How we almost died from Carbon Monoxide poisoining.

About fourteen years ago my wife and I lived in a two story condominium with my son Michael (7 years old) and my daughter Alexandra (5 years old), Danielle wasn’t born yet, our family almost perished.
Back then CO detector technology was in its infancy. Most units were big and bulky and not so reliable. I decided to take a CO detector home with me to see if the technology was stable. Our second floor consisted of two bedrooms and in the main hallway was the laundry room. I plugged the unit into the laundry room outlet and allowed for the one hour setup time (no longer necessary).
Two hours later the unit went off. I’m thinking what a piece of crap. So I unplugged the unit and decided that Garden State Fire & Security was not going to start installing these devices until they were reliable. That weekend I was lying on the couch (yes I do a lot of that) and I started to feel what is best described as car sick. I thought that was very unusual? Anyway, I just blew it off thinking maybe it had something to do with a late Saturday night.
I went into work on Monday and told my installation manager about the CO detector and how it falsed. I told him were not going to install these units until they are stable. He asked what happened and suggested I bring the unit into the office and plug it in. Low and behold the unit never went off the whole entire day! We brought the unit back to the house and sure enough it went off again. We called the gas company immediately and they determined there was carbon monoxide leaking from our water heater in a small closet off our master bedroom. We scooped up the kids and got out of the house. We brought them to Riverview Hospital to have them tested for carbon monoxide poisoning and had the plumber come and fix the leak.
Needless to say this story could have ended tragically. No doubt this detector saved our lives! Today’s home security systems can handle the monitoring of carbon monoxide or you can pick up standalone units at your local hardware store. Either way, they should be on each level of your house and within 10’ of any bedroom doorway. CO is an odorless killer and every household should be protected.