EDF & a Fire

[John Borg]

Paolo (and everyone else for that matter!) Carbon Monoxide poisoning can occur, albeit rarely, due to faulty boilers, fuel burning (not electrical) heaters, water heaters etc. This can also happen if some idiot (sorry if any of you were one of them ) decides to light a barbeque indoors! This happens due to the combustion flame burning up all of the oxygen in the air and creating a high concentration of Carbon Monoxide instead. If a room is well ventilated, this cannot happen, so ensure all ventilators are open and clear of debris, birds nests (yes, they cause a blockage of free passage of air) etc.
You will not realise the presence of Carbon Monoxide, but the people who you leave behind (God forbid) will!
Gas fueled water heaters are the biggest threat, due to them being installed in small bathrooms and the fact that persons in a hot bath will feel relaxed, thus not aware of the imminent danger. The brain damge caused by CO poisoning is permanent.
Sorry to bore you all, but better safe than sorry.

[A-two]

I think the law Joanna is referring to is called Nicole's Law and it became effective on the 1st November of this year. Nicole Garofalo was a 7 year-old who died of carbon monoxide poisoning, in her own home.

Alan

Alan,
Close, but no, I'm not referring to Nicole's Law. She lived in Boston, which is MA (Massachusetts). New York State law was enacted a year ago in November 2004. How sad. I'm not sure if or how the law differs from State to State, or even if all States have enacted anything at all, you would need to check locally for specifics.

P.S: There is an argument going on here about whether wood burning fireplaces can also be a problem. It's mentioned in the advisories, but I'm being told that wood emits carbon dioxide, not monoxide. I'm also being told that the manufacturers routinely advise more are needed than strictly necessary because obviously they have a vested interest in selling them (which is not to say that they aren't necessary at all). So, I guess the answer is "know your source".

[Christine Kenyon]

Thank god, you and your family are Ok, Tansy. What an awful experience - and a good lesson for us all.

We've just taken over a B&B and have an integral smoke/heat alarm system and fire doors fitted. A lot of expense but it does give you some peace of mind.

With our cottages, we have also asked the local fire service to come and look round and advice on fire safety measures. Not sure how it works in France, but in the UK there should be a Local Community Officer (or some other fancy title). I've posted a thread on this in the UK section if it helps.

Good luck with the cleaning up. It will make this Saturday's change over seem a doddle!

[enid]

Tansy - sorry to copme into this so late - we have been away for 2 weeks. I thought I had missed you posting before we went away - so sorry to her that you have been poorly and also about the fire - very scary - thanks for the case study which we will be acting on. Good luck with the clearing up.

[A-two]

Somebody stole our fire extinguisher! Can you believe it? After hearing Tansy's story about the extinguisher that didn't work, Dennis bought a second A/B/C for the rental, but it turns out the other one isn't even there anymore, and we hadn't even noticed. Gees...

He bought a refillable one too so now we can save money on the second fire...

[lehcar]

Tansy - so sorry to hear about your fire, but glad no one was hurt!
This is something we had not really thought about with our new rental. But this weekend we bought smoke alarms and a fire extinguisher.
We always had them at home and even in our VW campervan but had not given it a thought for our rental in Greece!!
This has certainly brought it home to us.

Take care
Rachel

[alexia s.]

Joanna,
Can I believe it? I can probably believe everything now but this is still amazing.
Maybe they took it by mistake. Somebody took our cutlery by mistake one year. They posted it back. We think that they must have taken it in the car for a picnic & forgotten it. Maybe your people thought that it would be safer to travel locally with the fire extinguisher & then just forgot it........ I know, clutching at straws.

[Christine Kenyon]

Well, I reckon Joanna has started a new thread -

What's the most bizarre thing that anyone has ever taken from your holiday home?

Answers on a postcard to LMH

[Giddy Goat]

..I haven't missed anything yet, but could we stretch this new thread to include the most bizarre/horrible item anyone has left behind too? In our case, so far, it's a salad spinner, returned to its cupboard, complete with its contents of decomposing salad leaves sitting in a puddle of brown liquid!

I found it, luckily, as I don't think our caretakers would have been able to in the time. We were there for a few days, filling in an odd gap between lets, and just as well too, as we knew that the next guests were very particular!

Why didn't I eat it? As I said in another thread, a goat has her pride.