BajaNomad

Don't forget your Carbon Monoxide alarm!

bajachris - 4-20-2014 at 08:41 AM

I still hear about people perishing from being overcome with carbon monoxide. Many of us in Baja operate our refrigerators with propane and these may be vented within or near the house. We may use propane to heat the house or cook our food. We may be using generators (gasoline powered equipment). Propane, like natural gas can generate carbon monoxide as a product of incomplete combustion. Always install a carbon monoxide meter in your home, garage or any other place you occupy if you use natural gas, propane or a generator. Replace the batteries every 6 months or per manufacturers recommendations. It just may save your life! Install smoke detectors too! Signs of CO overexposure are headache, dizziness, weakness, nausea, visual disturbances, changes in personality and losss of consciousness or death. Symptoms can occur within minutes. We had spider webs in our propane refrigerator flame which greatly increase CO levels in our house. Luckily our CO meter went off in the middle of the night and saved our lives.

Terry28 - 4-20-2014 at 09:20 AM

Good point Chris, these can and have saved lives......your case in point.

bajachris - 4-20-2014 at 01:47 PM

There was an elderly couple at Bahia Los Angeles a few years ago who had their space heater in the house and died overnight. CO is odorless and colorless.

bajalearner - 4-23-2014 at 07:14 AM

Thanks for the reminder, I need to get one.

DavidE - 4-23-2014 at 12:14 PM

It may be noteworthy to understand

For some peculiar reason our lungs, when offered a choice between O2 and CO, choose carbon monoxide about ten times faster. It is absorbed into the body so much easier it is a trap that can be misleading when PPM CO are known.

It does not hurt to test out a CO detector. With a gas refrigerator hold the instrument about a foot away from the hot gas plume exhaust on top of the refrigerator. It should sound. If not take it out to your car, start the car, and hold the instrument about a foot distant from the end of the exhaust pipe.

If it did not sound then, there is a problem with the machine despite what the test button may show.

It takes a good 15-30 minutes of airing out the tester to clear it of CO when a test is conducted on it. I have one in the kitchen and another in the bedroom. I was awakened by a shrill pitch one afternoon. My idiot neighbor had moved a Yamaha outboard upwind and stuck it in an oil drum of water. The wind carried the CO in and fired-off the alarm. I removed it from the wall, took it and and shoved it under his nose. His IQ is somewhere between 30 - 50 when it comes to common sense.

EnsenadaDr - 4-23-2014 at 02:01 PM

Good point David!! And thanks for the thread!!
Quote:
Originally posted by DavidE
It may be noteworthy to understand

For some peculiar reason our lungs, when offered a choice between O2 and CO, choose carbon monoxide about ten times faster. It is absorbed into the body so much easier it is a trap that can be misleading when PPM CO are known.

It does not hurt to test out a CO detector. With a gas refrigerator hold the instrument about a foot away from the hot gas plume exhaust on top of the refrigerator. It should sound. If not take it out to your car, start the car, and hold the instrument about a foot distant from the end of the exhaust pipe.

If it did not sound then, there is a problem with the machine despite what the test button may show.

It takes a good 15-30 minutes of airing out the tester to clear it of CO when a test is conducted on it. I have one in the kitchen and another in the bedroom. I was awakened by a shrill pitch one afternoon. My idiot neighbor had moved a Yamaha outboard upwind and stuck it in an oil drum of water. The wind carried the CO in and fired-off the alarm. I removed it from the wall, took it and and shoved it under his nose. His IQ is somewhere between 30 - 50 when it comes to common sense.

sancho - 4-23-2014 at 03:23 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by DavidE


It does not hurt to test out a CO detector





DE, are the $20 detectors as effective as some I've heard
in the $200 range?
thanks for your time