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Showing posts from January 18, 2009

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 oout 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 (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 heating eff...
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Last week I had a special treat. I had dinner out at the Speedville General Store. They make subs and pizza and have a very large selection of smokless tobacco and lotto. They sell gas, beer and video rentals. I am not sure exactly why I feel it is such a treat, but the isolation of the place makes me feel secure. It is a place that is basically unknown and I feel as though I could hide there and no one could find me. It is especially true in the middle of a long January freeze like now. Everyone is locked down for weeks with the cold, ice and inhospitableness. It is remarkablly close to my house and Ithaca as well as being off the beaten path. You might as well be in northern Quebec or an island somewhere. I ordered a tuna sub and the shopkeeper came by me sitting at the formica booth seating, grabed some tuna cans off the grocery shelf and got me dinner. The big reason Speedville is so secluded is that there are no state routes involved. That and it is not on the way to anywhere un...
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