When he called me, my neighbor said, "By law the technicians had to shut down the water heater."
An HVAC company went by my neighbor's house to perform a fall check up and service.
While there they said they would "take a look" at the water heater just as a kindness.
Turning up the temperature to fire it up, they drilled a hole in the exhaust flue 3' from the hood, and inserted a CO probe.
It read 143. The "technicians" were horrified.
They said that by law they had to shut down the water heater.
They said it needed to be replaced immediately.
They said that something else that would help to control that CO output would be to clean at a minimum, and perhaps have to replace, the exhaust tubing from the roof down.
They said they can take care of all that tomorrow since my neighbor doesn't have hot water tonight.
My neighbor called me. When I showed up I looked and the water heater was four years old. The CO detector on the wall 4' away read 0. The burners looked clean and very new. After it was running again, Mighty Mo did not detect any escaping heat from the hood or anywhere in the tubing all the way to the main stack, and from there all the way to the ceiling. There was nothing wrong with this water heater. And, Holy Cow, replace the exhaust flues?
I had a good laugh! And, magically, the water heater got turned back on.
The home inspector in the room suggested they get a different HVAC maintenance company.
The end.
Scam artists get away with this claptrap by feigning concerns over safety issues. My neighbor did the right thing. He got a second opinion! He had been fed a load of garbage.
Please understand - carbon monoxide (CO) when produced and discharged immediately begins mixing with air and diluting. That is not to say it cannot build up, because it can. A sustained (that's the key word) level over 200 parts per million generally in the air will make you feel sick and over time will harm you. CO detectors go off around 40ppm. But 143ppm INSIDE an appliance flue is not unexpected, or even high!
He had a CO detector in the furnace room. I told him to add one up near the bedrooms. Easily done.
If you want to know where to put your CO detectors, read this.
Symptoms of CO poisoning include headache, flu-like symptoms, nausea, dizziness, sleepiness, shortness of breath, confusion, blurry vision, and the like. House plants will die if they have continued exposure. Small animals will be affected quicker than humans because they breath more rapidly. Children are affected quicker than larger adults because children take more breaths. Symptoms begin slowly and subtly, and will increase over time with continued exposure. With time people get sicker and sicker, and CO poisoning is hard to diagnose. Often the symptomatic diagnosis is the flu.
If you suspect CO poisoning open windows and go to the hospital. Let the doctor know that you might be suffering from CO poisoning.
My recommendation: when you hear something that is made to sound important, like this story, get a second opinion! A big tip that something is a scam is being told that action needs to be taken immediately. Another tip is the hook that "while we are here we'll take a look at this other thing for free." And then, behold, a problem is found. The old "the law," and "the code" phrase is a popular one too. Be careful! This is the society we are in.
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