Last night after making a frozen pizza for my son, I smelled a weird kinda gas like smell, well I opened a window just in case and waited a few. Still smelled it, so I called the gas company and they came and checked it out. My oven was emitting a "fatal" amount of carbon monoxide, the lady said it was a good thing I called cause everytime I was using my oven it was sending the gas into the air. This could have been bad and possibly hurt my kids, just my PSA for the day, get a carbon monoxide detector!!! And p.s. my oven is only 1 year old!!!!

OMG, I'm so glad you called your gas company. I didn't think carbon monoxide had any smell. Do you have a leak in the gas line or something?

Take care!
Deb

No there was no leak in the gas line, just when the oven was on it was coming out??? The lady said there are 2 kinds of Carbon Monoxide, one has a smeel one does not. The repair dude will be here sometime tuesday or wed! I let everone know what he says.

Did you pick up some carbon monoxide detectors? I've seen the kind that you can just plug into an ordinary outlet, at Home Depot and Lowes. I think you need one on each level of your house.

So is it safe in your house as long as you don't turn your oven on?

Yes it is safe in the house as long as I do not use the oven, I am going to get detectors first thing tomorrow!
Just realized I actually typed the "repair dude" in my pp, I swear I am an actual grown up! LOL!

Okay, right now my cc friends, all of you that do not have carbon monoxide dectectors-go out and buy them NOW! My husband is a firefighter and they do answer these calls too. A short while ago a neighbor's CO dectector went off in the middle of the night when they were all in bed. They left the house when it went off, carbon monoxide was in their home. The doctor at the hospital that checked them said they were fine, but if they hadn't left right then their school age children would have been effected and their baby would have died. The dectectors can be expensive, but well worth it. These people lived in a very expensive home that was brand new.

I agree with you funcakes, I have told about 10 people my story and NOONE knew it could come from your stove! Since we are using our stoves so much I think it is especially important! GET A DETECTOR!!!!!!

That is really scary! We are lucky that when we built our house that the builder installed a fire detector with the carbon monoxide alarms built in.
My grandfather one time was watching TV and got extremely sleepy. He didn't want to take a nap, so he got up and went outside to wake himself up. When he went back in, the smell of gas almost knocked him over. Sitting in the room it hadn't been noticed, but entering it, it was very strong.
Everyone absolutely needs these alarms.

Not to knock the importance of getting carbon monoxide detectors, but I think there is some misinformation along the line somewhere. Carbon monoxide does not have an odor. As far as the lady telling you there are "two kinds of carbon monoxide, one that has odor and one that doesn't", she must be confused. Carbon monoxide is a chemically simple compound, one carbon, one oxygen. It's either carbon monoxide, or it's not. However, when carbon monoxide is given off, there could possibly be other compounds produced as well that might have an odor. Incidentally, natural gas is odorless as well; the gas company adds another chemical to give it an odor, and not all gas lines are odorized. Maybe this is what the lady you taked to on the phone was confusing, that there is odorized and non-odorized natural gas? But CO is most definitely odorless.

And yes, anything that burns organic fuels (like gas) has the potential to produce CO: furnaces, stoves, cars, fireplaces, etc. So definitely get those detectors!

BTW, my husband is the operations engineer for our gas company, and he said to be sure the gas to the stove has been shut off (the gas company should have done that), and most likely there is something wrong with the way it is vented. Either the vent is obstructed, or may not have been set up right when your new stove was installed.

thanks cakesbyjen for that great info. I didn't think carbon monoxide had an odor, which is why it's usually called the silent killer.

We knew someone who had a furnace that was emitting carbon monoxide into their house at very low levels. They all felt "ill" i.e. headaches, nauseous, etc., but thought they had a virus. Thank goodness there was a fireman in their family that suggested they check for the gas, and sure enough it was a very low level, not enough to kill, but enough to make them sick.

Oh, they had taken the batteries out of their detectors because they were beeping every few minutes. They thought the battery was low, turns out it was their detector doing what it was supposed to do, alerting them to a potential problem. So PLEASE don't remove the batteries in smoke or carbon monoxide detectors, if they beep there's a reason. It doesn't necessarily mean the battery is getting low.

BTW, they hadn't EVER had their oil furnace cleaned They owned the house for 7 or so years and didn't know they had to have a company come in and clean it every year! That's why they were getting the fumes.

Ya know cakesbyjen, I thought the same thing! I am waiting for the service guy to come, he will be here tomorrow. I am curious to know what they have to say. As far as the venting, I am in a mobile home and all I have is a hood over my stove, there is nothing else??? I am going to drive the service guy nuts tomorrow and ask 743 questions! Thanks for the info!!!!

Jen is right. CO2 does not have any odor ever. The odor comes from other components like when it is in car exhaust you are smelling oil, not the co2. Natural gas has no odor either. Gas companies add a distinct scent to the gas so people can smell it and be alerted to a leak. Get CO2 monitors immediately. Everyone should have them.

oh my goodnes this is all a bit scary! i have never heard of this ever! it must be something to do with the type of gas you guys have in the states, i have never heard of carbon monoxide meter/alarm and to think you guys have that stuff running through your houses oh my goodness that is the stuff that comes out of car exhausts! very dangerous! we have natural gas here in australia.
MW902 i am asuming you must have a gas stove/oven? i have moved states recently from a gas dependant state to one that os mostly electris and i would kill to get my gas cooktop back but most actual ovens (unless they are really old) in australia are electric run with gas cook tops. very interesting to find out about your story though and i am very glad you are all safe and sound

mw902.........how did you make out with your stove repair? Hoping you're all set and able to make cakes again.......safely, of course!

This is really very scary. I new furnaces, cars and fireplaces could put out CO2, but never thought an oven could. I mean to me, it's just electric. I don't understand where a gas byproduct would come from. Or is it just a gas oven that can put out the CO2?

When I was in HS, we had a gas fireplace. It looked like a real fireplace with the pretty glowing logs. Someone had turned the gas off enough to put out the flame but gas was still coming out. I woke up, for no apparent reason, and walked into the living room. I immediately passed out, but only for a moment. For some reason when I woke up, I knew to check the gas immediately. Sure enough, it was on.

I'm always very, very grateful that I'm the one who woke up. All the other people in our household were smokers. I always wonder what would have happened if one of the smokers woke up and lit their first cig!

Anyway, that's just my very scary experience with gas, and now I'm wanting C02 detectors in my house, so nothing can happen.

Great! Now you all are going to get the CO2 alarms and keep your family safe.

Now, my friends, make the pledge with me. We will all remember to change the batteries in our smoke alarms EVERY time we have a time change. Both in the fall and in the spring. That way we will know the batteries won't die when they are needed.