CO Kills Construction Workers
BillHartmann
| Posted in Energy, Heating & Insulation on
3 roofers where found dead and a 4th in critical condition in a house under construction in Pataskala, OH (Columbus area)l. They spent the night to get an early start. The only source of heat was a kerosene heater which had run out of fuel.
CO posioning is suspected.
Replies
I live in deer country with thousands of acres of national forrests . That combination brings a lot of folks from the cities . Some of them die every year . This is one way it happens. Sad that our bodies cant sense CO when we are asleep. I always figgured it was a malfuncton in planning, to a near perfect machine , the human body. At least its one of our weakest points.
Tim Mooney
yet in many states the companies sell "vent free" unvented gas heaters - what a marketing term -
many neo traditional homes, $500k each in Charleston s c have unvented fireplaces for gas logs - I guess a chimney takes up too much space or would look bad.
> many neo traditional homes, $500k each in Charleston s c have unvented fireplaces for gas logs
Wow. The code here in LA has forbidden that for a long time. My place still has the decorative fake fireplaces that were used behind unvented heaters, a fairly rare find these days since most of them were torn out.
-- J.S.
I'm in NJ, and have a ventfree propane fp in constant use in my lr. 15x20 room with a slider and (2) 6' bay windows, and 1 heat vent(ala previous owner-captain halfassed).
In winter it's blasting 5-10hrs a day, and CO/smoke detector has never made a peep(and yes I've tested it).
Mike
>>I'm in NJ, and have a ventfree propane fp in constant use in my lr. 15x20 room with a slider and (2) 6' bay windows, and 1 heat vent(ala previous owner-captain halfassed).
>>In winter it's blasting 5-10hrs a day, and CO/smoke detector has never made a peep(and yes I've tested it).
Mike - we need you too much here, fellow!
Those things can be safe, of course, but yoiu'r playing some odds for with a pretty dangerous chemical poison.
At least get a decet CO detector (The combo's that I've seen only measure down to 70 ppm and need 4 hours at that level to sound off. I believe, but am not 100% certain, you can get intermitent peaks much higher without it sounding the alarm.)
At a minimum, get the $40-50 type with an LED readout - they go down to 30 ppm, and don't wait the 4 hours.
Mount it towards the ceiling - 12" - 18" or so.
Consider a low level monitor: see http://www.aeromedix.com/index.php?_siteid=aeromedix&action=sku&sku=coex&_sessid=41993ad090fd2779cdace3f1f53ddb55
_______________________
Tool Donations Sought
I'm matching tool donors to a church mission to Haiti - we're shipping a bus converted to a medical facility in January (we hope) and can fill it with clothes, tools and all sorts of stuff needed in that poorest of all countries. A few hand tools or power tools can provide a livelihood for an otherwise destitute family. Please email me if you have tools to donate.
Thanks for the advice and concern Bob. We went through this coupla years back when I installed it and readings were minimal, although I could probably test again or install a more accurate/comprehensive unit(I'll have to go pull the paperwork on that detector and see where it's at).
Given that this room was poorly added with 2 6' bays and a 6' slider also poorly added(read leaky) and has a 40" doorless doorway into the rest of the house, fresh airflow is high.
But, better safe than sorry......off to check specs......
Mike
Mike-
I never realized you were in NJ- wherabouts? I'm in Woodbridge.
Bob
NW corner, Newton.
Hey neighbor!
Mike
Cool- one of the companies I work with is doing the ER addition on the hospital up there in Newton. Too far outta the way for me- and too much snow (amazing how 75 miles can make such a difference in the weather).
No kiddin, small world...I hope they're adding some staff too!
Newton town(Hosp location, and my shop) is about 10 miles East of my house in Crandon Lakes(and a bit lower in altitude) you oughta see the difference those 10 miles makes. Easily 3-8 degrees, and 25% more snow.
Mike(getting my plow ready....)
"Sad that our bodies cant sense CO when we are asleep. I always figgured it was a malfuncton in planning, to a near perfect machine , the human body."
Suggesting that human evolved to sleep and breath before they develop combustion devices that operate near or below stoichometric levels of oxygens (300 years?).
We've had open fires for what, a million years? At least 100,000. And lots of people still die of fire. It will take a long time before humans evolve the ability to sniff CO.
In the meantime, follow Bob Walker's suggestion and get at least a mediocre UL-approved one (he and I think the Fire Departments' concerns with lots of low level alarms was given too much weight by UL.) Better yet, get an aviation one. Driving to check out a building, mine has tripped after driving through someone else's car exhaust!
David Thomas Overlooking Cook Inlet in Kenai, Alaska
Well close anyway. One was a drywaller(authorized), the other 3 were unauthorized to be there(trademen of some kind). Kerosene heater had just ran out of fuel, however the gas generator in the basement which was supplying the electricity for the kerosene heater was......STIIIIIIILL GOING, and they weren't.
Hey, all I know is what is printed in the KC Starless.
Their moto is whatever we can find to fit the space.
My guess is that it was the genrator.
No problem...speculation is, workers trying to get an early start were actually hunters, trying to get an early start deer hunting. Why pay to stay in a hotel when you can stay for free in the house you roofed last week?
Buy a good sleeping bag...........and turn the damn thing off. Even if they don't kill you outright, you're deep breathing all the crap they put off.......