To feel a bit of idiot because I didnt know this?

[OhDoAdmitMrsDeVere]

I was listening to R4 last week and there was a peice on Carbon Monoxide poisoning.
A bereaved mother bravely shared her terrible story of losing her young son.

I knew Carbon Monoxide is leathal, I knew that you should check your boiler and I DO have an alarm.

What struck me about this story was that her poor boy wasnt killed by fumes from her boiler but by her neighbour's faulty boiler.

The fumes had seeped through the brickwork and killed her son.

I am pretty safety conscious. I have lost a child and unfortunately know many other bereaved parents. I have lost 'it wont happen to us' forever.
But it had not crossed my mind that this could happen.

How many of us live next to dodgy rented properties, people who dont bother to get their appliances checked and/or dont have alarms? I live next to a house that is rented to tenants and the owners live in a 'shed' in the garden. They dont look after the main house and their boiler is on the other side of mine.

I know this is a bit of a dodgy AIBU but I was really really struck by this woman's story and I thought it might be worth sharing.

Please get an alarm. They are quite cheap and I got mine from Lloyds Chemist when they were doing a special offer.

In fact I now feel slightly paranoid about dd's persistent cold.....

Right so to be clear.

DODGY RENTAL means DODGY RENTAL

Like the ones described on this thread by many, like the ones I have been forced to live in over the years and like the one I live next door to now.

If I meant rented properties I would have said 'rented properties' and not dodgy rentals.

OK?

I heard this programme as well, and I went cold when the mother said the gas came from the next door house. It seemed to make her loss even worse.

I had no idea it could seep through bricks etc.

I really didn't read it like that, Mary, but you sound very offended. A rental to me is a hire car- the car not the driver. I don't believe the op meant any offense. I can't afford to buy at nearly 40. I agree with you I'm not feckless (I have feck!) But I didn't think the comment meant that we were lazy and irresponsible.

MARY - 'rentals' means the HOUSE. Had she said RENTERS, which she didn't, she would still only have meant the dodgy ones, not sensible nice ones.

You are derailing important information.

I also rent. I'm struggling to find mrsdv's comments offensive.

Oh, then perhaps I misunderstood. Maybe dodgy occupiers might be more appropriate then as you can own a property and still be 'dodgy'

As a foster carer, I have to have a gas certificate and a CO alarm.

We got the Fireangel CO alarm, it's very good, and very loud! Just had the boiler checked last week, and that's fine too.

I'm confused. Back to the fact that we should all be vigilant and have meters/ alarms

AwkwardMary- you are derailing the thread. The OP has already said dodgy rentals, if yours isn't dodgy it doesn't relate to you. Trust me, the OP does not have 'a bad attitude to people with a lower income in general'. Chub is also correct - it's the dodgy landlords not renters that are the problem anyway. You are taking something out of context and making a mountain out of a molehill, would you please stop.

MrsDV - thank you for sharing. I only have electric so don't have one, but I will definitely get one now, better safe than sorry!!

Puds - that's really really scary!! I am so glad you are all alive and getting better.

Sigh
Please check the OP. It lists a whole load of reasons inc 'people who cant be bothered to get their appliances checked'

I make no mention of their income either.

I know someone who has been left permanently disabled with major neurological issues following CO poisoning - she was on holiday which included a few days on a small boat. Which had a defective engine vent.

You can get card sized CO monitors, easily small enough to take on holiday anywhere

I'm reading this whole thread thinking oo I should get one...then someone posts and I realise I don't have gas in my property either!
Duh

But when I move (into a gas house) I will buy one. Thanks

It's not just gas. Any boiler burning a fossil fuel, an open fire, a wood burner can produce co.

But barebums it isn't about YOUR gas it is about your neighbour's or undetected sources. that's the whole point of the thread! GET ONE! (Not shouting)

I have none of those, all electric. I hate it but I guess it is safer.

Nieghbours are all electric too

i remember seeing a horrific story on this morning a while ago where a nan, found an entire family all dead in the house inc a small boy, absolutely heartbreaking! i only have the one on the landing but after hearing Dprince i think il be getting another one tomorrow!

This thread has reminded me I want to get one of these, thank you OP.

I live in Council housing, sort of, it's privately owned, yet I have it through the council.

Anyway, I moved in last July, there were smoke alarms everywhere, and within the month, they all started beeping.
I know this is bad, but I took the batteries out.
I was offered a service for the Fire Brigade to come round and assess my home.

They did, and not only were the previous smoke alarms unsafe, there was no carbon monoxide detector.
I had all fitted free of charge, and my whole home assessed.

I heard that poor mother on the radio this week. Absolutely heartbreaking. I have a monitor and I know that our boiler and our neighbour's boiler are on adjoining walls so if anything did seep through our walls our monitor would pick it up.

I think having a boiler regularly maintained isn't enough to not also have a monitor. I have my boiler serviced every year by a very well known company that provides a service contract. I was talking to someone this week who had to call out the National Grid because they'd had the boiler serviced and the engineer (from the same well known company) had left it leaking gas.

I had a free fire check a few months back.
You can fill in a form online and they come round really quickly and whip up posh smoke alarms that dont need batteries. They dont need screws, the stick up on those pad things.

We already had a Co alarm so they didnt give us one.

I think the criteria is pretty wide to get a visit. I had just had some fire training at work and it scared the crap out of me. OH is disabled and quite slow moving and we have three DCs at home so I wanted to make sure we had a plan to get out.

I started this thread because I was shocked that I didnt know about the seepage risk. I reckoned I wouldnt be the only one. Seems I was right. Crazy isnt it?

Thanks goodness that mum was brave enough to share her story.

I knew this - scary!

You can test the alarms using a cigarette or an incense stick (about 25p from hippy type shops, or at least they used to be), or (I think) a recently blown out candle. None of these produce enough carbon monoxide to cause harm (well, built up harm of course is likely e.g. with cigarettes) but will cause enough to trigger the alarm if held close to it. This is in the instructions on mine, a cheap battery operated one from Tesco.

There are test buttons on them too but this is one to do every few months as well as the regular check.

I'm pretty sure DP was being slowly CO poisoned by a dodgy gas heater in his room at his parents' house, too, because as it ran out he was getting headaches, nausea and tiredness. So of course he slept, in the room with the heater on because they don't have central heating and it was freezing.

I worry about this but he insists they won't accept any alarms and would be offended.

How about "Dodgy rentals and lax homeowners" ?