anyone know anything about gas leak alarms??

[sunhawk]

[sunhawk]

okay I am trying to prevent myself from freaking out so if anyone can reassure me on this, please speak now. We have a gas/monoxide alarm in our hallway that just went off saying “GAS” and I checked the battery and it seems to be all in order, but my dad was convinced it isn’t a real gas leak and merely a malfunction from the sensor. Is it possible the socket I had it in had a power dip that made it malfuction? For all intents and purposes, it is working properly, though I just plugged it into the computer room instead of the hallway and I haven’t gotten a “GAS” warning yet. If there REALLY WAS gas in the house, it should be in my room too, right? It should go off again, yes?? Especially since the hallway is a much less-enclosed space (it has the staircase in it and all) than this room on the same floor? Is there any way to reassure myself that there isn’t a gas leak going on RIGHTNOW and we could all explode any minute?? I have a cold so I can’t smell anything, let alone gas!

It’s past midnight, my parents are sleeping right now and I don’t want to wake them unnecessarily but I also don’t want us to kinda.. DIE IN THE NIGHT. Should we evacuate or call 911 or something??

Any thoughts??????

[frozendragon]

well I worked at the power company here…..and any time the alarm goes off….you need to call the gas company or whoever it is that comes out and checks it…

not 911

and if anyone gets a headache or is nauseous….then yes leave the house….

but you certainly need someone to check it…most power companies have some kind of procedure for checking it….and they usually treat all calls about gas with top priority….

if the battery isn’t low…then there was a reason it went off..

gas you would smell but carbon monoxide you wouldn’t….

[sunhawk]

frozendragon wrote:

well I worked at the power company here…..and any time the alarm goes off….you need to call the gas company or whoever it is that comes out and checks it…

not 911

and if anyone gets a headache or is nauseous….then yes leave the house….

but you certainly need someone to check it…most power companies have some kind of procedure for checking it….and they usually treat all calls about gas with top priority….

if the battery isn’t low…then there was a reason it went off..

gas you would smell but carbon monoxide you wouldn’t….

The company for the alarm has a help line but it seems they are not 24 hours so is it okay if I wait until tommorow to call them??

It has a different warning for carbon monoxide, this was the one that supposed to warn for natural gas, which… yeah it’s supposed to smell kinda like rotten eggs right? Because of the additive they put in? I may have a cold but I’d like to think even *I* could smell THAT!

I don’t feel naeuous or headachey at the moment…

Thanks frozen, you are preventing me from working myself into a frenzy lol Gas is serious stuff!

[frozendragon]

yeah…if it was the gas warning but you don’t smell it and no on has symptoms….then it should be safe….

there’s a list of stuff to ask about it….but I don’t have it with me…

it’s a serious thing so I would definitely have it checked….

[sunhawk]

frozendragon wrote:

yeah…if it was the gas warning but you don’t smell it and no on has symptoms….then it should be safe….

there’s a list of stuff to ask about it….but I don’t have it with me…

it’s a serious thing so I would definitely have it checked….

I just tested the alarm, got normal feedback sequence, put it back in the hallway it went off in originally (on a different power socket) and no new alarm so far, so maybe it was a fluke… all the same, I’m cracking a few windows open and calling the gas company tommorow!

[dragonmedley]

I was going to suggest just that: open the windows and call first thing in the morning. I don’t know how, but if you can, maybe turn off the gas???

Be safe!

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[Stephanie]

You should be able to call your local gas company and they should send someone out to check it. I had it happen at 2 am once and when they came out, they check my heater and 3 of the 5 “Jets” went out. The next day I called the home warrenty people and they sent someone out to fix it, they ended up replaceing the heater. It was in the dead of winter too… I am thankful for the fireplace in the den!

[frozendragon]

dragonmedley wrote:

I was going to suggest just that: open the windows and call first thing in the morning. I don’t know how, but if you can, maybe turn off the gas???

Be safe!

actually that’s one thing on the list I remember…you NEVER just open a window….

natural gas is only flammable at certain points….if you have very little or a whole lot…it’s not flammable….and if you have a whole lot of gas and open a window you could actually cause an explosion….

I don’t remember the exact amounts…but we always told people to leave things as it is…and if they smelled gas…then they should probably wait outside or at a neighbors….

but sun said she didn’t smell gas…so it really could have been just the alarm I just can’t imagine that they didn’t have 24 hr service…that is weird when it’s gas…

[Laurie]

If your gas alarm is going off then yes you should call 911. If you wait for the gas company they can take hours. The fire department has sensors they can bring into your house to see if there is a leak or not. They will also call the gas company for you if they find a leak. There is no way I would wait for the gas company to come to my house, just call 911 and be on the safe side.

[sunhawk]

Yeah I was actually pretty angry when I called the hotline number and realized they had normal business hours, not 24 hours. I understand why they don’t have a 24 service (probably a cost issue) but all I wanted was someone to talk to who wasn’t 911 but who could tell me whether I really should call 911 or not.

LOL @ don’t open windows! Too late, I opened exactly one window when I went to bed. But I didn’t smell anything and my folks didn’t smell anything and even our cats seem fine, which I would think would be the first indication, if they started staggering or were both sleeping too soundly, no?

SO ANYWAY I called the hotline today and they told me they thought it was dust getting into the alarm and NOT a gas leak, especially since it didn’t go off again after I reset it and everything. So I just gotta remember to vaccuum the sucker now and then to keep it clean.

Thanks for all your advice everyone ^_^ My dad was actually kinda offended that I thought he’d just go to bed again if there was a chance of an actual leak but if he’d actually TOLD ME anything (his exact words last night were “It’s not a leak but I don’t want to talk about it now, I’m going back to sleep”) then maybe I’d have been spared a few hours of freak out LOL After the alarm went off, they took it into their room for a few minutes and then came to me in the computer room and my mum told me to replace the battery using the manual. Once I figured out the battery was fine, I felt that if THAT was why my folks figured there wasn’t any problem, well that was the WRONG IDEA. So I had this silent battle with myself for half an hour whether to wake them up again to ask them if they were sure they knew what they were talking about (if you had ever encountered my dad half-asleep and irritable, you would have stalled as well LOL) and then decided to post online to see what other people thought *chuckle*

[frozendragon]

yeah…if it had gone off again it would have been different…

but at least now you know about the window thing….LOL

[sunhawk]

frozendragon wrote:

yeah…if it had gone off again it would have been different…

but at least now you know about the window thing….LOL

Now that you mention it, I seem to recall a CSI Miami episode that had something like that happen, where someone opened a door and the house caught fire @_@

[frozendragon]

sunhawk wrote:

frozendragon wrote:

yeah…if it had gone off again it would have been different…

but at least now you know about the window thing….LOL

Now that you mention it, I seem to recall a CSI Miami episode that had something like that happen, where someone opened a door and the house caught fire @_@

yeah…there was the one where she spread gasoline…and the oxygen from the broken front window and the flame from the water heater sparked the fire from the fumes…..

same principle…I tried to look on the site…for the explanation of it…but I couldn’t find it…I think it’s only something you get if you work there….it’s been a long time since I was there so I don’t remember…

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