Check Your Carbon Monoxide Detectors, Bros

[sixthcutuan]

I've had a pretty bad experience where someone knocked the gas for the hob on and didn't realise. About 45 minutes later (and all with headaches) we caught on, turned it off and opened the windows. Soon after we got a new system installed that only releases the gas when the sparker is being used.

 

[Andy Capp]

My point here is simply that you don't have these fatal problems when your wife forgets to turn off the electric range/oven.

So while it's not the technology's fault, it's certainly the consumer's fault for choosing a technology that has such a bad risk inherent with its' upkeep.

I think the ratio of house fires caused by faulty electrical equipment or radiant heaters being knocked over to gas heaters is about a gazillion to one you crazy, paranoid duck.

 

[amateursurgeon]

Attention any retards considering doing this, he is joking, do not do this.

Actually, with a modern car (certainly a European one - dunno what US emission standards are like), you wouldn't come to much harm. The catalytic converters remove almost all of the CO from the exhaust.

Older cars you'd still be fucked though.

The quickest way to give yourself CO poisoning nowadays is to use a camping stove inside a tent.

 

[amateursurgeon]

Nope.

The Mercaptan is HEAVIER than natural gas and collects in the BOTTOM of the tank.

It's put there so that when you fire up the stove and SMELL IT you know it's time to get the Tank refilled. You ONLY SMELL IT when the Tank is LOW on Natural Gas.


So, if his Tank was still pretty full there would be NO ODOR.


Just an FYI.



Glad to hear you and yours are OK Dwight.

Not if you have mains gas, like we do over here - they use it as a stinking agent to stop you from blowing the house up. If you leave the stove on, walk out of the room, and walk in again, it smells strongly.

 

[johnmatrix]

Nope.

The Mercaptan is HEAVIER than natural gas and collects in the BOTTOM of the tank.

It's put there so that when you fire up the stove and SMELL IT you know it's time to get the Tank refilled. You ONLY SMELL IT when the Tank is LOW on Natural Gas.


So, if his Tank was still pretty full there would be NO ODOR.

I find this very dubious, I've never had a problem smelling natural gas whether it's piped into my stove directly or from a full tank attached to a barbecue. It's not intended for smelling when the gas tank is low AT ALL.

 

[medicalhumor]

Nope.

The Mercaptan is HEAVIER than natural gas and collects in the BOTTOM of the tank.

It's put there so that when you fire up the stove and SMELL IT you know it's time to get the Tank refilled. You ONLY SMELL IT when the Tank is LOW on Natural Gas.


So, if his Tank was still pretty full there would be NO ODOR.


Just an FYI.



Glad to hear you and yours are OK Dwight.

What Third World country do you live in that uses tanks for your kitchen stove? I lived in the Caribbean for a year and had one of those, but it's pretty much unheard of in the States. (maybe West Virginia)

 

[crackp0t]

What Third World country do you live in that uses tanks for your kitchen stove? I lived in the Caribbean for a year and had one of those, but it's pretty much unheard of in the States. (maybe West Virginia)

A lot of rural settings will use tanked gas.

 

[Fatbat]

Nope.

The Mercaptan is HEAVIER than natural gas and collects in the BOTTOM of the tank.

It's put there so that when you fire up the stove and SMELL IT you know it's time to get the Tank refilled. You ONLY SMELL IT when the Tank is LOW on Natural Gas.


So, if his Tank was still pretty full there would be NO ODOR.


Just an FYI.



Glad to hear you and yours are OK Dwight.

Most people in North America don't use tanks for indoor appliances, the gas is piped directly into their homes. The gas companies put the mercaptan in the gas so that you can smell when there is a gas leak, the exact same reason it's added to tanks of gas. It's not added as some indicator of a empty tank. You can definitely smell it when the tank is full.

