Heat realated deaths
I have been looking online to find out how hot and for how long it would take to harm a child. Here is what happened. I work for a building co that built my house it has 2 stories the kids rooms are upstairs and they have a seperate furnace to heat that level. my room is on the main level and is part of the main furnace. On friday night it was really cold I put warm pajamas on my kids and an extra blanket. The furnace broke and ran non stop when my older child came downstairs to tell us it was 2:30 am and already 94 degrees upstairs. My husband grabed our 3 year old and took her to our room. She was breathing but we could not wake her up, after about 5 minutes of patting her back and moving her arms she was very out of it but was responding to us. (normally she is a light sleeper a toilet flush will wake her up) we had her drink so propel water she could only take a few sips and would fall back asleep. Well I freaked out and left a really mean message on the HVAC co answering machine and now I just got fired for doing that. I really don't care that I got fired because I wouldn't feel good about selling one of these houses now anyway. I just want to know was I over reacting? If we would have woke up at 9:00 like we usually do on weekends she would have spent 6 1/2 more hours in that dry heat. Thanks for listening nobody at my old office will.
Answers:
94 degrees is, in my mind at least, not enough to do that to a child.
I would be far more likely to suspect that carbon monoxide was leaking from the furnace, and that was why she found it hard to respond. To me, it sounds like you caught her just in time, to save her life.
Answers:
I agree with tommy on this one.how is she doing now?you can take her to the doc and they can hook her up and see how much actual O2 is in her blood just to make sure if there indeed WAS any Co in her system that it is all dissapated.you just want to be sure with this one.also,she could have possibly been extremely dehydrated from the heat itself,was she sweating alot when you took her out of that room?what you described as her actual symptoms at that time,can be a symptom of just dehydration.but at the other extreme,the Co poisoning would be a possibility too.just have her completely checked out by her ped doc.they will most likely,automatically do a Co test.blood gases.
i don't blame you one bit for leaving a nasty message to the makers or the installers of that furnace.if i were you i would simply call the gas co and have them come out and do an actual active reading on the functioning furnace to check out the possibility of a Co leak.at least you will know for sure if it is actually safe to even BE in that house with a malfunctioning furnace.even if it has been 'fixed',you still need to know for sure if there is a possible backdraft problem or some other strange issue that can cause the Co gas to not actually dissapate as it is supposed to.if you cannot actually get the gas co to come out real soon,just call the non emergency fire dept number in your city.they have detectors and the proper breathing apparataus to be able to come into your home and check this out for you.i was a firefighter for over fifteen years and we routinely did this for people in the community when asked and if it was possible for us time wise.trust me,the FD doesn't want to have to be summoned to your home on an emergent basis to try and revive someone who became overcome by Co gas.
but the most important thing for you to do right now is to make totally sure that your little one didn't suffer from Co poisoning and there is no residual gas left in her blood if she was.but i think she will be okay if she has been fine since the incident actually happened.just be sure.AND make sure to by a good,really good Co detector for your home.the ones that have an actual readout where you can see the numbers is really by far,the best out there.they cost a bit more but are more than worth their money considering what they can do for you and your family.i do hope everything is okay now.Marcia
Answers:
94 degrees is, in my mind at least, not enough to do that to a child.
I would be far more likely to suspect that carbon monoxide was leaking from the furnace, and that was why she found it hard to respond. To me, it sounds like you caught her just in time, to save her life.
Answers:
I agree with tommy on this one.how is she doing now?you can take her to the doc and they can hook her up and see how much actual O2 is in her blood just to make sure if there indeed WAS any Co in her system that it is all dissapated.you just want to be sure with this one.also,she could have possibly been extremely dehydrated from the heat itself,was she sweating alot when you took her out of that room?what you described as her actual symptoms at that time,can be a symptom of just dehydration.but at the other extreme,the Co poisoning would be a possibility too.just have her completely checked out by her ped doc.they will most likely,automatically do a Co test.blood gases.
i don't blame you one bit for leaving a nasty message to the makers or the installers of that furnace.if i were you i would simply call the gas co and have them come out and do an actual active reading on the functioning furnace to check out the possibility of a Co leak.at least you will know for sure if it is actually safe to even BE in that house with a malfunctioning furnace.even if it has been 'fixed',you still need to know for sure if there is a possible backdraft problem or some other strange issue that can cause the Co gas to not actually dissapate as it is supposed to.if you cannot actually get the gas co to come out real soon,just call the non emergency fire dept number in your city.they have detectors and the proper breathing apparataus to be able to come into your home and check this out for you.i was a firefighter for over fifteen years and we routinely did this for people in the community when asked and if it was possible for us time wise.trust me,the FD doesn't want to have to be summoned to your home on an emergent basis to try and revive someone who became overcome by Co gas.
but the most important thing for you to do right now is to make totally sure that your little one didn't suffer from Co poisoning and there is no residual gas left in her blood if she was.but i think she will be okay if she has been fine since the incident actually happened.just be sure.AND make sure to by a good,really good Co detector for your home.the ones that have an actual readout where you can see the numbers is really by far,the best out there.they cost a bit more but are more than worth their money considering what they can do for you and your family.i do hope everything is okay now.Marcia