Saftey First!

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Y2k is here! For all you folks using or planning on using a generator to provide electrical power, if/when grid goes dead. Where have you planned on locating the genset? In the attatched garage, basement or even a utility room? If so, DONT! Move the killer outside of the living quarters where the carbon monxide won't hurt anything. Look around so it's exhaust won't catch anything on fire. Keep it away from kids, pets and nosey neighbors. Make sure you're not backfeeding into the grid. Install a double throw switch or have it installed by a electrician. Unvented heaters are killers also. Gas ovens are not safe to run either. Products of combustion are floating around the house. When you take away one part oxygen you go from carbon dioxide as a "fume" to the real silent killer--Carbon Monxide! Please be safe and have a most Glorious New Year!

-- K.D. "hoot" Gibson (hoot@otbnet.com), December 29, 1999

Answers

I have a Generac, 5KW set which is pretty heavy, I will move it here and there on the forks of my tractor. If I need to run my well pump I will mainline it from the breaker for the pump. My freezers are in the barn so I won't have to hear the thing running when I charge them up. I know people try to sufficate themselves with gen-sets but I can't understand why?

-- Bob Henderson (redgate@echoweb.net), December 30, 1999.

I have used unvented space heaters all my life and greatly prefer them over central heat. They can be used safely IF you maintain adequate ventilation. Raise a window in the area with the heater 1" on the downwind side of the house to provide ventilation, but not allow the wind to whip through. More people are killed or injured by fires caused by space heaters. Be sure to maintain at least 2 feet on each side and 3 feet in front of the heater that are clear of any combustible materials. The newer infrared space heaters have less clearance requirements, but I am unfamiliar with them. Using the oven for heat also requires a window opened for a vent, and is hard on the cookstove long term, but I have done it many times when it was very cold.

ANY internal combustion engine used in an enclosed area is both a fire hazard and a carbon monoxide hazard. They should NEVER be used indoors.

-- A.C. Green (ratdogs10@yahoo.com), December 30, 1999.


y2???

-- brian r (brian3006@msn.com), January 05, 2000.

AC, you have SURVIVED using unvented gas heaters in your home. So have I, when I was a kid. My parents always warned us "not to go to sleep when they were running". Thanks, mom and dad!

Surviving does not mean it is either safe of healthy.

-- jumpoff joe (jumpoff@echoweb.net), January 24, 2000.


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