WOW – so glad to hear you are all OK. What a powerful reminder to all of us to check those devices, and take them seriously when they go off.

Sandy

I now realize how cold it is going to be when we are on the east coast
Working late does have it’s virtues

when i was little a house had carbon monoxide poisoning and it stirred up the whole neighborhood, noone had ever heard of that before

amazing to think the detectors are only recently mandated

funny story: next door to the home that was evacuated was a very eccentric woman –by day she listened to harry belafonte blasted – like really really loud, while she danced and dusted, she wore very very tight jeans on a not so perfect body. the night the police and the fire trucks were assisting this family during their near death experience she strutted out in a sheer hot pink negligie ( sp? it’s late ) complete with foo foo slippers, foo foo robe with feather boa and offered the fire men cookies – you could ” see” everything through her nightie – my father could not stop commenting on how grossed out he was and who the heck gives fireman cookies during a call ??

I haven’t thought about my old block in a long time

Mother Earth aka Karen Hanrahan
http://www.bestwellnessconsultant.com

Last month we had our furnace tuned up and had CO2/smoke detectors installed on every floor of our house. They’re hardwired in with battery backup power. Ours actually announces the problem and then beeps when something is detected or the batteries are going low. There’s a voice that says “Warning! Carbon Monoxide! Warning!” and then it’s a really high pitched beep. And when one starts to go off, they all go off.

Thank heavens you and your family are all right.

We have a Carbon Monoxide detector that also checks for explosive gas. The problem with it has been that it seems so sensitive that I get so many false reads — like picking up fumes in an open window from a car driving by, or fruit in the fruitbowl that has, well, “overipened”…

You’ve inspired me to try to find how to get this thing properly situated as it isn’t doing me much good hidden in a corner at the moment.

Glad yours was a happy ending (well, except for the squirrels ) and you and your family are all ok.

Thanks for the reminder just in time for Daylight Savings Time, which is when we are supposed to change the batteries in our smoke and CO2 detectors. Great timing!

Flue’s are normally sealed off from ‘intruders’ but we had lived in this house less than a year at that point and didn’t know the chimney was in poor condition.

Glad to hear you will be safe!

I guess I need to read up about this topic. I’m realizing I don’t know exactly how it happens.

Squirrels in your flu? Oh my goodness!

Thanks for the links on the MVP page

You rock!

Steve

A great reminder that something as simple as a CO detector/alarm can save your life. I’m going to go check the batteries!

For those that use a central heating furnace (or gas fireplaces), check with your gas company. Our gas company here in San Diego has a free service where they come by your house and check the CO levels around the furnace and vents to see if any CO is being released into the house.

We do that every October before we start using it. Hey, it’s a free service, so you might as well use it.

On a side note, we recently had bees coming into the house, so we called a bee guy and he found that our dryer vent to the roof was completely full of lint. We later found through the gas company that this can be another source of CO intoxication and even fires.

Last week 2 children from the UK died of CO poisoning while on holiday in Greece – and I thought at the time, oh yes, must get a monitor … and then it didn’t get on the todo list, so it hasn’t happened.

Guess what’s going on the list today? Thanks for the nudge, and glad to hear you all woke up OK.