Middle of the night post to break the boredom here. So, at about 2:00 AM the CO detector in my son's room activates. Pull the battery, reset it and figure it is a fluke because none of the other detectors in the house have activated. We have one in every bedroom, one in the hallway, and three downstairs. Ya I'm anal, for just this reason. Anyway, take the detector out of our bedroom and put it in his and take his and put it in our bedroom. About 90 minutes later, the other detector activates again in his room so off to Grandma and Grandpas house the wife and kids go. I stay here because I don't feel like waking my neighbor up yet - he is also the volunteer fireman who responds to these calls with the special CO equipment. Anyway, here is the deal:
-chimney prefessionally installed - high end triple wall stainless. Have probably put 50 or 60 cords of wood through it and never had a problem. Probably have had 6 or 7 good fires so far this year and no problems. The pro who installed it was just here in early October to clean and inspect it - all was perfect. Less than half a coffee can of creosote after buring 12 or 13 face cords last year so seems all is well there.
- the woodstove had coals from yesterday morning - roughly 24 hours old but enough going where I didn't have to use a super cedar to get it going again just now. A special added bonus this fine night - as I am loading a medium sized chunk of maple in the stove - I feel the unmistakable sharp pain of a sting in my right index finger. Get the flashlight and lo and behold - a yellow jacket friend had sought refuge on that piece of wood and had returned to hiding underneath. Best wishes to the yellow jacket - and closed the door.
-the furnace is turned off - not running at all.
-the hot water tank is power vented and I went down and put a detector next to the vent for 45 minutes and it didn't activate.
-our stove is gas - the pilot light is on and the oven and burners are off
-outside is dreary, heavy air with rain and maybe a few wet snow flakes
-our house is extremely tight and well insulated
Anyway, now that the family is gone, I have reset the detector and cracked the back door for awhile. I also started a fire because what I assume happened is a situation with the cold heavy outside air flowing down the chimney and forcing the CO from the remaining coals back out through the air intake. What do you guys think? Likely scenario? I'll post again when I wake the neighbor - as I said, for now all is quiet no alarms and back door is open. Get to catch up on some work until 7:00 when I'll call the neighbor.
-chimney prefessionally installed - high end triple wall stainless. Have probably put 50 or 60 cords of wood through it and never had a problem. Probably have had 6 or 7 good fires so far this year and no problems. The pro who installed it was just here in early October to clean and inspect it - all was perfect. Less than half a coffee can of creosote after buring 12 or 13 face cords last year so seems all is well there.
- the woodstove had coals from yesterday morning - roughly 24 hours old but enough going where I didn't have to use a super cedar to get it going again just now. A special added bonus this fine night - as I am loading a medium sized chunk of maple in the stove - I feel the unmistakable sharp pain of a sting in my right index finger. Get the flashlight and lo and behold - a yellow jacket friend had sought refuge on that piece of wood and had returned to hiding underneath. Best wishes to the yellow jacket - and closed the door.
-the furnace is turned off - not running at all.
-the hot water tank is power vented and I went down and put a detector next to the vent for 45 minutes and it didn't activate.
-our stove is gas - the pilot light is on and the oven and burners are off
-outside is dreary, heavy air with rain and maybe a few wet snow flakes
-our house is extremely tight and well insulated
Anyway, now that the family is gone, I have reset the detector and cracked the back door for awhile. I also started a fire because what I assume happened is a situation with the cold heavy outside air flowing down the chimney and forcing the CO from the remaining coals back out through the air intake. What do you guys think? Likely scenario? I'll post again when I wake the neighbor - as I said, for now all is quiet no alarms and back door is open. Get to catch up on some work until 7:00 when I'll call the neighbor.