Carbon Monoxide Alarms

Carbon monoxide is the silent killer in our home, business and office building setting. Every building should have carbon monoxide alarms placed on each floor level; according to the packaging that the carbon monoxide detector comes in.

I go into numerous homes as a chimney sweep and hardly see a carbon monoxide detector in the basement floor level. In my opinion, carbon monoxide alarms should always be placed next to the home furnace and hot water heater. It only makes sense to be warned as soon as possible if the furnace or hot water heater is blocked by a bird's or squirrel's nest.

Dangerous levels of carbon monoxide can rise rapidly throughout your home and silently kill you and your family. Signs of carbon monoxide poisoning start out with a slight headache, to flu like symptoms, to convulsions, and finally death.

In 20 years, I have experienced 3 different families who have been poisoned by carbon monoxide.

One evening I arrived at a home in Neptune, New Jersey. The carbon monoxide alarms went off numerous times and the Fire Marshall and I where both standing there scratching our heads trying to figure out why a grandmother and grand daughter ended up in the decompression chamber. The emergency room doctor explained that carbon monoxide is received better in the blood cells of people, than oxygen.

The family was not allowed back into the home, until I solved the problem of why the Carbon Monoxide Alarms kept going off.

I relined the chimney with a metal liner. The landlord paid for the liner and soon the tenants were back in the home.

A short few weeks later, the carbon monoxide alarms went off again in the same home. On further inspection, it came to our attention that the plumber who installed the boiler without a permit forgot to put in a diffuser hood on the smoke pipe off the boiler.

Another electrician client installed his own hot water heater and was not aware the chimney was blocked with an animal's nest. Each day he would come home extremely exhausted and decided to start taking a noon time short nap. Well, the short nap turned in to a long slumber. Eventually, he lost many customers due to over sleeping and being very grouchy. He decided to go see a doctor, because he had flu like symptoms that would never go away. The doctor took blood tests. The doctor explained to the electrician client, "you are being poisoned by carbon monoxide". Eventually the client corrected the chimney problem and had to take liquid B-6 under the tongue for at least 6 months.

My last carbon monoxide alarms going off in a home in Long Branch, New Jersey. I tested the furnace...nothing. I tested the hot water heater...nothng. I tested the stove...nothing. Then, I tested the oven and my carbon monoxide tester went off the scale.

The husband was a plumber and said he would clean the oven burner holes. The wife argued with him and said you are not killing us, we are getting a new oven.

I left and never found out who won that battle.