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Covid

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Original poster

Check your smoke alarms

30 replies

oystercatcher5 · 09/12/2021 20:23

I have covid and have lost smell and taste.

Left the grill on after my lunch today and who knows where I'd be if the smoke detectors hadn't gone off. Smelt literally nothing and the kitchen was pretty smoky.

No harm done but seriously, check your smoke alarms.

OP posts:
PerkingFaintly · 09/12/2021 20:26

Oh heavens! Good call. There must be so many people this affects.

And good catch for yourself! Very glad to hear you're safe.

icedancerlenny · 09/12/2021 20:31

I had similar - my smoke alarm went off when I had covid but I didn’t know why (I still don’t). Makes you feel vulnerable.

You also can’t tell if food is off.

fakereview · 09/12/2021 21:09

Yes my son said one of his housemates at uni lost his sense of smell with covid (a year ago!) and had to get the others in the house to check his milk for him.

Good public service announcement OP!

PerkingFaintly · 09/12/2021 21:09

Bumping this.

HotPenguin · 09/12/2021 21:12

Wow, I wondered why this was under coronavirus. We rely on smell more than we realise.

madroid · 09/12/2021 21:13

What kind of smoke detector doesn't have a loud alarm?

Mine goes off at 150dcb which is why I've removed the batteries

Original poster
oystercatcher5 · 09/12/2021 23:27

Kind of my point @madroid - put your batteries back in

OP posts:
JingleJangler · 09/12/2021 23:37

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

PerkingFaintly · 10/12/2021 11:48

Well it's nice of the nasty poster to bump the thread.Grin

OompaLumpaLabrador · 10/12/2021 12:11

Absolutely. I burned several dishes during my week with no smell or taste. Luckily our smoke alarms are wired to the mains and can be heard in Istanbul.

Candyflosscrochet · 10/12/2021 12:18

My brother in-law has lost his sense of taste and smell and was doing some building work for us and accidently caught the gas pipe....luckily my sister was in the same room and smelt it so we were alerted and shut off the mains/called the engineer/got it fixed.
It's dangerous!

PerkingFaintly · 10/12/2021 13:45

madroid, if yours keeps going off wrongly, might it sited poorly, eg smoke-detector in steamy kitchen?

You can get a heat-detecting alarm for the kitchen for just this reason.

Frymetothemoon · 10/12/2021 13:51

Happened to a friend too. Pan had actually caught fire before she noticed. Gave herself an almighty fright!

PerkingFaintly · 10/12/2021 22:27

Evening bump.

megletthesecond · 10/12/2021 22:28

Put the batteries back in your smoke alarm.
My kitchen / diner alarm has a hush button for when I burn the toast.

PerkingFaintly · 11/12/2021 10:26

Bumpity bump.

PerkingFaintly · 11/12/2021 17:55

Have a little bump.

PerkingFaintly · 12/12/2021 23:40

Bump.

PerkingFaintly · 21/12/2021 16:16

Could do with another bump.

PerkingFaintly · 22/12/2021 11:08

Morning bump.

JellyYuck · 22/12/2021 11:09

Bumping.

MissCruellaDeVil · 22/12/2021 11:16

Even without covid we should be checking out smoke alarms. A family near me died last year as the house went up in flames in their sleep, there was no smoke alarms so they didn't wake up. Awful.

PerkingFaintly · 22/12/2021 19:27

Oh how dreadful, MissCruellaDeVil.

NearlyAlwaysInsane · 22/12/2021 19:35

@MissCruellaDeVil

Even without covid we should be checking out smoke alarms. A family near me died last year as the house went up in flames in their sleep, there was no smoke alarms so they didn't wake up. Awful.
Likewise for us last year. Three kids and the parents died. A candle left burning downstairs.
Maverickess · 22/12/2021 19:45

We don't realise how much we rely on smell until we lose it do we?
I had a few 'well done' meals as I was recovering from covid (which wasn't a problem as I couldn't taste them anyway 🤣), luckily didn't set anything on fire and I check my smoke alarms regularly and the LL yearly.
It affected me at work too and it did take a good 2/3 months to get back to usual, some smells I couldn't smell at all until recently, though others I could.
Good call though OP, it's not something I thought of until it happened.