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Pookie2018 t1_j1sdnug wrote

CO2 is carbon dioxide, average people don’t have CO2 detectors in their home, usually places like fast food restaurants that use CO2 to carbonate fountain beverages have them.

CO is carbon monoxide. If your CO detector goes off, go outside to fresh air and call emergency services.

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acidbluedod t1_j1srjfp wrote

I had to unplug my CO detector because it kept beeping, which gave me a headache, and made me feel dizzy and nauseous.

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krone-icals t1_j1t4stg wrote

Most homes and apartments are now required to have one CO (not CO2) detector (source), usually you only need one and might have mistaken it for a smoke alarm. If you don't, add one from a home improvement store or ask your fire department (lots just have ones to give out)

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superkoning t1_j1vxaev wrote

Since COVID, we have CO₂ meters at the office. Including an instruction what to do when, including Open Window, and Less People In Room.

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misterjive t1_j1seten wrote

A portable CO2 detector isn't a bad thing in the age of COVID. It's nice to know when you're entering a building with absolutely shit ventilation and breathing in a lot of other people's exhalations.

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RonPMexico t1_j1tq86v wrote

Surely you are not serious

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Maddwag5023 t1_j1vo6aq wrote

High CO2 levels in a room can make people nauseous and get headaches. Need ventilation as part of your hvac setup, especially in well-sealed rooms with lots of occupants.

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RonPMexico t1_j1vosg1 wrote

Yeah, if you have 5 of your best friends (or strangers) sealed in a closet for several hours, co2 concentration is a serious concern.

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Maddwag5023 t1_j1vr17u wrote

Yeah it’s all just a joke. That’s why there is ASHRAE standard 62, because indoor air quality is just a total joke.

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Sammy_GamG t1_j1spetx wrote

I think you mean CO. And the answer is GTFO and call the fire department

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SuperDizz t1_j1sdew4 wrote

Go outside IMMEDIATELY and call your gas company. They should send someone out asap.

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Medic1248 t1_j1vrbvb wrote

I don’t know if this changes in other countries or anything, but call 911 (emergency services) not your gas company.

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destrovel17 t1_j1wgtsc wrote

As an emergency first responder for the gas company I don’t believe there is ever a time that the fire department doesn’t call us out when someone calls them for CO. On the contrary, I am called out many times directly with people not calling 911. 95% of the time the fire department isn’t needed for the situation. If I need them to vent out the building with their gigantic fans, then I’ll call. CO detectors generally start alarming at around 35PPM CO. If the homeowner calls us immediately all I need to do is open a few windows to get a draft going and in 20 minutes the house is below 5PPM. I’d rather not tie up emergency services when they might be needed elsewhere. Just my take.

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Medic1248 t1_j1xni7v wrote

I’m sure you’re experienced and trained in the proper procedures and probably given the correct equipment to detect the build up of the gas and you’re trained to get out before you panic from symptoms. But that’s just risk mitigation. There’s still a chance. We had one gas company investigator die in the last like 30 years where I work. Way before me. The standard has ever since been that at the very minimum is the fire department being made aware of the response by the gas company. Even then maybe the Chief or the Squad will drive by with a detector quick and see if anything’s needed and then either call for more man power if needed or return to station and let the home owner wait for the company.

The guy died because he opened a door that he didn’t realize was a dumb waiter (that’s what they’re called, right?) to the 1st floor and he was on the 3rd. The chute was full of gas but the 3rd floor room wasn’t and things equalized and he went unconscious before he could make it back out. Had the fire department been just there outside and someone with an SCBA could’ve gotten it on him and then out? That would’ve been a near miss. Instead it was a change in protocol.

Remember, the fire department can go in service from the scene at any time once it’s deemed good. It’s one of their most common calls and they train to make it as safe as humanly possible so even if all they do is sit outside in the truck while you go in to shut off a line before going back to station, isn’t it nice to have help there already?

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TrawlerJoe t1_j1se5nr wrote

You mean a CO detector. Ironically, what you'll want to do is find some O (oxygen). Open windows, and/or go outside.

