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lovemykidstoo 06:56 AM 12-03-2018
Last Thursday night I left to go on a girls weekend with 6 of my friends. We stayed at our friend Jill's place about an hour from my house. It's a 5,000 sq foot home on a river and it's gorgeous. We looked forward to a weekend of laughs, gift exchange, shopping and cocktails. She has a basement level that is a walkout, so 4 of us slept down there. Well, we went shopping nearly the whole day on Friday. Got back to their house about 6:00. We walked in and the carbon monoxide detectors were going off on the main floor and in the walk out basement area. My friend called her husband and he said they do that sometimes, to reset them. That stopped for a short time and then they went off again. He called a furnace repair company and they came right out. The detector on the main floor was registering high. The area in the basement walkout area was at 1,000 ppm. This area in the furnace room was about 15-20 feet from where 4 of us were going to go to sleep in about 5 to 6 hours. If not for those alarms, we would have gone to sleep and not be alive in the morning. A couple of the ladies eyes were burning. There was a leak in the system that heats their floors and since the gas is odorless, we had no clue. Thank God for those alarms. I know we all have to have them for daycare, but I have been passing the word like crazy. One of the ladies said she doesn't have a moniter in her house. I find that crazy!
I have the one that is battery mounted and does not have the digital readout. I like the digital read out that is plug in. That scared me so bad that I'm going to buy a plug in and that way I can take it with me if I go somewhere that doesn't have one like the cabin we go to in the summer.
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storybookending 07:21 AM 12-03-2018
My moms ex step brother almost died of this last year. He was saved when his now wife loggged into their security system after getting an alert as she was 3 states away and saw him passed out on the couch. She called 911 and they broke in and saved him. How incredibly fortunate that everyone is okay!
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Ariana 07:30 AM 12-03-2018
Oh my goodness how scary!! Glad you all were ok and those detectors are sooooooo important!

My cousin and her husband had a carbon monoxide leak in their apartment. They had no detector and they both just suddenly started feeling sleepy so they both lay down for a nap The dog however would not let them sleep and kept barking and barking until finally they got up, realized something was wrong because of how they were feeling and got out. Their dog saved their lives no doubt!
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lovemykidstoo 07:30 AM 12-03-2018
Originally Posted by storybookending:
My moms ex step brother almost died of this last year. He was saved when his now wife loggged into their security system after getting an alert as she was 3 states away and saw him passed out on the couch. She called 911 and they broke in and saved him. How incredibly fortunate that everyone is okay!
Oh my gosh! that is crazy. So he was affected before the alarms went off must have been huh? thank God she had the alarm on her phone!
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Blackcat31 07:36 AM 12-03-2018
Originally Posted by storybookending:
My moms ex step brother almost died of this last year. He was saved when his now wife loggged into their security system after getting an alert as she was 3 states away and saw him passed out on the couch. She called 911 and they broke in and saved him. How incredibly fortunate that everyone is okay!
Wow! That is crazy! Scary how it could have been a tragic situation so quickly! I am glad it didn't!

We are required by licensing to have detectors and to keep record of the type and how often they are tested and replaced etc.

I don't have one in my home but only because we have no chance of carbon monoxide leaks. We have no fuel burning appliances or heat sources.
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lovemykidstoo 07:43 AM 12-03-2018
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
Wow! That is crazy! Scary how it could have been a tragic situation so quickly! I am glad it didn't!

We are required by licensing to have detectors and to keep record of the type and how often they are tested and replaced etc.

I don't have one in my home but only because we have no chance of carbon monoxide leaks. We have no fuel burning appliances or heat sources.
At first it was really frustrating because my friend said she didn't have anything gas. Then the repair guys came and she totally forgot about the system that heats her basement floors. There was a pinhole leak in it. She started crying thinking she was going to just pass it off as an error and could have had all of her friends die. One time ours went off because my husband had his carpet cleaning unit too close to the house when he was cleaning our carpet.
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Blackcat31 07:52 AM 12-03-2018
Originally Posted by lovemykidstoo:
At first it was really frustrating because my friend said she didn't have anything gas. Then the repair guys came and she totally forgot about the system that heats her basement floors. There was a pinhole leak in it. She started crying thinking she was going to just pass it off as an error and could have had all of her friends die. One time ours went off because my husband had his carpet cleaning unit too close to the house when he was cleaning our carpet.
We have in floor heating as well but it's electric so thankfully there is no chance of carbon monoxide leaking.

