Posted on Wed, Mar. 01, 2006
Don't count on cat to be your carbon monoxide detector
SINGLE FEMALE HOMEOWNER
When you're awakened by a noise in the night or a nagging suspicion something is awry in the house, you've got to take it seriously if you're a single homeowner. There's no one to nudge and say, "Hey, what do you think that was?"
Things that go bump in the night are usually caused by the cat or neighbors getting home late, but once the thought burrows into your head, you might as well get up and check it out, because you're not going to get back to sleep, anyway.
No matter how warm and comfy and tired and confident you are that you closed the glass doors on the fireplace.
And when you've made the umpteeth trip downstairs on one of those nights and found everything in order, you've also got to learn how to laugh at yourself.
It was 3 a.m., and I felt a little dizzy as I made a trip to the bathroom. I suspected I was coming down with the cold that was leapfrogging the office, but all I could think of was carbon monoxide poisoning. There would be no quick return to Dreamland.
Went to furnace room in basement to check alarm on CO detector. Loud and obnoxious as ever.
Checked cat. (My canary in the coalmine.) Awfully limp and groggy. But cats are always awfully limp and groggy.
Moved CO detector to dining room so I'd be able to hear it better.
Checked cat again. By this time, he was awake, too. Left cat looking out window in the den.
Went back to bed.
Still worried, opened bedroom window.
Checked cat. Couldn't find cat. Searched through house.
Cat on kitchen counter. Not allowed. Cat is never there. There's nothing he even likes to eat there. Something must surely be wrong.
Checked CO detector again. Shrill beep frightens cat off of kitchen counter.
Nothing more to do here. Return to bed.
Thinking. Thinking. Thinking. Shivering with open window.
Back to sleep just in time for alarm clock to go off.
If you couldn't laugh at yourself monitoring the cat, you'd be in a sorry state.
But (now we turn to the serious portion of the column, which involves an interview with — for the first time in an SFH column — an actual scientist) if you didn't take carbon monoxide seriously, you'd be in a far sorrier state.
If you're sleeping, and there's an acute carbon monoxide leak, you probably won't have to worry about fussing over the cat, says Kathy Norlien, a research scientist with the Minnesota Department of Health. You'll both be gone.
But a carbon monoxide situation is rarely a quick hit. Problems usually build up over time, so you can watch for warning signs: headache, dizziness, nausea, weakness, sleepiness, loss of consciousness.
"Everyone should have a battery-powered carbon monoxide detector outside their bedroom," Norlien says. Carbon monoxide detectors need to be changed periodically, she adds, because the sensors can wear out.
There are detectors that plug into an outlet, but battery-powered units keep you on the alert even when the power goes out.
And when the power goes out, some people turn to gas generators or other internal combustion engines in an enclosed space, Norlien says. Bad idea — even in a garage or outside near a window. Carbon monoxide can be sucked into a house.
This goes for warming up a vehicle in an attached garage, too, Norlien says, even if the garage door is open.
"When there are power outages, people do stupid things," Norlien says.
Furnaces, gas water heaters and gas stoves can also cause carbon monoxide problems. Have appliances checked once a year, Norlien advises.
And take precautions in fish houses, trailers and other places using appliances.
For more info, check the Minnesota Department of Health Web page regarding carbon monoxide in your home: www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/indoorair/co/index.html. And you'll find a more technical report on carbon monoxide poisoning printed in the Morbidity Mortality Weekly Report, a publication from the Centers for Disease Control, found at: www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5402a2.htm.
Contact Single Female Homeowner at sfh@pioneerpress.com. Her column appears every other week in the Pioneer Press. You can read previous columns online at www.twincities.com. |
