CO & My Oven: Final outcome

Anna Conda

800 for stoves, 200 for space heating equipment... Boy does this explain a few things. Like why so many people choose a gas stove as their instrument of self-destruction >.< Time for stove manufacturers to get out of the stone age and start playing catch-up with the space heaters. Home envelopes are getting tighter all the time and how long is it going to be before little Jimmy's death is attributed to his birthday cake? Ugh.

Ron Schroeder

Here is the outcome...

About a month ago, I posted about my oven giving off enough CO to set off my NSI 3000 CO detector. You can find that thread by clicking

here

After all that, I emailed Whirlpool and they were kind enough to send someone out (at their expense) to evaluate the situation.

The repair people didn't show up on time (the two times that they came) but I think ultimately they have mitigated the problem.

The first guy came last Thurs, and I was pleased to see a proper Bacharach CO detector/analyzer with him. He was more of a furnace guy (his words!), but still...

He was getting readings of 167 ppm at the exit of the vent of the oven. He said that was totally within spec, and that 200 ppm was the limit (I later learned that 800 ppm is the limit for stoves - ridiculous, and 200 is for furnaces/boilers).

Anyway, while he was there my NCI alarm went off. He didn't like the fact that the alarm went off and said he wanted to get the other tester in there just to make sure his equipment wasn't malfunctioning. I think had he known
it went off at 15 ppm he might not have sent someone else (here is where the low-level CO discussion comes into play).

So yesterday another guy came. He said 800 ppm is the limit for stoves and that he wasn't sure I needed a visit, but I said please come by. So he did. I am traveling for work so my wife stayed home, so I don't have first-hand knowledge of what he did, but I think he lowered the gas pressure or
something so the flame wasn't 'as big'. He said it will take longer to preheat, but it will keep the CO down.

Anyway he got it down to 60 ppm at the vent (it was 167 ppm), which I think is as good as it is going to get and the alarm display only gets to 6 or 7 ppm.

So, I think we are done. I give Whirlpool some kudos for actually 'taking ownership' of this issue (i.e. paying for the visit), especially on an 8 yr old stove.

Thanks again to all for your input, especially Mark Hunt and Jim Davis who both went (way) out of their way to help me.

Tom S.

Steamhead (in transit)

That's much better

keep an eye on it though, the CO can go up again if the inside of the oven needs cleaning.

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