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Showing posts from August 17, 2008

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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Wow. What a summer. It has been surprisingly wet as far as summers go. The lawn keeps growing green. The hay has been tough to get in because of the lack of consecutive drying days. This is the time of year when some of my friends are getting ready to head back to Antarctica. I will be with some of them as some sort of spiritual stowaway. There are always stories from the ice. I feel connected still. I was reflecting how peaceful it is on the ice with a friend. He agreed. It is a great escape from reality. That is why he goes back every year. I went to a party last weekend up in Canadaigua, It was good. I made some solar energy contacts. I have almost all the components for my domestic hot water system. I know that one ad in the paper and I would be instantly booked and committed for installs. It is all about planning. Just like flying. My mentor and I finally made it on the circuit from Greene, Cortland, Norwich, Sidney, Greene (4N7-N03-OIC-N23-4N7). My flight planning went prett...