 

[Fatbat]

What Third World country do you live in that uses tanks for your kitchen stove? I lived in the Caribbean for a year and had one of those, but it's pretty much unheard of in the States. (maybe West Virginia)

Almost everyone here in Spain uses tanks, even in urban settings. The last place we lived had one central tank for the whole urbanization, but we use small tanks now in the place we're currently living for hot water and the stove top. The gas man comes around our neighborhood 3 times a week, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, driving his flatbed stacked with canisters to exchange empty ones for full ones. It costs €16.50 for a tank of gas which lasts about 3-4 weeks for hot water, and like 5-6 months for cooking.

 

[efeezy]

Hey bro glad u guys are ok. Thanks for posting mine has been outta battery's for well over a year. Replacing today

Mine just died a couple weeks ago. Fuck I need to get that thing plugged back in. Glad you and the fam are ok DS. Thanks for the reminder.

 

[Midas Touch]

Thanks for making me dig deeper.

I find this very dubious, I've never had a problem smelling natural gas whether it's piped into my stove directly or from a full tank attached to a barbecue. It's not intended for smelling when the gas tank is low AT ALL.

I may stand CORRECTED here.


It was The Gas Guy about 25 years ago when I first had a gas stove who told me that if I were to ever smell a STRONG ROTTEN EGG smell when lighting the stove it meant that the tank was getting LOW and I should call to have it filled.

He told me that the Odor Additive (He never said it was Mercaptan.) was heavier than the natural gas & collected at the bottom of the tank. So when the tank was getting LOW on Natural Gas the concentration of the additive would be much HIGHER and therefore be VERY STRONG SMELLING when the tank was almost empty.


Yes, you CAN smell it in when a tank is full, but it is PUNGENT when the tank is low. (I've never had a House FULL of gas to know what that would smell like first hand.) I just know that when using the stove and the tank is full I don't even notice the smell. But when the tank is LOW, it even smells to "me" when it is lit. I usually can barely make the wait for them to come fill the tank to get rid of that smell.


I've never had a Main Gas Line. Only Tanks on my property.



I also prefer to cook on Wood Burning Grills (Oak, Hickory, & Mesquite are my preferences.) and have only owned a few Gas Grills in my life.



So, here's some further reading for anyone interested.




Methanethiol - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Excerpt:....."Since natural gas and propane are colorless and odorless, a small amount of methyl mercaptan or ethyl mercaptan is added to make it easy to detect a gas leak."


What Is Mercaptan? - Columbia Gas of Ohio

Excerpt:...."Since natural gas is colorless and odorless, we add a harmless, non-toxic chemical that makes it easier to detect a gas leak before it can create a hazardous situation. The chemical, called mercaptan, smells a lot like rotten eggs"


Natural Gas FAQs - City of Lake City


What should I do when there is a strong gas odor in the house?

1. Leave the house immediately.

2. DO NOT make calls from your home. Phones are capable of producing a spark, which could start a fire or explosion.



3. DO NOT light a match or other combustible material. Likewise, DO NOT turn any light switches on or off, and DO NOT plug or unplug electrical appliances such as a television or vacuum cleaner. These activities also can produce a spark that could start a fire or explosion.

4. Do not re-enter the house until the gas company finds the source of the leak and corrects it.




P.S. My FARTS never STINK. So I'm unarmed in a FART War. Have been all my life. Maybe that's why I don't really notice the Mercaptan until the concentration is high. I have not been acclimated to Fart Odor from myself over the years.


Lulz

 

[crossfittn]

Wow! I'm glad you and your family are ok. My wife and I rented a house for a few days while visiting friends in Cali, and EVERYTHING was gas, even the A/C! But there was some sort of leak - thankfully there was smell added to their gas, so I was VERY aware of it.

I was just pissed there was a gas smell, and we opened the windows a lot. But it took me a while to put two and two together after I was throwing up for 3 days straight... gas poisoning.

 

[Zaino]

I have a sticker on my door that says CO2 free zone, im ok.