Today we saved a life...........

John Ruhnke

On Monday my guys went over to a clients house for a project. They spent the day working in the boiler room. A hot water heater is on order and more work is scheduled for today. On Tuesday Jim, our helper calls in sick. The night before he was vomiting. He had a bad headache and was sick. He told me it felt like a very bad hang over, with out the beer.

Wedsnesday Morning comes and Fred and Jim head back to the project to do more work. Fred this time brings in his CO experts alarm. It goes off on high like crazy. He evacuates the house and goes back to the truck to try another one. That one goes off om high. I get a beeper call 911. I arive at the job. By then all the windows have been opened and the boiler shut off. I turn it on and check the flue with my bacharach firyte pro while the CO experts alarm is measuring the boiler room air as a back up. The Fyrite pro quickly jumps to the thousands before I pull it out. I don't want the sensor to get overdosed. I then look at the flame, it looked huge. I backed off the gas valve pressure a lot. I then tried the fyrite pro. 12% oxygen and 16ppm CO. Much better. I tweak some more 7% oxygen and 50ppm. 50ppm holds for many minutes. Good. I then force a sale of the CO eperts alarm on the home owner. Yes I forced her to buy it. I just told her I wouldn't take no for an answer. I explained that her life was more valuable then what she thought of me. I told her that I would rather have her upset at me for a forced sale then wind up dead in the future. After realizing that the levels of CO could have killed her she became very thank full and gladly bought one and paid us in full for the two days of work. She even told me that her cousin might stop by my house and buy one too.

When I was driving to the next job I began to think. I was very proud of myself. A warm smile apeared on my face. I was proud of the education I received from Jim Davis at NCI on combustion analsys. I was proud to be a wethead learning the best methods to install and work on hydronics. I was proud of myself for searching for odd ball seminars to take, like Jim Davis's class. Most of all I was proud of myself for saving a life. Almost noone in my area checks CO levels at jobs. Only one other guy in my county is certified for combustion analisys. I feel that I have a message to get out to all of the other local plumbers.

I called Fred and told him that from now on noone who works for me is allowed to enter a boiler room on any job without first checking for CO levels.

John Ruhnke
JR@ComfortableHeat.com

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John Ruhnke

Who else I am proud of.....................

You know now that I am thinking a bit more, I am proud of a lot of people. I am proud of Jim Davis and everyone at NCI. Mark Hunt who drills in our heads at the wall about CO. Dan Holohan who hosts this great site where I go to get my education. I am proud of Fred for the great work he does. I am proud of all the wallies. This is a great country, and the wallie comunity is what the spirit of America is all about.

JR

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LEAD PIPE

I'm glad you tested &

I'm glad everyone is okay. What was causing the flue gas to spill into the home?

John Ruhnke

Way overfired.................

Way overfired......

The mixture of gas was way to rich. Not enough oxygen, to much fuel pressure on the manifold.

JR

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Weezbo

You made more than a million $ today....

easily anyone is worth more than that ...good going. i thought i was rich today just getting everything together and paying off the bills and checking on all the work sites and making sure everyone was ok and working safely ...i am not as familiar with gas equipment as are you so let me ask you a ? is this bought about by vibration of the equipment or is it a failure of a part or is it bought about by dirt that skinnys past the drip leg and gets clogged in the valve or orifice ? is it a moisture corrosion of internal parts type problem ? is it an often confronted occurence with nat gas? so i guess i am asking the cause...and frequentcy of this ...with nat gas...is it a "Typical" malfunction ? i sure hope it is Atypical and there is some sort of fail safe being contemplated for these burners...that Turns the thing OFF!

Darin Cook_3

Good for you John

and great for your customer. The more all of us test and talk to other contractors the better it will be for the entire trade. I can always hear Jim Davis's little heh, heh,heh laugh when we find something really dangerous that another contractor left behind as okay. Education and testing, the more we do of it the safer all of our customers will be. Kudos to your company.









Darin

Constantin

Congratulations...

John, I just wanted to send you a note of thanks for saving a life. While th HO may not appreciate a forced COExperts sale, I believe every home with a non-sealed combustion appliance ought to have a non-UL2034 approved CO detector (i.e. CoExperts or NCI). Congrats again, and when are going to see the fruits of your efficiency formula work?

John R. Hall

John

Not to throw water on fire, but why don't your people carry CO monitors on them at all times? If you know anything about Jim Davis that is what he preaches. Since I spend a lot of time in homes and businesses with techs I now have a Testo CO-stick with me, thanks to Bill Spohn and the good people at Testo. Heck, if a lowly journalist carries one on occasional service calls, shouldn't real techs carry them every time???

Neil_5

Where Can a HO

Purchase the above CO detector? I am in LI, NY.

Neil

Constantin

NCI only sells to contractors...

