Anyone have experience with the CO alarm going off?

[Sonya]

We got home tonight and out carbon monoxide alarm was going off in the area where our furnace is. I went upstairs and got the other one, took it down and it went off too. So we called the fire dept. and they came over. Unfortunatley DH opened up a window and the men couldn't get a reading on any gas. They told us it could just be that our alarms are old so DH went out and bought new ones. They haven't gone off. I am still worried and can't sleep. Should we have left for the night? Do we call a furnace company tomorrow? The firemen told us to call them again if the alarm went off no matter what and believe me we will! But what happens if it doesn't go off again? Does that realy mean we are safe?

 

[Buckalew11]

I have no idea. Hopefully someone will. It is nothing to play around with.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

CO detectors and smoke detectors do go bad and should be replaced every 5 years. Secondly don't place the detector by the furnace. A furnace will omit a small amount of CO and cause your detector to alarm. Have you ever been close to your gas hot water tank when it ignites to heat the water.. you will notice a faint natural gas odor that goes away within 10 seconds.

You should put detectors in the living/sleeping areas of your home...the area where the presents of CO would be harmful.
If your detector shows the PPM it should not register more that 20 PPM. Over 20PPM is cause for concern and you should have your furnace checked.
Other signs of CO poisoning are flue like symtoms, headaches, confusion.
I use to tell this to my customers are the natural gas company I worked for.
So if the new detectors are not going off things should be ok. But it would not hurt to have the furnace checked by a pro.

 

[Sonya]

We had the one that was going off inside the furnace room, a big no-no from everything I've learned. So now it is outside the furnace room but still downstairs. We were also told it should be low to the floor. Also the alarms are only 2 years old, AND the 2nd one went off when I took it downstairs. That really makes me think that there is something wrong. We wil have the furnace guy out tomorrow.

 

[Tiggeroo]

we had one where the batteries go bad. Dh is an hvac mechanic and he reassured me nothing was wrong. When he changed the batteries it didn't go off. But still I didn't sleep that night.

 

[Sonya]

We made it through the night w/o any more alarms. Hopefully is was just old alarms!

 

[Val]

When we built our house 10 years ago we had the CO monitor go off that first winter after we turned on the heat (we moved in July 1). Opened windows, reset, thought it was the placement. Kept happening. I was pregnant with DS10 and our DD18 and DD14 were obviously pretty little. Then the hamster died. Furnace company kept telling us we were nuts. Next time it went off we called the volunteer fire department (we live out in the county).....our high end very expensive 95% efficient furnace had been badly installed, the mother board had burned and it was emitting high levels of CO. Needless to say, it was under warranty and was fixed. Thank goodness for that little hamster or we might have ignored it (and I hate hamsters anyway!).

The furnace does continue to have problems- for instance, they didn't cap the exhaust pipe correctly and we had a chipmunk get stuck and die....oh the smell (but no CO!)!!!!! Hopefully it wasn't either Chip or Dale. The joys of living in the woods! Knock on wood, the furnace has been just fine this last winter.

Check things out and be sure. It's better to be overcautious and alive. Sometimes the fire department will lend you a monitor to check overnight.

 

[JVL1018]

My husband( a firefighter) says if the new detectors didn't go off you're fine..there is a sensor in the CO detectors that goes bad after a while.
He said that they(the FD) call the utility company if they think there is a problem, which you can do too, but they come a little faster when the FD calls them.
He said it's a little weird that 2 detectors went off, and that the new ones didn't but it can happen..if it happens again, call the FD, don't open windows, don't turn fans on and let the FD get a good reading.

 

[Sonya]

My husband( a firefighter) says if the new detectors didn't go off you're fine..there is a sensor in the CO detectors that goes bad after a while.

Thanks for asking your DH! I feel better! It was weird that 2 went off, but both were places VERY close to gas burning appliences. (sp?) One was next to the furnace and one next to the dryer. So I expect that they are "burned out" so to speak. The new ones are low to the ground, one on the other side of the wall from the furnace and one just outside of the laundry room.

I am still wanting a furnace CO. to come and check things out. But it being a holiday and all....

Out cats are still OK! LOL!

 

[ntburns22]

It is better to be safe then sorry. I still remember a story that my dad was the lead investigator (fire) on. It was very sad. My dad now gives CO detectors as housewarming gifts.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Best to have one or more in the sleeping areas also, Sonya.

 

[ktpool]

My best friend's mil kept ignoring her 'stupid' CO detector that kept going off...well, you guessed it, after 2 weeks they had headaches, etc.

They finally figured out what was happening and everyone was OK.

You did the right thing by calling the FD...I would make sure the children were not in an enclosed airtight room though...that is really scary!

Good luck! Let us know what happens.