I learned the hard way.... I hope you don't

With cold and snow in almost every state, many of us (me included) are heating our shops and garages with natural gas. I've used my overhead hearter in two previous winters with no problems so I didn't expect any this winter. Boy was I ever wrong. After spending most of the day last Tuesday working in my garage on one of the cars something hit me like a ton of bricks. All of a sudden I was so dizzy I could hardly stand up let alone walk without holding holding on to something. Being an old guy I thought I was having a stroke or some similar problem. I was dizzy and had headaches for a couple of days. I finally decided to put a carbon monoxide monitor and quickly found that I had carbon monoxide poisening. It was a lesson well learned. Be safe and ALWAYS use a carbon monoxide monitor. I sure wish I had.


A

 

Glad you are OK.Great words of wisdom.

 

x2. Just got one of those monitors myself.

 

Holy Smokes Rich!! I'm glad your alright.

I live by myself and am always aware that if I get hurt in my garage noone would find me for days. Makes one a bit more cautious.

 

Sure hope you know where the problem is and fixed it! Sounds like your not venting correctly.
Dom

 

A couple were camping here in oregon a few years back and were found dead by some fellow campers, they had a small propane heater in their closed tent.

Thanks for posting this, it's a reminder for everyone to be cautious.

 

Wow, glad you are ok, we have a detector in our house, maybe its time for one in the garage.

A freinds friend lost his 2 kids to carbon monoxide poisoning and just about lost his own, which i think if it were myself, loosing 2 kids i would have wanted too also.

JEFF

 

You are very lucky you got out when you did. Glad to see your alive and kicking. Carbon monoxide is something that you never think about until its too late. I've got 1 in the house and garage after a friend wasn't so lucky.

 

One in the garage & one in the house. Don't forget the batteries in the smoke detectors as well.

 

Glad you're alright and thanks for the good reminder. I keep them in the house after my BiL almost lost his whole family last year when a bird plugged the roof vent on their furnace. Scarry chit.

 

In the past I've worked in drafty garages. Thanks for the heads up because now we heat our shops. Good to hear your O.K.

 

Scary shit! I had a similar experiance 2 years ago with having my heater running off of propane, I was sick for a week! It's the worst headache nausious pain ever. My heater (hanginging warehouse style) ended up having the the jets, or nozels that spray the fuel into the stacks was out of alinement so not all of he gas was burning, that's what caused my co2 poisoning. You might want to have a heater guy come take a look at yours to see if that's what's possibly the cause. I was told if the fuel or gas rail is just slightly out of alinement it can cause this, so it's worth lookin into, obviously something is askew with your shop heater, you should be able to be out there with the heat blasted with no carbon monoxide problems. Glad your allright!!

 

You are a lucky one! I heat my garage with a direct vent propane furnace, but CO can come from any fuel source. Find the problem and fix it.

 

Plus with all the other crap we might be using...brake and parts cleaner, paint, starting fluid...it all adds to the equation! Sometimes having an airtight shop to keep the heat in can be your worst enemy too! Take plenty of coffee breaks and get some fresh air. Over the time when youre not using your heat it gives raccoons, squirrels, birds, and whatever else plenty of time to nest up in your vents!! Its the law in MA to have a CO detector in every room of the house. One last thing, it may not be the same where all you guys are, but in commercial buildings, garages etc. outlets have to be above 36" from the floor...you should have the detectors lower than that to be effective!! Stay safe!!

 

wazs this a vented heater? natural gas is used in millions of homes and doesn't just cause carbon monoxide poisoning unless the installation was faulty or there was no chimney hooked up or the chimney was b locked by snowfall . tell us more about the installation. when i lived up north i had a modine vented heated using natural gas and with 2 feet of snow on the ground we could work in a tshirt. gas is a good fuel source if installed properly.

 

You need the CO detectors down near the floor? If so, I guess the fire/smoke combo ones aren't the best then. Better to have CO near the floor and separate fire/smoke on the ceiling.

Not that the fire/smoke is so critical in a shop where you mostly likely will already be awake and alert to any fire about as quick as a detector would be - but for a house.

I think one of my CO sensors went off last night but couldn't track it down and figure out if it did or not. It is one of those talking ones and I couldn't figure out whether it was the downstairs or upstairs one and I couldn't understand what it was saying. Either that or I had a 1970's robot intruder and he took off before I could spot him.

And no remaining blinking light or anything. Maybe just a fluke of some sort or dying battery. This reminds me to keep an eye on it. I have one upstairs for the gas water heater and one downstairs where the gas furnace is.

 

Guys,
This is a professionally installed vented overhead heater and has worked fine for the two previous winters. I shut it off and will call the company that installed it on Monday. I'll let you guys know what they find.

 

Thanks for the heads-up F-P. This way we can all learn. Glad you're OK
The Rock

 

That's exactly why when you smell an orderless gas, get to fresh air immediately!
It could save your life.

 

Glad that your ok.
hope they find out what is wrong.

 

Smell an odorless gas ? ummm ok.. That's the whole problem. Odorless means you can't smell it. By the time you feel it's affects, if you do, it's sometimes too late. A good detector and a well vented shop is the only way to be sure.

 

It's especially important if like most guys you have a used system with some age on it. It was common to use trailer heaters for garages around here. No telling how old and rusty the heat exchanger is.

 

I think I got a hold of some bad kerosene this week in my propane heater, that and the brake cleaner probably combined to make an eye and lung burning fumefest. I had to leave the garage door open with the heater going to be able to breathe and work. Burnt that shit out and got more kerosene, problem solved.

 

I replaced the carbon monoxide detectors in my house trying to find out why I have so many headaches. So far they haven't gone off.....

 

semantics...natural gas and propane are naturally odorless, the "smell" is added, I think it was in the thirties when an entire midwest towns children were killed in the K-12 schoolhouse from exactly what we are talking about...after that the stinky stuff was added to try to prevent such a tragedy!

found this...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_London_School_explosion

 

True, but the problem with this reference is the oder is added so that if you smell gas you get the hell out and shut the gas off so you don't get blown up.

Neither the unburned gas or the smell is what will kill you by itself. It is after it is burned, the CO gets you and that is still oderless. The oder goes away when it is burned. You can't smell the CO exhaust whether the original gas has it added or not, so sadly wouldn't have helped the kids in that school and won't help you today either.

 

Sorry, i didnt mean to confuse the point...Its just a topic that alot of times goes overlooked...I guess i took on two seperate points...

 

We used portable propane heaters in the construction trade and never left just one person alone on the job due to the dangers . When I fixed my shop up I instaled an electric furnace,not cheap to operate but much safer. I like a cool shop to work in so I only run it long enough to get the chill off, then shut it off . No car is worth death.

 

I have wondered if the infra-red type may be safer? I realize that this may be a one time fluke ,but it makes you ponder....