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Low_Procedure4968 t1_j1u5nh3 wrote

I am strangely attracted to this irony. Perhaps it is magnetic? Maybe it’s just a Fe ling?

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kunbish t1_j1se5l0 wrote

I dont talk about that. I have never ever talked about having a CO2 detector. Stop putting words in my mouth you coward

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kymilovechelle OP t1_j1vq4m9 wrote

This comment made me smile after a blizzardly lonely Xmas thank you.

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sandrews1313 t1_j1sig50 wrote

You mean the instructions you didn’t read and threw away was silent on the matter? Huh.

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230721 t1_j1t0fah wrote

If a CO2 alarm goes off, open windows and just let fresh air flow through the room.

However if it’s a CO alarm, leave the house immediately and call emergency services and explain that your carbon monoxide alarm is going off as carbon monoxide is a deadly colourless and odourless gas

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Odd-Gear9622 t1_j1usl3u wrote

Ummm, CO2 is also a deadly, colourless and odourless gas that fools your body into believing that you have enough oxygen and you stop breathing. But I'm pretty sure we're talking about CO here, so get to fresh air call 911 and follow the nice Firefighters directions.

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Medic1248 t1_j1vt4kz wrote

There needs to be something wrong with your body in order for CO2 to have that effect. It’s extremely good at buffering the carbon in your system, between respiratory drives and metabolic drives. You have to be exposed to such incredibly high levels for such a long time to overwhelm that system and even then, if you’re healthy, you just need fresh air and water. Your body will do the rest.

Usually a person with CO2 problems is someone with a problem of discharging it from the body. Respiratory or kidney failure type patients, certain types of cancers, muscular loss, or neurological injury patients. Hell, it’s more common for a lack of CO2 to be a deadly or life altering problem than it is too much because some long term respiratory patients become dependent on high CO2 levels in the body to breathe instead of being dependent on low O2 levels.

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Odd-Gear9622 t1_j1xkjqh wrote

I worked with many different gasses for over 30 years as fire suppression/extinguishment agents. When used at proper levels for extinguishment CO2 was considered the most dangerous, once exposed the autonomous systems can have deadly consequences. Granted, most people will never be in a position to be exposed to CO2 at high percentages. My intention was to point out that CO and CO2 are both deadly colourless, odourless gas and should be treated with caution.

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Medic1248 t1_j1xl21d wrote

Oh that’s because of a different reason then. We went over that in the military because of the in vehicle fire suppression systems and now to treat injuries from that. Yeah it’s really easy. You prevent them. You aren’t saving someone that gets a lung full of freshly deployed high pressured co2 for gas suppression. Shit. There’s rough ways to die, that’s near the top of my list. It still doesn’t kill you because of overwhelming the bodies natural ph buffers but that’s because doing that takes too long. You inhale a full blast of that stuff and your lungs die in seconds from the mass damage done by the expansion of the gas as well as the pressure change of it. It’s similar to a flash freeze. This becomes toxic to the brain as well and causes bubbles and aneurisms to form.

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Odd-Gear9622 t1_j1xr0b6 wrote

In a post discharge environment that hasn't been vented without SCBA, due to the displacement of O2 and high concentration of CO2 first responders have died from CO2 poisoning. I've literally been in thousands of discharges for concentration testing and they can be impressive.

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ChainSword20000 t1_j1sh0kc wrote

You mean a smoke detector aka fire alarm, or a carbon monoxide detector aka a broken fireplace/furnace/water heater alarm? For the former, have a fire evacuation plan, call 911, turn off the gas if you can, have a meet up point, emergency kit, and a nearby freinds house to go to. For the latter, just get outside reasonably quickly (not necessarily jump out window speed), and turn off the gas line if you can, and call the fire department to make sure its all OK in there, and then [edit] have a professional [/edit] fix whatever was releasing the CO. If you feel at all lightheaded on your way out, its time to start rushing.