... but the COExperts unit can be ordered directly from Aeromedix for a reasonable price.

John Ruhnke

It is how I was taught, its the industry standard.........

John,

I have been in this trade since 1983. I have worked for about 6 different plumbing and heating companies who taught me the trade. I have been in business since 1990. I have been in a ton of boiler rooms. Sure I have been to Jim Davis's class twice. I have had my fyrite pro for five years now. I always test all boilers we work on or install. I kind of thought to myself if it is as bad as Jim makes things out to be, I would have experienced or heard of a lot of CO deaths in my area. I havn't. I talked to my good buddy who is a geat oil burner tech. He told me that oil burners can't give off co. Most oil guys think that. 5 YEARS AGO, NOONE IN MY AREA TESTED COMBUSTION ON GAS LET ALONE TEST FOR CO. THEY NEVER HAVE. When I bought my fyrite pro, noone local knew how to use it. I THOUGHT, NOONE TESTS FOR CO ITS NOT A BIG DEAL? Yes the boiler will be more efficient. That is why I always tested our stuff. Yes if the boiler is old I always request to test for co from the homeowner.

Until you experience a life or death situation Jim Davis's words don't really sink in. I am a huge believer now. Now I made it a policy that NOONE WHO WORKS FOR JR'S P & H IS EVER ALLOWED TO GO INTO A BOILER ROOM WITHOUT TESTING FOR CO FIRST.

JR

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John Ruhnke

Overall Efficiency Formula...........

Constantin,

I am currently working with a very good patent attourney to turn my Provisional Patent Application that I have on file into a Regular Patent Application. Within a couple of days we will file it with the USPTO.

Product Development is a long and drawn out process for me these days. After my second child, my wife quit work to take care of the kids. Expenses are way up and I have to earn three times as much money as I used to. I am adding a addition to the house so the mortgage is going way up to. Sometimes I am scared of loseing everything I have. Working on the HEF project causes me a ton of stress because I know it is time away from building the plumbing and heating business. I am behind and if I fall further behind I might not have the ability to cetch up.

JR

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John Ruhnke

Everything was working perfectly except for deadly levels of CO

Weezbo

I think that the gas valve was installed by a technician that doesn't have a combustion anylizer. It just wasn't tuned right. No dirt, nothing wrong, everything was working just fine. The chimney had plenty of draw, the chimney sucked smoke up from the vent damper during a match test. Plenty of heat and the house was warm and comfortable. A CO detector mounted on the boier room wall was not sounding off. THE ONLY PROBLEM WAS ALL OF THE CO THAT WAS BUILDING UP IN THE CHIMEY AND BACKING UP INTO THE HOUSE. THE LEVELS PEGGED FREDS CO EXPERTS METER. The reason Fred didn't test the first time is because of the presence of a co detector.

JR

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John R. Hall

Thanks John

We now have to convince people to test BEFORE they experience a life or death situation. Some folks would probably be grateful if all they did was vomit -- if you know what I mean.

Ted Robinson

COExperts

Thanks to this website, I bought a COExpert CO detector and it goes with me to every house inspection I do. I haven't found any detectable CO levels yet and I want to be sure I don't miss any either. Between jobs, it helps me sleep better at our home.

Constantin

Hey, that's great!

If you don't mind, send me a copy of your application once it's a public document - I'd love to read it. In the meantime, best of luck and I hope that everything will work itself out for you! Cheers!

Glenn Harrison_2

John, If I may.

As someone who has been down the same road as your man Jim was, and wound up in the Emergency room because of it, might I highly suggest you get all your guys a portable clip-on CO monitor/alarm.

My employer provides us all with AIM-Safety brand clip on CO Monitor/Alarms and it is mandatory to wear them at all times while working. They have a digital display with instant response, and will alarm continuously at or above 35 ppm. They are fully user calibrate-able and serviceable. They are also very compact so they won't get in the way.

I've attached a .pdf file brochure of the meter I am referring to.

www.aimsaftey.com

Mark Eatherton1

Good for you and your men John..

Now, take it to the press and let them know of your good deed.

ME

John Ruhnke

Fred has been carrying one for years now..............

Glenn,

Fred, my only other employee has a co experts monitor dedicated just for himself. He has a couple others to sell too. He has had them for years. He didn't first check this job because of the CO detector on the wall.

JR

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Glenn Harrison_2

Well that's good John

I just throw this suggestion out there because they are a little more convienent than the CO experts to haul around.

I was wearing mine once at lunch time and it went off in a hot dog stand I stopped at. You never know where CO is hiding.

eleft_4

Right on Glenn,



Knowing and not doing, is not knowing!

al

Weezbo

i am just checking a Theory I have at the momment.....

ed wallace

co

tomorrow i pick up my AIM Alien co alarm looks like a pager so it wont scare people