Carbon Monoxide Detector went crazy this morning?

carbon monoxide detector reads 7 image

Mynameis

I have a new Kidde NightHawke Carbon Monoxide detector. We got it about a month ago and it has worked just fine. I live in Ohio and we are in the midst of a winter storm so we have had 5-7 inches of snow and the temp is around 5 right now. This morning as I was leaving I glanced at the CM detector as I always do and it was rising from 30 to 33 to 36. Now normally it sits at zero. I woke my husband and let him know as I left and called our furnace tech. It never went higher than 36 and eventually went back down to 0. We have gas heat, water tank is gas. Nothing else is gas in the house. We were running an a small electrical heater in the laundry room to keep the pipes from freezing, could that have caused this? What else would cause this?
The reason this concerns me so much is we have a 19 month old.

Answer
That is Dangerous.

I would keep an eye on it. If the detector is near a furnace vent I would check the detector when the furnace first comes on. Sometimes with a cracked heat exchanger it will build up some CO when heating before the blower fan comes on. That will give a rise on the reading at the start and then it goes back down as the air mixes in the house.

If you get more readings on the detector, you definitely need the furnace and water heater checked.

rollout switch on furnace won't reset?

A D

i've had lots of problems with my furnace in the past two months. I've had 7 technician visits. Number six, after being here for the third time, told me it was my heat exchanger before he even got the furnace open. Of course the heat exchanger is not covered under the insurance plan. $600 fix. He said the rings in the bottom of the furnace mean its the heat exchanger, the thing is, the heat exchanger was already replaced once, and the rings were not removed at that time. This same chap on visit number five said it was the gas valve, and replaced that. After he left, the furnace quit within 15 minutes. We went down to the furnace to find a hose off that he hadn't connected going from the valve to the burner box. We hooked up the hose, and the furnace worked fine for approximately three weeks. Then the roll out switch started tripping. For two days, every 45 minutes we had to reset the rollout switch. On the second night, we turned the furnace down three degrees to go to bed, and it worked fine all night long. When we turned it back up the next day the rollout switch was tripping every 20 minutes. That's when the technician came, and i described the problem to him, and he took everything out of the furnace, with the exception of the heat exchanger, and told me its the heat exchanger, based on these rings. Suffice it to say, i didn't believe him, and wanted a second opinion. The tech put the furnace back together, and left. I turned the unit back on, and low and behold it worked fine for three days. Then this rollout switch problem starts again, but this time, i can't reset it. It won't reset at all. I've cut the power to it but nothing works. I have another tech come out here, and he opens it up, and gets the rollout switch working, but doesn't replace it, looks over the furnace and says he doesn't think its the heat exchanger, that it looks fine. Proceeds to tell me that he's going to call the first guy, comes back 10 minutes later, and says now he thinks its the heat exchanger. However, he takes his carbon monoxide detector with an 18" probe and sticks it in the furnace, with the furnace running, about six inches above the heat exchanger, and the tester comes out with a 0 ppm reading. He then says he has to check the vent outside. He comes back in, with the alarm bells ringing on the tester, and lights going and tells me its off the charts, and that he could smell it when he went out there, so its definately the heat exchanger. Well here's my problems: 1. you can't smell carbon monoxide, 2. how come it wasn't the heat exchanger before he gets on the phone, and now its the heat exchanger 3. how come you can get a 0 ppm reading six inches from the heat exchanger, but an off the chart reading of 900+ ppm on the vent outside (besides the fact that isn't this where its supposed to be venting - outside). The company has now condemned my furnace and notified the utility that the furnace is condemned. I still don't believe that its the heat exchanger, but more likely that they are covering each other's butts. Problem is, they didn't replace the manual rollout switch, and i don't have the jumper thing he used to reset it, so even though i turned the furnace back on when he left, and it was working fine for half an hour, the rollout switch eventually went out, and won't reset. And because they have notified the utility, I am now forced into either replacing the heat exchanger $600 or get a new furnace $2000+. Not sure exactly what i'm looking for, but does anyone have any suggestions?

Answer
I would have this company remove the heat exchanger and visually prove to me that it is cracked. If it has been replaced once already then it may be a different problem causing this. You are right by saying the meter should have a high reading in your vent pipe. The furnace may just need servicing and cleaned properly. If they show you a definite crack or hole in your heat exchanger then it is true. If they cant prove it then it probably isnt there. Your roll out shouldnt be by-passed for your safety

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