Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Carbon Monoxide - The Silent Killer

I saw a story on the Today Show this a.m. and just had to share our recent experience with a carbon monoxide scare.

We moved into our new home in August of this year. The house has all electric appliances but has a wood burning fireplace.

Last Saturday, we lit the fireplace in the early evening and it went out hours before we closed everything up and headed for bed. We had considered leaving the chimney open all night but it was cold that night and we could feel the cold air coming in from the chimney.

Around 3:00, we heard what we thought was the smoke alarm going off. But we couldn't figure out why, there was no smoke in the house. To our surprise, it was our carbon monoxide detector, a device we didn't even know we had from the previous owners. It is place so high on the wall, we just assumed it was part of the security system.

We bundled up and opened all the windows in the house. Thankfully, no one felt ill at all so the level of carbon monoxide in our home must have been fairly low. Needless to say, I was sleepless the rest of the night and checking on the boys every 30 minutes.

We had a happy ending to our scare but so many others are not so lucky. Even if you don't have gas appliances but do use a wood stove or fireplace, I urge you to spend $30 or so to keep you and your family safe. Times are tough right now but the expense of this item is priceless.

God bless and stay safe.

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