I Used To Recommend Banking Coals. Now I Don't.

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.
woodgeek said:
Now I have a real-time display where I can see it, as well as others for backup.

I will probably wear the display button out before the "end of Life" comes for my detector. :lol:
 
My CO detector would routinely give spurious readings in the 15-30 PPM range, even with the pellet stove off and no other sources of CO. It wouldn't alarm at those readings, of course, it would just show them if you pressed the display button. I'm not sure that there's a great deal of accuracy in readings that far down on the scale.
 
woodgeek said:
I think anyone with a natural-draft combustion system, stove, boiler or furnace, needs to have robust CO alarms. We had a cheapie CO alarm that didn't go off despite our getting low-grade CO poisoned for a couple months when our boiler flue got plugged. Only after it let out a single 'peep' one night did we figure out why we felt so lousy for the previous couple months. They are designed to alarm only in immediately life-threatening conditions--they will ignore a low level of CO that can really slow you down....

Now I have a real-time display where I can see it, as well as others for backup.

And yes, virginia, coals in a bucket on your hearth will emit CO--I find it hard to believe that a lid will keep it in.


the question is , can you REALLY trust that lid when it comes to this kind of issue?
 
Agree with all here. Fossil fuel burning appliances require CO detectors. I would add that ALL residences should have them, even with non-fossil fuel burning appliances. CO can be found in enclosed spaces due to other causes. It is cheap insurance.
 
Jags said:
woodgeek said:
Now I have a real-time display where I can see it, as well as others for backup.

I will probably wear the display button out before the "end of Life" comes for my detector. :lol:

Which will probably be between 3 and 7 years depending on the manufacturer.

And yeah . . . big proponent of CO detectors . . . and not keeping my ashes inside the house.
 
firefighterjake said:
Jags said:
woodgeek said:
Now I have a real-time display where I can see it, as well as others for backup.

I will probably wear the display button out before the "end of Life" comes for my detector. :lol:

Which will probably be between 3 and 7 years depending on the manufacturer.

And yeah . . . big proponent of CO detectors . . . and not keeping my ashes inside the house.
That caught my eye Jake. I was looking at First Alert Combo Smoke/CO detectors today and noticed there were 2 that seemed identical.....One priced $10 more than the other. The lower priced one was warrantied for 7 years, and sounds an alarm warning you that the 7 years is up. The other one, higher priced was warrantied for 5 years.....strange. I got a call and had to go before I could figure out what the deal was.
 
x2 on the need for a good CO detector in all dwellings. The kind that allows you to read the most recent high concentration is a huge plus for diagnosing problems. They go off and make noise at 29-30 ppm, but experts say long exposure to levels below that is also not good for you.

I found the biggest culprit by far in our house to be the gas cooking stove. It blows my mind that code in this day and age still allows gas ovens to vent 100% of their combustion gases into your kitchen. One Thanksgiving, when the oven was running for many hours and our windows were closed, the detector hit 23 ppm. I checked the air shutter on the oven burner and it was very badly out of adjustment, even using the eyeball/flame method. I opened it way up and the detector has never shown more than about 13 ppm since, but we still open a window when using the oven now that we know what a gross polluter it is.

Interestingly --and finally back on topic [grin] -- since getting our Regency insert, with it running and the oven on, we get almost no ambient CO pollution, suggesting to me that air exchange increases enough with the insert fired up to help keep things "cleaner" in the house.

-dan
 
This is good stuff gang!!! Appreciate honesty! On another note...I was gassed when I was a little guy... at about 7 years of age(50 years ago) we used to take runs up to my grandmothers place from Minneapolis to Northwestern Minnesota...had holes in the running boards of our car during the winter. Windows closed...heater running full blast I fell asleep in the back when my father & mother tried to wake me up and could'nt...Dad stopped the car and walked me up & down the higway when he let me go I fell to the ground like a bowl of spaghetti. I finally revived. Another case... Had our 35 year old & his wife & son visiting us here in Oklahoma and as we have as usual ice storms. Power out on our house started the generator up in the garage with the big garage door open about 1 foot. Mistake was we had the ladder down to get into the attic. Fumes went up into the attic and circulated into the house thru the furnace. Did'nt notice it until we started having headaches... Stupid is is Stupid does! Just a warning! Be safe Jeff
 
education is the key, the old "saw" in my business is that folks tend to start their first break in fire using the manual for kindling. bottom line , the instructions provided for stoves (and many other items) which folks take for granted in their day to day lives are provided in the hopes that they will be read and adhered to. code inspectors (at least the good ones) arent "out to bust your Blls for jollies, their job is to ensure that folks do things is a safe manner. when its all said and done though, consumers who use hearth products (as well as those who have other items which use combustion in their homes) PLEASE take the time to educate yourselves on the ramifications of inviting fire into your homes.
 
That is funny Stoveguy...but probably very true!
 
stoveguy2esw said:
education is the key, the old "saw" in my business is that folks tend to start their first break in fire using the manual for kindling. bottom line , the instructions provided for stoves (and many other items) which folks take for granted in their day to day lives are provided in the hopes that they will be read and adhered to. code inspectors (at least the good ones) arent "out to bust your Blls for jollies, their job is to ensure that folks do things is a safe manner. when its all said and done though, consumers who use hearth products (as well as those who have other items which use combustion in their homes) PLEASE take the time to educate yourselves on the ramifications of inviting fire into your homes.
Being an inspector, I will note that the unfortunate ones that have a fire, are far more interested in what the inspector has to say when the rebuild. Of course that's obvious, but it is to bad that everyone can't understand the importance of safe building and installs.....which is our only goal.....or at least it is mine. :smirk:
 
I checked our CO detector today and it was well over 7 years old (2001). I went out and bought a replacement this evening.

Thanks for the reminder Brother Bart.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.