Carbon monoxide
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AKFireMan
New Member
Not because of the wood stove. I have had the oil fired burner malfunction and fill the house with CO. As long as you follow your owners manual on installation, maintaince and care (gaskets and cleaning) you shouldn't have any problems.
Rhone
Minister of Fire
- Nov 21, 2005
- 827
When it happens to a wood stove, it's usually chimneys with more than 1 flue. The exhausts from the stove can be sucked down another flue in your chimney. So, you can get into a situation your wood stove in your basement exhaust is coming out one flue and getting sucked down say your fireplace flue and saturating your main floor setting it off. It's important to put them on every floor.
As of April this year Co detectors are manditory in all homes or business that have fuel fired appliances. Just like the current smoke detector law properties cannot transfere
without them in place and confirmed by the fire dept
Big eric I have the 1983 code here and one can not vent two different fuel burning appliances into the same flue unless it is a multi fuel furnace/ boiler
So sewer gases are not dangerous? Check out the combustiabilities of Methane and tell how secure you feel now
I bet that wood stove installation was installed without a permit. This is the firest question insurance companies ask about your install are they in a separate flue
You need Co detectors in that setup. Please tell me that you donot reside in my town in eastern MA. If I knew of you setup I would have to condem it
I don't care how old the installer is and how many times he did illegally, it still does not make it right
and the location of the flue entrance position does not make it code compliant or any safer.
Sorry man to come down on you, ITs not a situation to be joking about. My job is to see that these installations never occure. I try to save lives and prevent bad situations
from occcuring in the first place. Hidding from permitting will do you little good after an incident and trying to recover a insurance claim. In my town I still do the inspections
after the incidents occure to assesss what went wrong. Every insurance investigator request the home's file to determine permitting and compliances.
I bet your stove's manual states the need for permitting and code compliance? Did you know so does you warranty. If a quad serviceman sees you setup,
He will not service the stove and it is his duty to notify the manufacturer that your installation has voided the warranty. Most of the time he sees that,
and will return to his truck and leave. He cannot service your install.
For that matter a licenced oil burner tech is also bound to noyify my office to investigate an install such as yours or the Fire dept. By his licencing he is bound not to work on that furnace unless he is also going to make code compliant. To do this he is required to obtain a permit
without them in place and confirmed by the fire dept
Big eric I have the 1983 code here and one can not vent two different fuel burning appliances into the same flue unless it is a multi fuel furnace/ boiler
So sewer gases are not dangerous? Check out the combustiabilities of Methane and tell how secure you feel now
I bet that wood stove installation was installed without a permit. This is the firest question insurance companies ask about your install are they in a separate flue
You need Co detectors in that setup. Please tell me that you donot reside in my town in eastern MA. If I knew of you setup I would have to condem it
I don't care how old the installer is and how many times he did illegally, it still does not make it right
and the location of the flue entrance position does not make it code compliant or any safer.
Sorry man to come down on you, ITs not a situation to be joking about. My job is to see that these installations never occure. I try to save lives and prevent bad situations
from occcuring in the first place. Hidding from permitting will do you little good after an incident and trying to recover a insurance claim. In my town I still do the inspections
after the incidents occure to assesss what went wrong. Every insurance investigator request the home's file to determine permitting and compliances.
I bet your stove's manual states the need for permitting and code compliance? Did you know so does you warranty. If a quad serviceman sees you setup,
He will not service the stove and it is his duty to notify the manufacturer that your installation has voided the warranty. Most of the time he sees that,
and will return to his truck and leave. He cannot service your install.
For that matter a licenced oil burner tech is also bound to noyify my office to investigate an install such as yours or the Fire dept. By his licencing he is bound not to work on that furnace unless he is also going to make code compliant. To do this he is required to obtain a permit
Mine has never gone off - although thanks for reminding me...it is probably due for a new battery soon!
I would suspect that with a wood stove, you would smell the smoke (maybe even set off the smoke detector) and be irritated by it long before CO became a problem. It is definitely good to still use a CO meter, though. The primary benefit is likely with natural gas / propane appliances where the flue gas is relatively colorless/odorless anyway.
Corey
I would suspect that with a wood stove, you would smell the smoke (maybe even set off the smoke detector) and be irritated by it long before CO became a problem. It is definitely good to still use a CO meter, though. The primary benefit is likely with natural gas / propane appliances where the flue gas is relatively colorless/odorless anyway.
Corey
I did what I felt was right, to alert you about your installation'
OT: a few years back I was contacted by NSF. they asked if I would be interested in overseeing an Iowa Indian tribe housing development?
I don't remember the tribe name. It seems the housing was really substandard and they went To NSF for assistance
My sister works there and was asked if she knew anybody qualified. That was my in. It was complicated mess since Indian tribes are considered as
a separate nation. Jusisdiction was part of the problem, local inspectors had none. I had a tremendeous job offer the pay was fantastic. To give me jusisdiction,
I would be appointed a federal inspector. The only complication I encountered, is my wife wanted no part of moving. She likes being around her familly and friends.
OT: a few years back I was contacted by NSF. they asked if I would be interested in overseeing an Iowa Indian tribe housing development?