Carbon monoxide poisoning happens alot around here.
Sadly alot of it happens in fish houses. People heat their fish houses with gas heaters that are faulty or they fail to vent their fish house. It's sad how many people die each year from this.
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storybookending 07:55 AM 12-03-2018
Originally Posted by lovemykidstoo:
Oh my gosh! that is crazy. So he was affected before the alarms went off must have been huh? thank God she had the alarm on her phone!
I am unsure on the specifics on if he just slept through the alarm or what happened. He said he remembers nothing. They air lifted him to Madison and it was a few days before he was conscious. They were worried he was going to have crazy deficits but he came out okay. I think he gets really bad migraines now but it could’ve been so much worse. We all used to make fun of her for her high tech security system with alarms and cameras as we live in a safe area with a very small town mentality but it is what ended up saving his life.
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lovemykidstoo 07:55 AM 12-03-2018
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
We have in floor heating as well but it's electric so thankfully there is no chance of carbon monoxide leaking.

Carbon monoxide poisoning happens alot around here.
Sadly alot of it happens in fish houses. People heat their fish houses with gas heaters that are faulty or they fail to vent their fish house. It's sad how many people die each year from this.
I am jealous. I would love floor heating in my house! I guess this had a pinhole where the company comes and tests it yearly. They're supposed to cover the pinhole after, but never did. It's just weird to me that if they didn't have moniters that I would be dead today. I will carry that plug in meter whenever I travel know. You just don't know.

Those portable heaters are so unsafe! If they carried their meter around and plugged it in though, they'd be safe. Of course some of those places might not have electricity.
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Jupadia 08:16 AM 12-03-2018
Here (Ontario Canada) all homes have to have them near furnaces and sleeping areas by law. But before it was made law we only had one in the furnace room.
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Mike 08:18 AM 12-03-2018
About 25 years ago a friend of mine came close to death. Parents and 4 kids. It was natural gas which has an additive to give a rotten egg smell. He woke up and realized the smell and the danger. If it wasn't for the smell, they would have all been dead an hour later.
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lovemykidstoo 08:27 AM 12-03-2018
Originally Posted by Mike:
About 25 years ago a friend of mine came close to death. Parents and 4 kids. It was natural gas which has an additive to give a rotten egg smell. He woke up and realized the smell and the danger. If it wasn't for the smell, they would have all been dead an hour later.
That is so good that they put the additive in it so you can smell the natural gas. I've been looking at plug in detectors and there is one that can detect natural gas, Carbon monoxide and also propane. I'm just wondering if I should get that one in case I take it somewhere that has any of that. I don't have propane here, but somewhere else may have it. Thank God your friend and family are well.

The furnace area registered at 1000 ppm, which is deadly in minutes. It was lower by where we slept, but not much and if left, it would have been eventually over night. We were upstairs and the ladies eyes were affected. Blows me away.
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Mike 08:49 AM 12-03-2018
It's heart wrenching to think about how dangerous heating a house can be.

Most places should have detectors, but for the value of life, can't hurt to have one with you just in case, but then would you think about it when you go somewhere? Not exactly the kind of thing people think about taking with them.
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Josiegirl 09:07 AM 12-03-2018
Very scary reading about such close calls. I'm glad all of you and your families are safe.
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sharlan 09:37 AM 12-03-2018
Very scary. I'm glad you're all ok.

My uncle died from carbon monoxide in a camper. I never used our heater at night in our trailers, too afraid to.
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lovemykidstoo 10:26 AM 12-03-2018
Originally Posted by Mike:
It's heart wrenching to think about how dangerous heating a house can be.

Most places should have detectors, but for the value of life, can't hurt to have one with you just in case, but then would you think about it when you go somewhere? Not exactly the kind of thing people think about taking with them.
I do have 1 place in mind and I would take it. We rent cabins with my inlaws in the summer for the week and it's a very very rustic cabin that just last year got smoke alarms. I doubt they have carbon monoxide detectors and have gas wall heaters.
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tenderhearts 11:22 AM 12-03-2018
Oh geez that's scary! Glad everyone is ok. Seems like you hear about this quite often. The family from St. Louis that vacationed in Mexico and they all died from carbon monoxide poinsonin, so sad. Glad yours ended well.
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Mike 09:24 PM 12-03-2018
Originally Posted by lovemykidstoo:
I do have 1 place in mind and I would take it. We rent cabins with my inlaws in the summer for the week and it's a very very rustic cabin that just last year got smoke alarms. I doubt they have carbon monoxide detectors and have gas wall heaters.
I would get one then. Better safe than sorry.
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