Rant: CO detectors
Posted: November 20 12, 10:09 am
Those damned things are a pain in the ass. Case in point: About a month ago we had a plugin unit in the kitchen trigger an alarm. I unplugged it and saw that it was well over 5 years old so I just threw the damn thing in the garbage, because I've had so many false alarms on those [expletive] things that I don't believe them any more. We had two other alarms (mounted - one up and one down stairs) and they weren't going off.
Sunday night at 9pm the mounted ones go off. I unmount it and see that it is 5 years old - right on the limit. I *know* it's a false alarm, but since I have been dealing with a slight headache all weekend and since we were just about getting ready to go to bed AND these were also fire detectors I figured I best not just throw them away. I call the fire department where the phone rings and rings and ring and rings because they are probably all sleeping. Finally a voice message ... if you are calling on a CO emergency call 911. Fine, I'll call 911. Of course you get the serious questions because it's 9 [expletive] 11 ... I'm trying to tell the lady that other than a little headache and nausea I feel fine. My wife and kid both feel fine. She says she is going to send the fire department and the paramedics. Whoa! You don't need to send the paramedics lady, that's a little overkill. She insists .. and tells us to go outside if we can and wait.
So I'm standing outside and then I hear it - sirens. You can tell it's like a [expletive] mile away. They are coming with sirens blaring. Drama queens. The sirens get louder and louder, and even though I'm probably 15 houses from the corner of the main street I can see the red reflecting off the houses before I actually see the truck. [expletive]' thing is 50 feet long and has 100 god damned sirens on it. It's followed by a paramedic truck, sirens flashing on that [expletive] too.
[expletive].
So they go in and test the house and ... what do you know? High CO readings. Something like 19ppm - nothing that should have triggered the alarm (40-70 for like an hour should trigger the alarm), but higher than you expect (< 10). I was cooking on the grill and had the grill near an intake, so it's possible there was something with that. The heat was off, and the only other gas appliance we have is the stove which I didn't use. They couldn't find anything, so they called the gas company. Gas company comes out, and the level is down to 13 (still higher than 10) and he searches everywhere and he can't find the source.
So one big dramatic false alarm. Every neighbor on the block probably thought I finally had a heart attack after chasing some kid off my lawn.
Last night I bought all new fire alarms and CO monitors and installed them, so probably won't have another false alarm for 5 years.
Sunday night at 9pm the mounted ones go off. I unmount it and see that it is 5 years old - right on the limit. I *know* it's a false alarm, but since I have been dealing with a slight headache all weekend and since we were just about getting ready to go to bed AND these were also fire detectors I figured I best not just throw them away. I call the fire department where the phone rings and rings and ring and rings because they are probably all sleeping. Finally a voice message ... if you are calling on a CO emergency call 911. Fine, I'll call 911. Of course you get the serious questions because it's 9 [expletive] 11 ... I'm trying to tell the lady that other than a little headache and nausea I feel fine. My wife and kid both feel fine. She says she is going to send the fire department and the paramedics. Whoa! You don't need to send the paramedics lady, that's a little overkill. She insists .. and tells us to go outside if we can and wait.
So I'm standing outside and then I hear it - sirens. You can tell it's like a [expletive] mile away. They are coming with sirens blaring. Drama queens. The sirens get louder and louder, and even though I'm probably 15 houses from the corner of the main street I can see the red reflecting off the houses before I actually see the truck. [expletive]' thing is 50 feet long and has 100 god damned sirens on it. It's followed by a paramedic truck, sirens flashing on that [expletive] too.
[expletive].
So they go in and test the house and ... what do you know? High CO readings. Something like 19ppm - nothing that should have triggered the alarm (40-70 for like an hour should trigger the alarm), but higher than you expect (< 10). I was cooking on the grill and had the grill near an intake, so it's possible there was something with that. The heat was off, and the only other gas appliance we have is the stove which I didn't use. They couldn't find anything, so they called the gas company. Gas company comes out, and the level is down to 13 (still higher than 10) and he searches everywhere and he can't find the source.
So one big dramatic false alarm. Every neighbor on the block probably thought I finally had a heart attack after chasing some kid off my lawn.
Last night I bought all new fire alarms and CO monitors and installed them, so probably won't have another false alarm for 5 years.