Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

[Jimmy Watson]

As I was out shopping today for my current project in Dallas, I got a call from my sister telling me that her and my mom were being taken to the hospital due to carbon monoxide poisoning. The average reading inside the house was 500, and that's with the front door being left open by the FD for about 15 minutes. 500 is over 10x's the norm.

I write this mainly to those that have rentals with gas appliances, please don't forget the CO detectors!

Secondly, when the gas co came out to turn the gas on to the house (on 10/15), he would not light the pilot to the gas appliances due to the improper ventilation of the water heater. I understand the owner had been made aware of the improper ventilation in the water heater closet by my mom, but apparently did not fix the specific issue.

My mom went to the ER on Monday with similar symptoms, but CO poisoning was not test for. Early today, my mom's symptoms grew worse, vomiting, confusion, slightly diminished motor skills... Looking back, they have had symptoms for about 6 weeks or so, Sunday will be two months exactly.

Short of calling a lawyer, I wanted to see what advice or options there were, if any.

Thanks!

[Steve Babiak]

For the $40 to $50 price tag for a carbon monoxide detector, there is no reason to not have them. I install one on every level of the property; in a 3 story house with basement, that is four of those detectors. I get the combination smoke/CO detectors in one unit; if battery-only powered, I get the units that have a 10 year battery and warranty these days.

A level of 500 is more like 100 times normal; in a house where I have a CO detector with digital readout and peak level memory, it never got above 9 over many years of service.

Sounds like some of that work was not done to code; the code enforcement inspector could be called in to do what they do. There might be liability on whoever it was that lit the pilots (assuming they are not electronic ignition units) on those appliances. Some municipalities also require that CO detectors be installed to meet code, so those not being there might also be a code violation.