I live in a second floor apartment, older building. About a month ago my landlord had all of our windows replaced (old ones were supposedly from early 1900's when I asked the installer). Ever since then, my carbon monoxide detector's (yes plural) are going off at random. I have an older gas furnace that has a flue. The chimney was checked about 6 months ago. Something I notice is the flue doesn't get warm at all when the furnace is on and I feel like it definitely did last winter. I have my digital readout detecor in my bedroom, about a foot from the ceiling. It read 50ppm last night. And has hit 45 quite a few times over the past few weeks. This is not something to take lightly, right?
Gas furnace help!
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You are right, it is not something to take lightly.
My best suggestion would be to contact the local fire department and explain the situation to them. My hope is that they might come and check with their own detectors and take things from there.
I'm no expert in this area, nor is this site, but when in doubt, sleep elsewhere.
Good luck, but I think the fire dept might be your best bet in investigating this quickly.
pen
My best suggestion would be to contact the local fire department and explain the situation to them. My hope is that they might come and check with their own detectors and take things from there.
I'm no expert in this area, nor is this site, but when in doubt, sleep elsewhere.
Good luck, but I think the fire dept might be your best bet in investigating this quickly.
pen
Agree with the advice above. Call your local fire department and have it checked out. They might only verify that there is CO in the apartment and they may even require the building be evacuated. 35 PPM is the threshold of safety. The landlord will be required to have the gas company, or someone, investigate further to identify the source.
It's not something to fool with, particularly where you have multiple detectors warning you.
I should ask... Have you contacted the landlord about this?
It's not something to fool with, particularly where you have multiple detectors warning you.
I should ask... Have you contacted the landlord about this?
I have contacted my landlord and we keep "trying this and that". He's not a slumlord, more of an old timer who thinks he can fix everything. I just shut all the valves off and have the windows cracked. I plan on contacting him first thing in the morning and giving him the option of fire dept or a professional.
Does the flue not getting warm anymore have something to do with it maybe? Is there something I could check?
When you say furnace, what is it? Do you know the manufacturer, and maybe model number?
I'll tell you why I didn't come right out with questions. This is a serious matter. You don't want to play with this or "try this and that". You want it resolved. This can kill you. That's the simple and blunt fact.
I'll tell you why I didn't come right out with questions. This is a serious matter. You don't want to play with this or "try this and that". You want it resolved. This can kill you. That's the simple and blunt fact.
With that last post said...
The chimney could be blocked. You said it was checked 6 months ago. A lot can happen in 6 months. I'm guessing you have a room heater, gravity vent, with a metal flue into a masonry chimney. There is a draft hood of some sort. On the old floor heaters, it is a large box, open on the bottom, the flue is attached to the top. Feel under it. Is it warm? Are the flue gases coming out of the draft hood, rather than up the flue? The flue itself could be blocked. How does the flame look? Is it lazy, yellow? This would indicate lack of combustion air. You mentioned new windows. Does your apartment have sufficient combustion air with the new windows? If the apartment is "airtight" with the installation of efficient windows, that could create a problem. Nothing can go out if there is no airflow. There are a few variables to consider and, again, an online forum really is not how you want to go about finding the problem.
The chimney could be blocked. You said it was checked 6 months ago. A lot can happen in 6 months. I'm guessing you have a room heater, gravity vent, with a metal flue into a masonry chimney. There is a draft hood of some sort. On the old floor heaters, it is a large box, open on the bottom, the flue is attached to the top. Feel under it. Is it warm? Are the flue gases coming out of the draft hood, rather than up the flue? The flue itself could be blocked. How does the flame look? Is it lazy, yellow? This would indicate lack of combustion air. You mentioned new windows. Does your apartment have sufficient combustion air with the new windows? If the apartment is "airtight" with the installation of efficient windows, that could create a problem. Nothing can go out if there is no airflow. There are a few variables to consider and, again, an online forum really is not how you want to go about finding the problem.
I am sure I could figure out how to do all that, but I agree with you...I am going to have someone who knows what their doing come tomorrow. It is the kind of heater you mentioned and I think you're correct that the heat is coming out of the back as well as front. Now bare with me haha ... what if I slid off the flue at the heater end and forced some air through the flue. Could that maybe help or fix it? Or bad idea, just leave it.
Go ahead and remove the flue. Look inside with a flashlight. Check the draft hood for obstructions. Light a match, blow it out and hold it close to the entrance to the masonry chimney. The smoke should be sucked into the chimney. If all that looks OK, I'd stop there and wait for the technician to go further. I honestly don't want to advise you to relight the pilot and attempt to troubleshoot this problem. If it's cold and this is your primary heat, a carbon monoxide call will get a response from the gas company, 24 hours. I've done it.
Generally helps when two bricks and a healthy slab of cement aren't on top of one another a foot above my flue, right? Pretty much all expended gases from my place and the floor below me, as well as basement, was being pushed into my apartment. Happy to say my flue pipe is now nice and very hot after removing said bricks. Thank you again for your help
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