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Ohio Highway Patrolman and wife die in home accident

Crusader

Crusader

SOH-CM-2022
http://www.10tv.com/live/content/on...03/story-trooper-carbon-monoxide.html?sid=102

PLEASE : those of you who have generators , never , I REPEAT , never put them in a garage or basement . Believe me , a lot of people have done both and many are not around to tell about it .
I know , "he should have known better" certainly applies here but this is so tragic . Generators can be a real PIA to keep out of the harsh weather but having them outside with some type of a cover is the best route to take . My middle son is a full time fireman in the city of Lancaster(about 20 miles from me in New Lexington , Oh) and he said you would be surprised how often this happens .

Rich
 
Never mess with CO!

My wife used to be a 911 fire dispatcher with our local volunteer fire dept. and for a number of years we lived at the local fire hall in an attached apartment (the 911 lines came right into our apartment). Every winter we would get calls from people with CO detectors going off and we would have to send the crews out to them. Invariably the reason was that they had been running their cars in the garage to get them warm before setting out for work and had filled their homes with CO. The crews would set up the high powered extractor fans so that they blew fresh air into the house to disperse the CO.

If you must run your car to warm it up before you leave at least move the car outside first or open the garage door to let the CO out! :isadizzy:
 
Tako_Kichi said:
Never mess with CO!

My wife used to be a 911 fire dispatcher with our local volunteer fire dept. and for a number of years we lived at the local fire hall in an attached apartment (the 911 lines came right into our apartment). Every winter we would get calls from people with CO detectors going off and we would have to send the crews out to them. Invariably the reason was that they had been running their cars in the garage to get them warm before setting out for work and had filled their homes with CO. The crews would set up the high powered extractor fans so that they blew fresh air into the house to disperse the CO.

If you must run your car to warm it up before you leave at least move the car outside first or open the garage door to let the CO out! :isadizzy:
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I could be mistaken...but I believe that modern vehicles which have emissions equipment as standard eg. catalytic converters, are pretty safe when it comes to the levels of carbon monoxide that are given off.
 
kilo delta said:
I could be mistaken...but I believe that modern vehicles which have emissions equipment as standard eg. catalytic converters, are pretty safe when it comes to the levels of carbon monoxide that are given off.
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Safe is a relative term. What may be 'safe' when outside on the street is not the same as when the vehicle is within an enclosed garage with the engine running. CO levels can build rapidly in that situation. An idling engine also produces more CO than one that is running at a higher RPM.
 
Thanks for the reminder -

SAFETY FIRST!

My generator is located in a small sheltered "shack" which serves double-duty as the outside entrance to my basement stairs. I have the exhaust routed to the outside via a flexible tube. I have also installed a bathroom exhaust fan that runs off the generator to provide additional venting when it's running.

The 240 volt output is cabled to an automatic transfer box, which disconnects the mains from the circuit breaker box, and distributes filtered 110 volts as a balanced load to the house's outlets and overhead lighting.

I start the generator at least once per month for a few minutes, but during the winter season I increase the schedule to at least once per week.

It's always a tragedy when good folks die needlessly from such avoidable mistakes... :frown:
 
I can testify myself I was almost over taken by carbon monoxide. There is no warning when you get overcome by it. A slight odor continuously that's obviously not good. I was on the 2nd floor above a basement. I was a carpet cleaner and had the cleaning van at the doors below. The van was not running, but the cleaning machine onboard was. All the fumes filled the basement to the point it made the upper floor filled. I was cleaning away working up a good sweat. All of a sudden I got a SPLITTING headache. Next thing I knew I awoke on the floor feeling as if my head was going to explode. No clue how long I was unconsious, but I managed to crawl out the front door of the house. It's a good thing I woke up as I likely wouldn't be telling this to all of you.
 
OleBoy said:
All of a sudden I got a SPLITTING headache. Next thing I knew I awoke on the floor feeling as if my head was going to explode.
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Sudden, severe, headaches are a tell-tale symptom of CO poisoning (among other things) especially if you can also detect the odour of combustion by-products although the CO itself is odourless.

OleBoy said:
No clue how long I was unconsious, but I managed to crawl out the front door of the house.
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As CO is heavier than air you would have done better walking out to keep your head above the CO level but of course that may not have been possible given that you had been unconscious and were probably feeling 'groggy'.

OleBoy said:
It's a good thing I woke up as I likely wouldn't be telling this to all of you.
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You were very lucky to wake up! Many don't get the opportunity unfortunately.
 
CO is a dreadful killer and undetectable by the senses unless you have an electronic CO detector in your home.
CO combines readily with Hemoglobin in the red blood cells (which normally carry oxygen in the blood to the organs and muscles) and never gives up it's oxygen because as Carbo-oxyhemoglobin it is extremely stable and death is effectively by asphyxiation.
Deaths in the UK are often in cheap rented accommodation where maintenance on gas appliances is poor or non-existent and CO builds up and kills the occupants.
 
n4gix said:
I start the generator at least once per month for a few minutes, but during the winter season I increase the schedule to at least once per week.
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I ran diesel generators in the Navy for years. We'd run them at least once a week for at least a half hour, preferably pulling an electrical load if possible.

CO is nothing to mess with. I almost gassed myself once with a diesel in a small space that had an exhaust leak.
 
It seems like every time a hurricane hits South Florida somebody dies because they ran a generator inside their house or in the garage. As a matter of fact about two weeks ago 4 guys died down here because they left a car running in the garage of a townhouse.
 
With all the main points covered I'll just add one more. Always be aware. As a Paramedic I know that one victim too often begets more as a would-be rescuers go inside to get someone and suffer the same fate as the first. Be careful, call 911, and be suspicious and alert.

My thoughts for Trooper Sanders and his wife, family and friends. Man that hurts.
 
It's really too bad this type of thing happens at all, but a 25 year veteran cop/public safety official should have known better. After all, they're trained up on the subject.
 
You never know. I could imagine a person having a stroke or something in that garage after starting the generator. Then later someone comes to find him and doesn't realize the air is deadly. Trained or not, life is always ready to throw a curve ball.
 
aeromed202 said:
You never know. I could imagine a person having a stroke or something in that garage after starting the generator. Then later someone comes to find him and doesn't realize the air is deadly. Trained or not, life is always ready to throw a curve ball.
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True dat about curve balls, and sh*t happens, ect.

It doesn't really matter either way, theories or not, it's a shame stuff like this happens.
 
You would be surprised and how a gas furnace heat exchanger is made in this day and time. We have replaced more and more heat exchangers in the last five years.HVAC techs call it silent death.When the heat-exchanger gets a small crack in it all it does is blows 100% CO2 in your house. People turn there heat off while they are at work and when they get home they they turn it back on, eat dinner and go to bed and you already know what happens after that.The heat exchangers in this day and time are made paper thin...more like a joke. Your best bet is to get a CO2 detector. They don't cost squat. But once they go off, you really need to start looking into why.
 
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