Thursday, January 29, 2009

This Could Save Your Life!


This morning we woke early to the sound of our CO2 monitor sounding off. It didn't sound like a smoke alarm or anything familiar. At first I thought my ears were ringing. My head was pounding as I had a hard time deciphering what I was hearing. We both smelled gas. We groggily realized that it was urgent we act on this. Our Carbon Dioxide monitor had registered 173. This was well within the range it advised to call 911 and air out your home.
All fine except it was 19ยบ degrees outside. None the less, we opened the front and back doors to air out the gas.
We made coffee, tried to stay warm and called a repairman. Our friend Geri suggested we see if the roof vent was impacted with snow. Jon took an extension ladder to our steep snow-covered roof. The snow had slid down the steep angle of our A-frame and was indeed blocking the vent. We have 10" of snow here. The repairman arrived and cleaned out our 17 year old furnace. It was overdue. Much to our relief we didn't need a new unit, but we are extremely grateful that this monitor woke us.
It may well have saved our lives.
If you don't have a monitor, go get one.
If you have one, check it.
Replace the batteries like you would your smoke detector.
Today we were lucky!

Patricia

4 comments:

Beadin By The Sea said...

Wow, I bet that gave you a scare! I'm so glad you are both alright and that you have a CO2 detector. I'll have to look into it.

Shana said...

WOW! So glad you are okay! Great message we all need to hear.

Anonymous said...

Call it what you will...the powers which we earthly being cannot begin to fathom were taking care of you last night.

(FYI: Don't forget to change the battery when you "Spring ahead" and Fall Back."

Spillar said...

I am so happy you had that CO2 detector and that you are all safe and sound. They saved my families life as well.

http://sharonspillar.blogspot.com/2008/03/carbon-monoxide-detectors.html