Tragedy close to home

[Basil]

Tragedy struck our little community one the weekend. I head it was a portable commercial type heater they were using. Propane heaters can produce CO and should always be used with adequate ventilation. A CO detector is a must.

What we know: 3 Moriarty High students were at sleepover in Edgewood when tragedy struck

Three Moriarty High School students are dead of apparent carbon monoxide poisoning after being found Sunday inside a garage in Edgewood. A neighbor said the teens would frequently get together

www.abqjournal.com

 

[PAUL161]

I agree 100% and have them all around the house, but none in the garage! Not many folks sleep in the garage, if you had an alarm in the garage, everytime you started the car an alarm would be going off! Just a tragic mistake and feel sorry for all involved. Sad, very sad.

 

[Gliderman8]

Oh boy…. Very sad. And open flame consumes oxygen a side from the CO risk.
Sorry this is close to home.

 

[Basil]

Oh boy…. Very sad. And open flame consumes oxygen a side from the CO risk.
Sorry this is close to home.

We have a portable heater for camping. Even thought it has a low Oxygen shut off sensor and a tip over shut off, when we use it, we always make sure there is good cross ventilation and we never go too sleep with it running. We will turn it on, get the inside of the camper nice and toasty, then shut it off and go to bed. If it gets too cold for the sleeping bags during the night, we will turn it back on, and repeat the process. We also always make sure the camper has a functioning CO sensor.

 

[Gliderman8]

We have a portable heater for camping. Even thought it has a low Oxygen shut off sensor and a tip over shut off, when we use it, we always make sure there is good cross ventilation and we never go too sleep with it running. We will turn it on, get the inside of the camper nice and toasty, then shut it off and go to bed. If it gets too cold for the sleeping bags during the night, we will turn it back on, and repeat the process. We also always make sure the camper has a functioning CO sensor.

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Yeah, using portable space heaters just takes some common sense. It’s a shame that these kids didn’t know better.

 

[Basil]

Yeah, using portable space heaters just takes some common sense. It’s a shame that these kids didn’t know better.

From what I've read they apparently did this sleeping in the garage thing quite often. Surprised the parents didn't intervene, but could be one of those "it will never happen to us" things.

 

[AngliaGT]

That's really sad to read about.My Brother-in-Law's boss died
while camping in Glacier Park the same way.

 

[Basil]

That's really sad to read about.My Brother-in-Law's boss died
while camping in Glacier Park the same way.

Too many people don't appreciate how deadly CO can be.

 

[Bob McElwee]

When our home we bought in FL was being inspected, the man pointed to the CO alarm mounted close to the ceiling. He says d by the time that thing goes off you would be dead, better get one to mount close to the floor because CO s heavier than air. I don’t k ow the science but we now have two CO alarms.

 

[Basil]

When our home we bought in FL was being inspected, the man pointed to the CO alarm mounted close to the ceiling. He says d by the time that thing goes off you would be dead, better get one to mount close to the floor because CO s heavier than air. I don’t k ow the science but we now have two CO alarms.

That's why on any Camper we rent, that's exactly where the CO sense is - just above the floor.

 

[John Turney]

That's why on any Camper we rent, that's exactly where the CO sense is - just above the floor.

I'll have to look into it. In our Winnebago, the CO detector is on the ceiling and the propane detector is near the floor.

 

[YakkoWarner]

I use that same heater in a rather large tent when working out at the medieval fair for 8 weekends. Tent is anything BUT airtight so CO has never been an issue.

At home I have antique Aladdin mantle lamps which throw an insane amount of heat, but generate CO2 rather than CO because of how they operate. They still displace oxygen and they have a delicate balance between working perfectly and going runaway (at which point you get a bright red flame out the top and probably a lot of CO) so they can never be left unmonitored. But a kerosene lamp that is as bright as a 40W incandescent bulb, running unpressurized and dead silent is a really neat thing and in the winter 2 or 3 let you see and keep the house warm. They warn you to have 3-4 feet from the top of the lamp to anything overhead and for good reason - my remote reading temp. gun shows the glass (not normal glass some kind of special mixture) at 720 degrees during proper operation.

 

[Gliderman8]

Too many people don't appreciate how deadly CO can be.

I agree with the your statement but you wouldn’t cross the road without looking both ways. It should be just as simple when using a space heater…. Make sure you have proper ventilation. A truly senseless tragedy.