukethedrifter]

in the case of CO detectors the opposite is true. level at which they alarm has been raised.

as far as telling them it's not an emergency, there are a couple of things at play, the primary one is that plenty of people have said that there situation isn't an emergency and it turned out to be one. Of course, exponentially more people claim to have an emergency when one doesn't exist.