[gardeners] Fwd: Snow and Carbon Monoxide
Linda Baranowski-Smith (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Sat, 16 Jan 1999 00:05:28 -0500
Received this today and thought all of us digging-out up north ought to be
aware.
Linda in snowy and icy NW Ohio near Toledo/Lake Erie, USDA Zone 5
llbs@mail.glasscity.net
>Dear friends and relatives:
>
>Today has been quite a day! This morning I was getting dressed, just putting
>on my shoes, when out of the blue, the carbon monoxide detector warning went
>off. Reading of 128 at that point. I called the non-emergency number of
>the fire department, stayed on the line until an attendant could get to me,
>and reported the incident. They sent a fire truck out with 5 firemen, and
>with their detector, they noted steadily rising levels of carbon monoxide.
>Finally when it got to "7 bars", they said, we are shutting your furnace off,
>which they did. The furnace repairmen were called, and they came. To the
>best of their ability, they think the following scenario developed: We have
>a new furnace (put in less than a year ago). The newer furnaces are now being
>vented (not out the chimney over the roof), but out the side or back of the
>house near the foundation. They think snow may have blocked the intake pipe
>or the exhaust pipe one. So they cleared a patch around the vent to give it
>room to "breathe". We have gone between 5 to 6 hours now without the carbon
>monoxide detector going off, so we are hoping that was all there was to it.
>But the concept is a scary thing, especially with all the deep snow all around
>the country this winter. It is also a scary thing to think, "what if we
>hadn't owned a carbon monoxide detector!" SOOO - If any of you have a
>gas furnace and don't have a carbon monoxide detector - go out tonight and get
>one!! Get the kind that plugs into the wall outlet, not battery operated.
>Our was a First Alert ( I am not on a commission to them, however!).
>
>PLEASE!
>
>Deanna