Kooshdakhaa
Gold Member
My carbon monoxide detector went off last night. If I had done what the instructions say to do, I would have gotten everybody outside and called the fire department.
Although the thought of firemen swarming all over my house is not entirely negative, it would have been a waste of their time.
We finally got the thing to shut up and reset it and plugged it back in. It didn't go off again, nor did we die. This particular device is upstairs, we have another one downstairs that did not go off at all. My husband claims he has seen it go off before when a cat rubbed against it, not sure, I wasn't here and didn't see that happen.
The only carbon monoxide-producing appliances I have are the furnace and hot water heater, which are out in the garage. I am allowing someone to keep their dog out there, and he is not sick. We have hot water baseboard heat so the only thing that the furnace pumps into the house is hot water. My husband and I were not experiencing any symptoms at all. I've read that reverse venting due to wind can cause carbon monoxide to enter the building, and it was slightly windy last night, so perhaps...????
I also read that as much as 9 out of 10 times, these alarms are false alarms. And we're still alive today, so I guess it was a false alarm.
What do you think, should we call the fire department every time this thing decides to malfunction? Or were we right to make a calm analysis of the situation before deciding how to act?
In my research I read that someone has come up with a much more accurate device. Perhaps that is the way to go.
Although the thought of firemen swarming all over my house is not entirely negative, it would have been a waste of their time.
We finally got the thing to shut up and reset it and plugged it back in. It didn't go off again, nor did we die. This particular device is upstairs, we have another one downstairs that did not go off at all. My husband claims he has seen it go off before when a cat rubbed against it, not sure, I wasn't here and didn't see that happen.
The only carbon monoxide-producing appliances I have are the furnace and hot water heater, which are out in the garage. I am allowing someone to keep their dog out there, and he is not sick. We have hot water baseboard heat so the only thing that the furnace pumps into the house is hot water. My husband and I were not experiencing any symptoms at all. I've read that reverse venting due to wind can cause carbon monoxide to enter the building, and it was slightly windy last night, so perhaps...????
I also read that as much as 9 out of 10 times, these alarms are false alarms. And we're still alive today, so I guess it was a false alarm.
What do you think, should we call the fire department every time this thing decides to malfunction? Or were we right to make a calm analysis of the situation before deciding how to act?
In my research I read that someone has come up with a much more accurate device. Perhaps that is the way to go.
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