Carbon monoxide set off

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Oct 11, 2022
2
Ohio
Just wondering if anyone has had this happen. I have drolet stove I put in my fireplace 2 years ago. Ive run it the same way since new, Friday I started a small fire and kept a small one going throught the evening and into Saturday. Sunday morning coals were food enough to keep it going so I loaded a few logs on and I left the house. My wife was home and never touched it. She went to the store and when she returned all the detctors were foing off in the house. No smoke in the house at all, no fire just some coals still in the box. It was very windy so is it possible that it was blowing back inside since there was not much of a fire?
 
Hard to say, this might depend on the chimney's location and height.

One remote possibility is that the stove overfired and the paint outgassing set the monitor off. Was the air turned down before you left the house?
 
At my old house I had a marginal chimney and a small fire set my CO monitor off. I think the draft stopped with the low fire. Maybe it just wasn’t warm enough to keep the chimney going, maybe it got hit with an odd wind gust. I’d never had it happen before or since.
 
I could see this happen with a low fire, shorter chimney, and the daytime temps climbing into the 50s, especially if windy and the chimney terminated in a positive pressure zone.
 
It was a 60 degree day, my chimney liner is about 15 ft long and it was a small fire, just coals at the time it went off. I leave the blower on all the time and it shuts off when it cools down
 
It was a 60 degree day, my chimney liner is about 15 ft long and it was a small fire, just coals at the time it went off. I leave the blower on all the time and it shuts off when it cools down
That sounds like the right combo for draft reversal if the chimney location comes into play. If so, this probably won't happen during real heating times at colder temps. That said, kudos for having a CO detector as well as smoke detectors.
 
We had the same thing happen Saturday...fire was about dead, outdoor temp was up, and it got real gusty out...suddenly the CO alarm goes off showing a level of something like 137...fortunately it wasn't real cold out, so having the windows open to air out only cost a few degrees in the house.
 
You probably already did this, but just in case not, please be sure you have known-fresh batteries in those detectors.
 
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