Re: smoke and co detectors

[Frank Olson <Use_the_email_links@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Total nerd wrote:
> Robert's account sounds spot on.  I have seen this happen twice -- once
> in my house and once in a friend's house.  In my house, the fireplace
> drew so much updraft that the furnace chimney backpuffed.  The newly
> installed windows and doors made the home so airtight that the most
> effective way for the fireplace to draw it's needed air was back
> through the fireplace chimney, causing a backpuff and the CO detector
> to go off.  Cracking a window open during fireplace operation fixes
> this, of course.  Secondly, I witnessed a friend's home backup CO and
> smoke from the furnace while having a birthday party.  The attic fan
> was going full-tilt and all the windows and doors were closed.  That
> fan, as powerful as it was, pulled enough air to choke the furnace and
> fill the basement with smoke and fumes, causing an alarm.  My wife
> actually "smelled something funny" and thought that it "felt just like
> the problem we had," then waddya know, it happened to them minutes
> later.



I've talked to two mechanical contractors and an engineer this morning
and asked them about this "phenomenon".  They all agreed with me...  The
fresh air vent with a larger cross-section and no restrictions would
draw the air required by both fireplaces (in Robert's fairy-tale).  It's
the equivalent of "cracking" a couple of windows open.  A "back-puff"
the likes of what you experienced would probably douse the pilot light
in the furnace (which would tend to turn the furnace flue into another
fresh air source).  I've seen that happen in a wind storm.  Robert got
caught telling another fairy-tale (supported by a "total nerd").  Sort
of like his "many years" installing...  He'll argue with you that
because he retained his CT L-6 until 2000, he can still count that as
"installation experience" even though he'd been living in Florida for a
year (or more).  Sort of like the four years he spent in Ohio while he
was "running his modestly successful central station alarm company" in
CT...  Sh-uuu-uurre...