I strongly recommend that readers equip their houses with alarms for smoke and carbon monoxide. A carbon monoxide alarm may have saved my life a few days ago. Some of the things it did surprised me, and made me think it was a false alarm, so let me describe what happened. If you ignore what you assume is a false alarm, you might wake up dead.
Last year we had our house electric system repaired and brought up to code, which includes adding hard-wired alarms for smoke and CO to every bedroom. On April 5, at 6:30 a.m., the alarm located in the hallway above the furnace return triggered continuously. I turned off the furnace and opened doors to the outside. The alarm triggered again some minutes later. There are three alarms in that area, one in the hall, and two in the rooms beyond, but I think only the one in the hallway triggered. It continued to beep periodically. It stopped for a while and then ended with a flurry of short beeps after 9 a.m.: 9:14 9:18 9:22 9:24 9:28 Nothing after that. During these final bursts, I am sure only that one alarm triggered. The unit also emitted a bright red light from inside, like something from a 1960s science fiction movie. CO gas is lighter than air. Apparently, it was trapped in the hallway ceiling, which forms a bowl above 5 doors. It is surprising the gas took so long to disperse. I should have put a fan in the hallway. The HVAC guy came. He turned on the furnace again and used a hand-held meter to confirm there was CO. The meter showed increasing concentration. The concentration did not reach a high enough level to trigger the alarm. The meter is more sensitive than the alarm. At around 9 a.m. I suspected the alarm was malfunctioning, since only one alarm triggered, and there were periodic beeps 3 hours after the furnace was turned off. However, the hand-held meter confirmed there was a problem, and since that time the alarm has not triggered. The furnace has remained off. I recommend you install a CO alarm on the ceiling or high up on the wall. Without 21st century CO detection and mRNA vaccine technology, I might have died twice in the last few months. You see why no one is more in favor of progress and technology than me. Of course I also acknowledge the harm they cause. A new furnace will be installed tomorrow.
