Carbon Monoxide!?

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Weird. The smoke alarm went off, not incredibly odd when I am using the fireplace, but it wasn't the smoke detector. It was the CO alarm. I was totally surprised. It had never gone off as long as I have had one, over many many years. Yep, after resetting it a few times. It was getting a reading over 200 ppm CO. When I took it downstairs I got a reading near 300 ppm. I started getting light headed at this point. After thinking maybe the furnace heat exchanger failed and puzzling around a bit I figured out what happened. As part of the huge winter storm that recently covered almost half of the US, we lost our electricity. So, being well prepared, I rolled out the generator and started doing what I normally do. The generator (although it was completely outside) was creating CO to get in the house. Using the fireplace draft (and possibly other leaks) the whole house created a vacuum around the seal of the basement garage door. After the CO got into the house the forced air heat...
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I am home. I have a lot of catching up to do. The dark at night is nice.

I was asked what the sounds of Antarctica are like. In McMurdo there is always noices of machinery. The helos warming up and taking off (right next to our shop), The power plant generators, although equipped with large mufflers drone on 24/7. You are also hear diesels 24 hours a day and back up alarmas as materials, snow, or earth get moved around. The wind is continuous. The wind noise is almost aways cutting through the other noices. Out in the field noise is totally different. It is so quiet. It is so incrediblely quiet. You can year a helicopter 30 or 40 miles away. On the polar plateu the sound carries fairly well. The ice is just like dense strofoam. It squeaks like styrofoam and sounds bounce of it (and transmits vibrations) just like stryofoam.

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Carbon Monoxide!?

-
Image
Weird. The smoke alarm went off, not incredibly odd when I am using the fireplace, but it wasn't the smoke detector. It was the CO alarm. I was totally surprised. It had never gone off as long as I have had one, over many many years. Yep, after resetting it a few times. It was getting a reading over 200 ppm CO. When I took it downstairs I got a reading near 300 ppm. I started getting light headed at this point. After thinking maybe the furnace heat exchanger failed and puzzling around a bit I figured out what happened. As part of the huge winter storm that recently covered almost half of the US, we lost our electricity. So, being well prepared, I rolled out the generator and started doing what I normally do. The generator (although it was completely outside) was creating CO to get in the house. Using the fireplace draft (and possibly other leaks) the whole house created a vacuum around the seal of the basement garage door. After the CO got into the house the forced air heat...
Read more
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