From: Richard Sullivan FRPS (richsul@earthlink.net)
Date: 06/26/01-10:37:51 AM Z
Katharine,
Not far off topic at all. Darkrooms are often built in out of the way
places like garages and barns, etc. They are often unheated and cold. They
are also rather poorly ventilated and sealed up pretty well. No windows,
etc. Mine for a time was in my unheated garage and I had only a very small
electrical circuit and the electrical heater kept blowing the fuse so I
used a kerosene heater. I knew the CO problem was a possibility but I
figured that using only to warm the place up a bit was safe. Wrong. I
started getting pounding headaches. Oops. It can be deadly as you know.
Cheers.
--Dick
At 07:37 AM 6/26/2001 +0000, you wrote:
>A couple people have written me about carbon monoxide detectors, and
>since this is such a serious matter I thought I'd tell you all what I
>told them:
>
>Do not assume that a carbon monoxide detector will protect you! I had
>one in place during the whole time I was being poisoned. It was only
>after it was all over that I found the small-type footnote in the user's
>manual that warns that levels of carbon monoxide below the alarm
>threshold can be dangerous to life and health. The detector will wake
>you and get you out of the house in the case of a sudden extreme rise
>in carbon monoxide that could kill you in minutes. It will do nothing at
>all for you in the case of a slow leak, where you're not getting enough
>CO to set off the detector, but enough to accumulate in your system,
>starving your lungs, heart, brain of oxygen over days, weeks and months.
>I was wrongly diagnosed with several different things during this
>process, including pneumonia and a coronary artery blockage. Luckily I
>got the oil tank filled and some sediment clogged the nozzles and made
>the furnace quit running, and the guy who came out said the furnace was
>broken and dangerous and must not be used. Otherwise, I probably would
>have been dead before anyone figured it out.
>
>I guess the bottom line is: definitely have a carbon monoxide detector,
>but also have your furnace checked often.
>Katharine
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : 07/12/01-11:41:55 AM Z CST