Saturday, July 5, 2008

Carbon Monoxide Detection

Dear Readers,

This is a friendly reminder to install carbon monoxide detectors in your home in the appropriate place(s). My only brother and sister-in-law had life-threatening carbon monoxide poisoning last night/this morning that resulted from sleeping in a poorly-ventilated houseboat. He's in his final year of medical school, so he recognized their symptoms as carbon monoxide and they made it to the hospital just in time, but I can't help but think of the rest of us who don't have the training of doctors at times like those. That's what detectors are for. Carbon monoxide is odorless and colorless and particularly dangerous to children and pregnant women. Although I'm diligent about smoke detectors, we haven't gotten carbon monoxide detectors in our apartment, and I have no idea what I've been waiting for. This, I guess.

If you will, please offer a quick prayer of thanks to their guardian angels! And get those detectors ASAP, if you haven't already--that's $30 well spent.

8 comments:

B-Mama said...

Oh my goodness JM! Praises for their health and well-being following such a scare... I can't imagine how relieved you all are feeling!! Thanks be to God for your brother's wisdom!!!!

CO is an odorless killer and I've heard some horror stories about its effects. I spent the first $$ on our new place on a CO detector from Lowes. I think it cost a mere $25 and sits outside our bedrooms. Sounds like the best investment we've made yet!!! I read that you should install them first and foremost near the bedrooms, but that families should have one on each floor. I think I'm going to go out today and get another one for the first floor... This is reason enough to have multiple!

Blessings to your family.

Right Said Red said...

Praise God for their wisdom in recognizing the symptoms!

You are all in our prayers!

Juris Mater said...

Thanks so much for the prayers, friends! They're stable and feeling better today.

By the way, search Amazon.com for "carbon monoxide detector" and you'll get a load of affordable options, all of which qualify for free supersaver shipping. Order yours right now, from the comfort of your home, and have it installed and protecting your family by the end of this week!

Love, the CO Police

Bethany said...

Prayers for your brother's family.

Not scare anyone any more than necessary, but if any of you live in a home with a basement or crawlspace, it would be to your advantage to get your home tested for Radon. Radon, like CO is a odorless, colorless radioactive gas that naturally occurs in the earth. It is the second leading cause of Lung Cancer in the United States.

Unfortunately, Radon testing is not cheap and radon removal systems are downright pricey, but coming from experience (we just bought a home, whose Radon level was 18, recommended level is 4) it is worth the long term investment of around $1200 total, around $200-$300 for the testing and, if needed, around $900 for the installation of the removal system. Of course ours may have been more costly due to the age of the house, but the concern is still there no matter when your house was built.

Anonymous said...

JM, so happy to hear that they are on the mend and many thanks for the reminder.

Besides outside our bedrooms we have one at the top of our basement stairs...we have an old house and a super old furnace which acted up a lot this year. Our carbon monoxide detector was always the first thing to let me know something was up (usually not a undetectable CO leak, but huge chugging black smoke...but still nice to realize before it spreads to the upstairs).

Also we got a combo smoke/CO detector for Jack's room that has a voice rather then a "beep" sound. And it differentiates (something like "Carbon Monoxide...go outside or Smoke go outside" not sure exactly what it says but the one time it went off (false alarm due to a power outage) it was so nice in the middle of the night to know immediately what it was...not just a random alarm. Think these kind...a little more expensive...might be good for kids rooms.

texas mommy said...

How frightening! SOOOO glad that they are ok. Thank you for sharing this reminder with everyone.

Right Said Red said...

Juris Mater,

Any updates on your brother and his wife's health?

Juris Mater said...

Thanks for asking, Red! They're home, feeling good physically, and only some short-term memory loss. The wonderful outcome is LOTS of gratitude to God for His protection--as they reflect, they can see that His hand was carefully protecting them.