Wood Stoves and CO

D107

A friend of mine was recently saved by a CO alarm when her wood stove emitted CO and she was woken by the sound just in time. My advice to her is not only to get a better non-Home Depot unit that alarms at much lower PPMs, but also to have the stove undergo a thorough combustion check. She had said the heat had been all day--as if to explain the malfunction I think--but my point is that any heating unit may be on all day but that the issue is likely to happen again if not corrected. Any additional thoughts? I intend to contact her again and giver her as much info as possible.

Jamie Hall

Draught. And combustion air. Any wood stove -- by any maker -- requires an adequate draught and adequate combustion air. She should have her chimney and stove pipes inspected and, most likely cleaned, especially if this is one of the better air tight models, which can create truly amazing amounts of creosote.

Which, I might add, is a fire hazard...

Also check and make sure that enough air can get into the house to replace that which goes up the chimney.

D107

Thanks!

ChrisJ

How does a wood stove spill CO into a room without smoke and stink?

hot_rod

I recommend low level detectors for all the fossil fuel burners. CO experts is one of the best.

Make up and combustion air often gets blocked off by HO that think it allows too much cold air into the space, check that and the condition and height of the flue to provide adequate draft.

www.coexperts.com