How to Die in Your Home, Part 2

2

Warm air flows uphill. The flue must also go that direction

So I teach a class to realtors on the "fear factor" any press: good old Carbon Monoxide - also known as CO.


Dying Inside the Home: Vissues - you know - meth, mold, radon, asbestos, lead, EIFS etc. It always draws plenty of attention from realtors, and deservedly so - plenty of good deals are lost because someone flips a lid over one of these issues. Funny thing is, based on my experience all of these items put together don't approach the level of risk associated with an item that never gets arious Recipes

Carbon monoxide flows right out the flue,
then back into the home via the swamp cooler
- a very efficient way to die

Now if you want to die, there are a variety of ways inside your home to make it happen. I read an obituary a number of years ago about an elderly lady who hired the cheap roofer. He left his tools up on the roof at the end of the first day. Yeah. Lazy. Things get worse though. He went back the next day, knocked on the lady's door and got no answer. She was dead. It seems that the roofer covered her chimney flue with his tools, and she died in her house that night. 


I have any number of stories as relates to CO. Back in the day, an open hatchback nearly did in my own family. Bottom line is: CO can get you and it needs to be respected. 


America: Land of Innovation

You can't create safe elbows at water heater flues with tape

So when I run into the obvious at home inspections, it always makes me wonder how much people love their own lives, and perhaps the lives of their families. It is no mystery to most of us that flues have carbon monoxide, an that CO is a poison, and that we should get the stuff out of the house. Yet the innovative ways we use to keep the stuff in the home are fascinating. 


The Moral of this Morbid Story



Here's the thing: if flue air wants to rise, and it's poisonous, it should be allowed to rise right on out of the house. Making the warm air flow downward in the flue? Not a good plan if staying alive is the goal. Using tape instead of a ductwork elbow? Hmmm. Sucking the poisonous gas back into the home via the swamp cooler? Cheaper than a bad divorce. 


But if you love your family and you'd prefer that they stick around awhile and take care of you when you're old? Well, it'd be a real good idea to make sure that stuff leaves the home - and stays out.