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Medic1248 t1_j1vs19p wrote

You were good until you started telling people to fix things. Do not do that. Do not try to do that. Ever. Your detector might go off in your living room on the main floor and you’re like, I got this. Let me go shut off the furnace and I should be good. Down the basement stairs we go anddddd we’re dead. Why? CO settles and becomes super concentrated very quickly. There’s a reason that the fire department wears their SCBA when venting and investigating CO call outs. Especially when there’s symptoms.

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ChainSword20000 t1_j1vsf11 wrote

Make sure its safe to fix it first, and last I checked, you need a license to move and change gas lines from the city, even if you might not for gas being fed from a tank. You can use the outside valve to turn it off to help stop the broken appliance from producing more co, but you can't mess with the inside of the appliance, or the hoses to the appliance without a licence.

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ChainSword20000 t1_j1vsodd wrote

Also, I said call the fire department first to call the all clear - if it is accumulated enough to kill someone, they theoretically wouldn't give the all clear.

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Medic1248 t1_j1vw5zx wrote

Trust me, only reason I say to not think of fixing it is because people can be dumb under stress of emergencies. Look at grease fires and how many people burn down their kitchens because of it. A lot of those people see fire, panic, and do what they’ve been told their entire lives. Water makes fire go out. In this case, no. No it does not.

Off topic: when I typed that, the first thing that popped into my mind when i said “they do what they’ve been told to do their entire lives” was to stop, drop, and roll.

I can’t be the only one who realizes we were told and taught to stop, drop, and roll a whole lot for something that happens so rarely in our lives. I chock it up with other things I thought would be problems growing up, quick sand, piranhas, and the Bermuda Triangle.

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alexsaidno t1_j1uoyfc wrote

Ugh. You leave immediately and call the fire department. Is this not common knowledge? Lol

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slothxaxmatic t1_j1vjdpz wrote

Leave, call 911 if you think people have been in it for extended periods.. At a minimum call the local fire department non-emergency number and just tell them your monoxide monitor tripped.

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Medic1248 t1_j1vtvl2 wrote

You should just call 911. This is one of those things that is just better to make a big deal of and let them tell you that you were wrong. You could walk around the house thinking, nothings wrong, the co alarm is faulty. When I’m actuality it’s building up along the floor and slowly climbing.

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slothxaxmatic t1_j1vu9dg wrote

I'll agree to that. Seems like there was a stigma when I was growing up at calling 911 at the "wrong time" and that it was serious to do so. It's definitely medically relevant here, though.

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Medic1248 t1_j1vva9c wrote

There’s nothing wrong with calling 911 if you think you have an emergency. It’s better to be safer than sorry.

I’m a paramedic on a 911 truck in a small city in the Northeast of PA. We frequently get calls for things that make no sense or things that make you wonder why someone would call 911 for that. I actually had someone call 911 because the tip of their finger was throbbing. Of course if you have an exhausting and busy shift and then finally get to relax for a minute and have it interrupted by a 40 something year old complaining of pain in his finger, you’re gonna do some screaming and cursing at the ceiling as you respond, but you’re gonna go. You always will. This time I got there and walked in the door and the guy was drenched in sweat and ghostly white. Holds up his left hand and points to the tip of his ring finger. Says this hurts so bad I can’t breathe. Guy looked like death, so I asked “does anything else hurt?” Guy was like, not really. It’s just the finger. It’s like a bad tooth, the finger tip hurts so bad it’s like a lightning bolt up my arm and into my arm pit. That then shoots across my chest and around my back. But it starts in my finger so I dunno.

Guy was having a massive heart attack and called 911 saying his finger tip hurt to touch.

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slothxaxmatic t1_j1vvhia wrote

Oh right, I get it. It's just an old habit I'm still breaking is all.

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Medic1248 t1_j1vxe0q wrote

Totally understand it, just saying not to worry. There’s plenty of people who seriously abuse the 911 system. I’m talking calling 911 because the remote to the TV fell off the bed and they can’t find it without getting up. If you’re not on a first name basis with the local 911 crews, then you’re not abusing the 911 system.

