CO Monitor Goes Off

 
ddahlgren
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Post by ddahlgren » Sun. Dec. 18, 2016 12:45 pm

Simple question I hope. Had the monitor go crazy a little while ago with a seemingly good draft. I am not sure what a 67 means and a peak of 88. The batteries were 2 years old my bad and I had door closed to room stove was in but had no idea it might be that tight if that is the problem. I can see the manometer from where I was and showed 0.04 draft as warm and had MPD 1/2 open with fire idled way down as around 55F outside and reason the door was closed. Changed the batteries aired the room out opened MPD to 100% and opend stove room door to house as rather certain it has plenty of leaks.

Does this make sense or is this what happens when batteries time out?


 
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Post by SWPaDon » Sun. Dec. 18, 2016 12:48 pm

Someone a week or so ago had one go bad, but I believe they had no elevated reading at all on it. Even though the level was high as indicated by another CO detector.

 
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Post by McGiever » Sun. Dec. 18, 2016 12:50 pm

Check mfg'r web site, do NOT risk possibility of receiving misinformation on such a critical issue. ;)
Last edited by McGiever on Sun. Dec. 18, 2016 12:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.

 
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Post by corey » Sun. Dec. 18, 2016 12:50 pm

They go off if the battery is dieing let us know if it goes off again.

 
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Post by michaelanthony » Sun. Dec. 18, 2016 12:51 pm

Hi dd, do you have a window open? If it was 55* up here my stove room would need a window open or whatever room I was in. My draft has calmed do to the 40* swing in temps.

Also, maybe time for a resetting of the manometer, disconnect the tube and clean etc.

 
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Post by coaledsweat » Sun. Dec. 18, 2016 1:03 pm

It's the only way it can tell you it needs batteries before it can't. :)

 
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SWPaDon
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Post by SWPaDon » Sun. Dec. 18, 2016 1:14 pm

McGiever wrote:Check mfg'r web site, do NOT risk possibility of receiving misinformation on such a critical issue. ;)
I agree. I think those have an 'effective service life'? But if in doubt.........replace as it's designed to save lives.


 
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Post by ddahlgren » Sun. Dec. 18, 2016 2:02 pm

SWPaDon wrote:
McGiever wrote:Check mfg'r web site, do NOT risk possibility of receiving misinformation on such a critical issue. ;)
I agree. I think those have an 'effective service life'? But if in doubt.........replace as it's designed to save lives.
I suspect me being forgetful and something I never think about. I have 4 or 5 smoke alarms and if batteries no changed they complain pretty quick. I did the smart thing opened MPD wide open and a door and windows to air the place out with no second thoughts. Have not heard a peep out of it since batteries changed and MPD is closed back down with 0.03 on manometer showing. Save lives you bet and caught my attention very quickly to vent the room and rethink what was going on. Lesson learned smoke alarm batteries is also CO
monitor batteries!

 
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Post by SWPaDon » Sun. Dec. 18, 2016 2:12 pm

I'm just glad you were here to tell us what happened.

 
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Post by ddahlgren » Sun. Dec. 18, 2016 2:50 pm

SWPaDon wrote:I'm just glad you were here to tell us what happened.
Just a heads up fire alarm battery time CO monitor battery time.

 
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Post by SWPaDon » Sun. Dec. 18, 2016 3:17 pm

ddahlgren wrote:
SWPaDon wrote:I'm just glad you were here to tell us what happened.
Just a heads up fire alarm battery time CO monitor battery time.
yeppers :up:

 
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Post by Lightning » Sun. Dec. 18, 2016 3:36 pm

Was there any other evidence of carbon monoxide? I've always been able to smell sulphur in the house along with a reading on the CO detector.

Also, it doesn't make sense that you got CO into the stove room with negative pressure in the stove and chimney system. Is the mano probe between the stove and MPD?

 
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Post by ddahlgren » Mon. Dec. 19, 2016 3:03 am

Lightning wrote:Was there any other evidence of carbon monoxide? I've always been able to smell sulphur in the house along with a reading on the CO detector.

Also, it doesn't make sense that you got CO into the stove room with negative pressure in the stove and chimney system. Is the mano probe between the stove and MPD?
The mano is between MPD and stove. I did get some odd smells earlier in the morning not sure if sulfur just different and off the wall enough to cause some concern. I associate sulfur with the smell of a kitchen match or black powder gun and not quite that but the stove has never made a smell in the past so maybe detector was not really in an error mode. I did wonder if the CO was back flowing out of the draft regulator as earlier in the day I was having trouble tending the stove as ash was coming out of ash pan door while flossing the grates. The wind was gusting and you could see the blues come and go with every puff of wind as mid 50's I thought I could ride out but obviously ran out of talent and that is ok better to live another day in my mind. Not defeat just another lesson learned. I decided to let it burn out to see what was really going on but did have the sense to tend way too often and chase the ash down every couple of hours to have a near empty stove other than the pile of clinkers that got ahead of me. I have had trouble sleeping so regular tending is a crapshoot and obviously some went way too long. The stove will be easy to clean out tomorrow night and relight for days of cold weather with highs of 40 and lows around 25 to 30.

Question am I better to measure the draft between MPD and draft regulator to make sure gases leave the house?

 
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Post by Sunny Boy » Mon. Dec. 19, 2016 8:58 am

Not sure if CO monitors can have this happen, but a few times I've had smoke alarms go off only to find there was no smoke and the batteries were fine. Have seven throughout the house, but only certain ones kept going off.

After carefully looking inside the monitors, I found a small spider nest. Removed the nest and no more problem. My guess is the spiders got in where the smoke does and that activated it.

Paul

 
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Post by Keepaeyeonit » Mon. Dec. 19, 2016 10:01 am

You could have had CO in the house but that's why I have multiple detectors around just in case one starts to go south it makes things much easer to troubleshoot, but I've been criticized for that as a " false sence of security " :roll: but that's one reason to have redundancy In place especially with things that can kill you quick ;). Glad your ok :)


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