We replaced the batteries to all of our smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors in December. We even bought another carbon monoxide detector to be safe. Our 10 year anniversary was in December and we had planned a trip to Hawaii with my sister and her husband, and we were leaving our 2 1/2 year old and 5 month old at our home with grandparents…so I was a little nervous.
Fast forward to this week and the carbon monoxide detector in the basement was beeping. We originally thought it just needed new batteries. Eric replaced them, pressed the test button and it didn’t go off again, so we figured everything was fine.
The next morning we woke up to it going off again. I was getting ready for work and said we need to call our energy company and have them come out, to cover our bases…so he called as I started to plan where I could take the kids until things got figured out.
He came back up and said they would be there shortly and I was able to get in touch with our amazing neighbors and I took the kids over there and we hung out for a while.
They confirmed there was a leak in our gas line connected to the hot water heater. Obviously, your detector should be detecting 0 at all times and apparently at the source of the leak the energy company was detecting 227.
It was scary.
I have never felt so grateful, scared, anxious, and…lucky…all at the same time…I couldn’t stop staring at Eric and the kids.
We have a 2 story home and 3 carbon monoxide detectors…I truly don’t know the rules for how many you should have, but I’ve never been so grateful for something in all of my life. I am still shocked and I am so glad that we have them and have been diligent about replacing the batteries in them.
I do not have a great memory so I have started to put reminders in our shared phone calendars for every 6 months to replace filters, batteries, etc…all the “little” things we tend to forget in the midst of the chaos of life.
