Sunday morning I came home after a long night of mending people from their stabbing and gunshot wounds (not really-I mostly do paperwork in the big traumas- next year I get to do more of the fun stuff). I was excited to clean up and take a quick nap before exercising and watching my Colts play (yes, they are my Colts. I even have temporary tatoos with their logo on them- thanks mom). As soon as I entered the house I heard this annoying chirp every 20-30 seconds. I assumed my fire alarm battery was dead which annoyed me because I just replaced it a few months ago and it was supposed to keep working like the energizer bunny. After pulling my battery out the noise didn't stop. Eventually I traced the source to a carbon monoxide detector in my house. This concerned me and it told me to move the alarm to an area with higher air flow which I did to no avail. Since I am compulsive I have a second alarm which I checked. It told me (or I thought it was saying) that my carbon monoxide level was between 254-256. If you know anything about this (which I didn't beforehand) this is a very high level.
At this point I was wandering around my house trying to figure out what to do. I was laughing and pondering how I get into such predicaments. I figured I had a little time to investigate so I booted up my computer to figure out if 256 was high, called the gas company, called the alarm company and everyone told me to call the fire department. I thought this was a little much but I really had no other option. They instructed me to wait outside and within 2 minutes I heard the sirens. It was a ridiculous scene with lights and sirens and 4 men on their large truck to bring a little handheld machine into my house and get an accurate reading. I must have apologized 10 times for the nuisance although I pointed out that I was considerate enough to do this before Colt's kickoff.
In the end they deemed my house safe to live in, taught me how to use my alarms (I'm a doctor not an engineer or computer science wizard), marveled at my beautiful road bike and trainer, tracked snow in my house, and suggested I get the furnace fixer man out to the house since the level is a little elevated beyond what could be excused by car exhaust and other randomness. Seriously, those alarms make no sense. I tried to read the manual before calling them to make sure I wasn't mistaken, but it is in a secret code. They laughed when they saw my manual and said it would have been ironic had I been found passed out on my couch with the manual in my hand.
All in all I now know all about carbon monoxide and am glad I have 2 alarms. I am comforted in the prompt response from the fire department which is 2 blocks from my house. If you don't have a detector go get one...or two!
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