I don't remember the tribe name. It seems the housing was really substandard and they went To NSF for assistance
My sister works there and was asked if she knew anybody qualified. That was my in. It was complicated mess since Indian tribes are considered as
a separate nation. Jusisdiction was part of the problem, local inspectors had none. I had a tremendeous job offer the pay was fantastic. To give me jusisdiction,
I would be appointed a federal inspector. The only complication I encountered, is my wife wanted no part of moving. She likes being around her familly and friends.
webbie
Seasoned Moderator
I'd be more worried about the sewer thing.......what's the deal, using the chimney instead of a PVC riser stack?
This is the first time in my life I ever heard of this one.....
This is the first time in my life I ever heard of this one.....
DavidV
New Member
had my CO2 detector go off in the middle of the night once when I lived in my first house. Gas furnace. went off for long enough to get me out of bed scared to death and then it just stopped. I was a single dad with an infant and 9 year old . I didn't go back to sleep to easily that night.
I've been to CO detector activation calls where my meter topped out over 700 PPM. This would kill you quick. Most are false alarms, or levels that would not be immediately hazardous. Long-term exposure to low-level CO is really bad for you too. I've had my detector alarm when lighting my coal stove, and other than sending my wife and son outside while I aired the house, nothing came of it. Of course, when you have your own SCBA it makes it easier!
Most activations are from oil or gas furnaces, followed by gas "brick" heaters, then cars running indoors, and lowest of all, woodstoves and coal stoves. That's just around here, probably different other places. I won't risk my family for saving a few bucks, I have way more smoke/fire/CO detectors than I need. I sleep better at night that way. Safety ain't cheap, but neither are funerals.
Most activations are from oil or gas furnaces, followed by gas "brick" heaters, then cars running indoors, and lowest of all, woodstoves and coal stoves. That's just around here, probably different other places. I won't risk my family for saving a few bucks, I have way more smoke/fire/CO detectors than I need. I sleep better at night that way. Safety ain't cheap, but neither are funerals.
pistonslap
Burning Hunk
My co detector went off once. I called my furnace guy and he came out with a sniffer and found no co leak. He told me that in 30 yrs. in the business he's had hundreds of calls on it and he could count on one hand the times it was co. 99% of it is caused by dust in the detector. Vacuum them regularly, and if they go of set them outside for a while to clear, then put them back in and see if they go off again, if so, call your furnace man, unless it's at night.
My cousin lost 2 of her children to CO - it's nothing to mess with. She has health issues to this day from being a stay at home mom with low level exposure to the CO long before the deadly night occurred. Don't mess with it. Worse thing in the world is to see children in a coffin - especially when they are your family.....
I also don't mess with my heating equipment - always inspected weeks BEFORE any chance of it being turned on. Paid off this year for us as a crack was located in our heat exchanger. It was a cheap thing bought by the previous homeowners, only about 10 years old, improperly installed, had it replaced, took weeks to do since my goodness these folks will sell you the biggest oil burning furnace they can talk you into since oversizing leads you to burn excessive oil which they will happily sell you. Got one company who agreed to do a Manual J on my home which matched up with the one I did myself - yes I am a woman who researches a tad too much on her own - and they installed a lovely ThermoPride furnace with almost half the BTU's of the other estimates I received and did a wonderful job on the install.
Anyoway, DON'T mess with CO - don't mess with your heating equipment. Get it checked out and get it vented properly.
CO detectors don't last forever either. Replace them as recommended, replace the back up batteries same time as those smoke detectors.
I also don't mess with my heating equipment - always inspected weeks BEFORE any chance of it being turned on. Paid off this year for us as a crack was located in our heat exchanger. It was a cheap thing bought by the previous homeowners, only about 10 years old, improperly installed, had it replaced, took weeks to do since my goodness these folks will sell you the biggest oil burning furnace they can talk you into since oversizing leads you to burn excessive oil which they will happily sell you. Got one company who agreed to do a Manual J on my home which matched up with the one I did myself - yes I am a woman who researches a tad too much on her own - and they installed a lovely ThermoPride furnace with almost half the BTU's of the other estimates I received and did a wonderful job on the install.
Anyoway, DON'T mess with CO - don't mess with your heating equipment. Get it checked out and get it vented properly.
CO detectors don't last forever either. Replace them as recommended, replace the back up batteries same time as those smoke detectors.
BikeMedic2709
New Member
Sandy,
Thank you for the reality check. CO is a nasty gas, not to messed with. It's a byproduct of combustion.
Thank you for the reality check. CO is a nasty gas, not to messed with. It's a byproduct of combustion.
Andre B.
New Member
- Oct 25, 2006
- 391
BikeMedic said:
New guy here, but I won't let that stop me from pointing out a small error.
It's not a byproduct of combustion, but a product of incomplete combustion. There are BTU's to be had in that CO.
And I would like to say that the character ' should not be considered a illegal character in a username. Just a little never ending battle between me and the rest of the net.
___________________
Andre' B.
Andre B. said:New guy here, but I won't let that stop me from pointing out a small error.
It's not a byproduct of combustion, but a product of incomplete combustion. There are BTU's to be had in that CO.
___________________
Andre' B.
You're the guy that sat next to me in Algebra II. Aren't you?
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