Also, as sad as it is, there is nothing that can really be done about 911 abuse. Yeah, it’s illegal and there’s well written laws that make it enforceable and punishable, but good luck finding someone who’s gonna have the balls to do it. Who’s going to arrest the crazy lady who keeps calling 911 because she overheard the ants in the wall plotting to resurrect Hitler and take over the world? The person who does that is gonna be the person who gets sued the next time that lady calls because she feels the ants crawling in her chest and it gets filtered to the police to investigate and they show up at the house and find her dead from a heart attack. As a result, they’d rather just continuously send us to investigate and send a cop along with us to check it out later.

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AP_Feeder t1_j1v853s wrote

When I was a freshman in high school, my mom accidentally left the car running in the garage all night. The alarm didn’t wake my mom up but luckily I was still awake so I heard it. I had to go to the hospital for a while to get some oxygen.

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TakeMeBaby_orLeaveMe t1_j1vuap7 wrote

My life safety plan has been:

Fire Alarm - Your space is no longer safe, leave as swift and safe as you can

CO2 Alarm - Your space is no longer safe, leave as swift and safe as you can

Bugler/ Intruder Alarm - Your space is no longer safe, leave as swift and safe as you can (because you don’t have a panic room or fire power)

Doorbell/Knocks from solicitors/strangers - Your space is no longer safe to leave, try to establish panic room

Visits from family and friends you wish were strangers- Your space is no longer safe, go into panic room if possible and if they are staying over leave as swift and safe as you can

Phone calls - Your number is no longer safe. Not much you can do here but start over and make all calls from a google voice or blocked number.

Roaches - Your home is no longer yours. That’s their home and their things now, leave as swift and safe as you can

I feel prepared for anything pretty much

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Showerthoughts_Mod t1_j1sd1y1 wrote

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Rule-breaking posts may result in bans.

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BlueBox_42 t1_j1vv3as wrote

CO will slowly suffocate you if the concentration is too high so you need to go somewhere you will get fresh air.

So when it beeps, get out. Keep the doors open, too. If that's not an option, stick your heard out of a window and stay there. Call 112, 999, 911 or whatever number is relevant to you, depending on where you're from.

They will try to locate the problem and air out your entire house in the process.

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Jealous-Jury6438 t1_j1w0e7y wrote

Like just open all the windows? Our place often gets over 2000 ppm overnight due to our house being a bit airtight but open the windows and it drops to 400ppm in like 60 seconds with a breeze coming through

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KillerNinja86678 t1_j1xx2nz wrote

Campers most of the time will have co2 detectors. Grandparents had one in theirs

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AGOODNAME000 t1_j1spshk wrote

Funny thing about those CO2 detectors. Most people Mount them right up there with the smoke detector. CO2 is heavier than air, if it gets all the way up to where the smoke detector is you're going to be dead. If it does go off just turn on a fan or open up a door. Then look for why it's going on

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Tiny_Employee8253 t1_j1t8i5n wrote

Cuz it's not for CO2. It's for CO. That's less dense than O2. Methane, CH4, also floats, but they add an extra gas in your natural gas so it smells like rotten eggs. It's probably mercaptan, H2S or ,SO2, which is more dense.

Also meaning, if you smell rotten eggs, you have a gas leak and the air in your house is potentially explosive. Get out and call the emergency crews. It's either natural gas or sewage gas.

Also, if it smells like fish, it could be propane or butane if you have tanks of those around. Some RVs use propane as a coolant instead of Freon.

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Cindexxx t1_j1vkeez wrote

Apparently a fishy smell can also be an electrical problem. I've never had it happen to me but it comes up on Reddit sometimes.

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Medic1248 t1_j1vu53j wrote

CO is almost identical to air so it entirely depends on the source. It will eventually evenly disperse but if it’s coming from a leak in the floor or a leak in the basement, it will build up along the floor and slowly dissipate into the air around

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