Ringing in the New Year with Carbon Monoxide

It's just what the title says... we were home tonight waiting on a serviceman from the gas company to come out and check out heater. We woke up this morning with splitting headaches and I was dizzy and nauseous. We thought it was possible that we were just dehydrated but that didn't explain why I felt so sick. It was bad enough that I spent about 20 minutes laying on the cold kitchen tiles. It was awful. A couple Excedrin later we were still suffering from bad headaches and I still felt sick, so we decided to run a few errands. Errand number one, buy a carbon monoxide detector. Since this isn't the first time we've both woken up with mind numbing headaches, I was suspicious that CO might be the culprit.

We initially tested it this afternoon by turning on the heater with the detector close by. Nothing happened, so we turned off the heat and went to a movie. By the way, Sweeny Todd was a bit of a disappointment. If you closed your eyes, you could imagine Capt. Jack Sparrow as the demon barber of Fleet street.

Around 8pm this evening we decided to turn the heat on again. Within ten minutes the detector was going off. I called the gas company and they suggested that we vacate the premises. Yay! Instead we decided to open all of the doors and windows and watch a movie.

When you think about it, we're really quite lucky. They don't call CO poisoning the "silent killer" for nothing. But then, I don't believe in luck.

The gas man arrived shortly after midnight and determined that our heater was producing excessive amounts of carbon monoxide. Also, our vent wasn't working properly so rather than funneling it outside. Last, but not least, our firebox is cracked. I don't know what that is, but apparently it means our heater needs replacing.

We'll be posting Christmas photos next!!!

Happy New Year to our family and friends. We hope 2008 finds you happy and healthy!

Enter your search terms Submit search form