I love a fireplace
THIS REALLY ISN'T NEW - I JUST NOTICED IT WAS NEVER PUBLISHED AND IT WAS FROM JANUARY 28TH. JUST A LITTLE DRAMA IN THE LIFE OF BILL AND ANN!!!
I've been enjoying our fireplace. I've had one complaint though. It seems like if it wasn't on "high" I could smell gas. I was told once that if you can smell gas when there is a fire everything is fine. The danger lies in a leak without odor. It's been quite cold, so I've lit the fireplace, turned the flame down and just let it go.
Friday afternoon our neighbor knocked on the door. He said he'd called the gas company because when he walked in their front door the odor of natural gas was so strong. They hadn't been burning their fireplace so he was real concerned. Of course our fireplace was burning, although the flame was low. When the technician came in to check our fireplace he discovered there was no leak - however, the carbon monoxide reading was 7 ppm - 8 pm......I guess that's high because he said that if it had been much higher we could go to sleep and not wake up.
Now, Bill had to go to the doctor Friday morning because of an ingrown toenail. When he came home he went to sleep in his LazyBoy in the living room and really slept ALL day. He was awake when the technician was there, but real groggy. I was thrilled (NOT REALLY) with the thought that I may have killed my husband because the fire logs are made so that they are not safe unless the flame is high.
Yesterday I went to the office to discuss my problem. I was thanked because as the leasing specialist said, they hadn't been educated at all about the fireplaces. The only education they'd received was about lighting the fireplace - that's it. I've got to admit, I didn't know there was a difference in logs (if the natural gas technician knows his stuff). I imagine there will be some sort of letter sent to the residents now about this danger, or they will check our fireplace to see why we had such a high carbon monoxide reading - why was there no ventilation?? And so, the fireplace I love is going to be a decoration now. When the fireplace is on high we can't breath, and if the flame is adjusted low - well, we might not breath permanently!!!
Now, if this is the biggest problem I have to face in 2007, life will be good.
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