Incompetence almost kills family

John R. Hall

CO story:


FREMONT, Neb. -- Members of a Fremont family are home after they were overcome by carbon monoxide in their home Monday night.
Nikki and Dustin Weitzel and their son, Cooper, were in their home when the baby started screaming. Nikki Weitzel passed out twice and Dustin Weitzel had to help her out of the house.
"Thank goodness he was crying and woke up, otherwise I may never have woken up," said Nikki, Weitzel remembering how her son screamed in pain.

Dustin Weitzel immediately thought of carbon monoxide poisoning. He went downstairs to check the furnace and said something didn't seem right. He took the family to a hospital.

A blood check revealed high levels of carbon monoxide. Nikki Weitzel's blood was 37 percent carbon monoxide and Cooper's was 26 percent. Dustin had a 20 percent level, even though he had been in the house for less time that his wife and son.

The normal level of carbon monoxide in the blood is 1 percent and 5 percent for a smoker.

"This is a really scary experience," Nikki Weitzel said.
The family spent Tuesday in the hospital breathing pure oxygen. They will all be fine, doctors told them.

The Weitzels are spreading the word: Check your furnace. A technician that came to look at theirs told them the carbon monoxide was able to leak into their home because the panels were switched around. The top venting panel was placed over the bottom, where a solid panel belongs.
The family also recommends a carbon monoxide detector. Theirs was faulty on the night they were sickened.

Experts say homes with fuel-burning appliances or an attached garage are more likely to have carbon monoxide problems. Look for these signs of trouble:
· Streaks of soot around fuel-burning appliances;
· Excess moisture found on windows, walls or other cold surfaces;
· Fallen soot in the fireplace;
· Damaged or discolored bricks at the top of your chimney.


Now, here is what a friend of mine -- a local Fremont contractor -- told me after I asked him for comments.

"What happened was the blower door got installed over the burner compartment and the ventilated door got installed over the blower. The blower drew all the carbon monoxide through the system -- this was after the furnace started to operate inefficiently due to no secondary air."

Maybe we ought to start making this type of installation a crime, eh?

Unknown

It is not always

the case when doors get installed incorrectly that it was the contractor. Homeowners do these theings more often than not. It seems to make sense to them that the door with the louvers should be placed at the source of air being taken in.

I would be very suprised if any heating contractor did this!!!!

John R. Hall

You are correct Tim

It was very likely the homeowner. My emotions tend to get a little carried away. Although technicians aren't likely to make blatant mistakes like this, it is often the subtle ones that go undetected and can lead to injury or death.

Kyle Kubs - Benchmark Home Inspection Services

Manufacturers defect

I would think it would not be allowed for manufacturers to make these panels the same size. Even better they should be made so they can not possibly be made to mount in the wrong place. Throughout my building carear I have always designed things that way so someone can't make something dangerous due to inexperience. How does something like that get past the UL?

Dale

John, be careful with the terms

I think the story should have had the carboxyhemoglobin COHb not CO in the blood. There is a big difference. Only 100 parts per million CO gives a approx. 15 percent COhb. One of the hardest things about CO is getting people to understand that 1% mixed with air, which doesn't sound too bad is 10,000 ppm and you are down and dead in less than 3 minutes. I think we need to say "CO and other poisen gasses" like the "alcohol and other drugs" the kids learn.

Dale

Grills

Just as bad are the old grills cut into the returns on older systems. My company has a policy of blanking them off whenever we find them. Funny my Dad had one on our old furnace and would open it in the summer and run the blower to pull cool air out of the basement, poor man's AC.

John R. Hall

Thanks Dale

The story is cut and paste from the web site. I can give you the source if you'd like.

chris_33

maybe this post

should be combined with Walts "Fair Price" post.

Chris

Brian_24

I have seen furnace doors that are not the same size switched. It is amazing what homeowners and maintaince men can do. Had an new apartment complex call me complaing water heater pilots kept going out. Must be the chimney they claimed. Sent tech out and he found switched panels, just received dumb looks from property manager when he informed her of the danger. Called manufacturer to tell them and they did not seem to worried. Guess I will have to forward this post to them.
Brian

Weezbo

Wouldnt you feel bad if You touched it last?

regardless of who put what where after you were gone. theres one of the hidden treacharies ...it is also a very valid observation the doors were able to be installed during a routine cleaning of a room by say the guys wife. who thought the thing needs cleaning because of the soot on the door or whatever... i thought the designe long ago had been changed from possible mix ups , i mostly install boilers any more yet i recall cover plates that couldnt be reversed and thought Hey Thats a great idea!...

RC

Incompetance

Just remember "I never touched it!" seems to be a lot of homeowners' responses, when questioned. Just like the old " Well, yes I touched the reset button, but only once!" on the oil burner.

RC

Incompetence

Just remember "I never touched it!" seems to be a lot of homeowners' responses, when questioned. Just like the old " Well, yes I touched the reset button, but only once!" on the oil burner.

Wayco Wayne_2

What if......

the furnace manufacturers were required to install a CO detector with alarm on the inlet of the blower wheel? That way there would be a greater chance of detecting problems and each house with a forced air furnace would automatically have a CO detector. Hmmmmm. Not foolproof. If the furnace wasn't on and the water heater starting acting up it would miss it, but better than no detector.whadayathink? WW

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Mark Hunt

Wayne


I understand what you are saying. The problems would be deciding which sensor, level of alarm, etc.......

Unless they made it EXTREMELY loud, people sleeping would probably not hear it.

Quality CO alarms should be placed in or near sleeping areas and in living areas. They protect the customers upstairs, while WE protect them in the mechanical room.

Mark H

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Uni R

Alarm?

What alarm, couldn't it just shut off the gas? Wouldn't waking up cold but still waking up, be good enough?

Mark Hunt

What if


the CO was coming from somewhere else? Like a water heater?

Shutting off the gas to the furnace may not kill the source.

Mark H

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Wayco Wayne_2

Like I said

not a perfect fix, however I would wire it into the furnace safety circuit so the entire furnace is disabled so as not to circulate air laden with CO and I'd have a set of contacts that would be field wired to an alarm system, perhaps hooked up to the house living space detectors. It would be a neat option for the furnace folks to offer, or an interesting retrofit package for us contractors to add to our repitior(SP?). WW

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Mark Hunt

Arzel zoning


had such a control No-one bought it so they discontinued it.

No home should be without a good quality CO alarm that protects the ENTIRE family, but alarms themselves are reactionary devices. We as contractors need to be proactive by learning as much as we can about the combustion and venting processes. Passing the education that we have along to our customers will also make them aware of potential dangers, like grilling indoors or letting the car warm up in the attached garage or running a generator in the basement.

We are the first line of defense.



Mark H

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