zeptember

Thanks to my LJ friend eumenide for telling me to do the obvious and call PG&E.

They sent out a guy immediately, and I asked him to educate me on all the parts of the furnace and what he’s doing as he goes along. He had no problem doing so.

The problem is totally carbon monoxide poisoning, and even he looked scared.

The guy says that the thing that directs the flames upwards and out of the house is no longer working, so the flame is yellow instead of blue, and the flame is curling back down towards the floor and the fumes are in the house with nowhere to go.

He says per his liability, he MUST disconnect the unit from the outside gas source, so that’s what he’s doing, now. And he’s gonna check the stove and the water heater too.

Special note to people in the U.S., in California specifically: this is FREE.
PG&E does not charge for this, nor do they charge to come out at the start of every winter to inspect your furnace!

DO NOT DELAY! CALL TODAY! I’m serious, people. I’m sure that DTE for you Michiganders does the same thing, and so on.

NOW I TOTALLY have something on the landlady.

So it’s 2pm and the landlady JUST came by after saying at 8am that she’d be over SOON with a new heater. She gave us an electric tower heater. I told her about the poisoning, that I considered going to hospital but due to haziness just didn’t go and that was bad on my part.

I told her I was not happy with her response time, that she should’ve gotten us a space heater last night. She gave BS excuse that everything was closed after 6pm. I told her point blank that’s BS and told her we had to go out at 10pm to Walgreen’s to get a space heater, and all they had was a heater so small that it only heats the bedroom.

At that point she said that all I’d mentioned was the carbon monoxide issue and that if I’d only stated that by turning the heater off that it would be cold in the house, she’d have come right over with a new heater! I told her that’s the worst pile of shit I’ve ever heard, that turning a heater off means HELLO NO FUCKING HEAT!!!!

She then went on to say she’s hot right now in this house and can’t understand the urgency in why we even need a heater NOW, and asked if I am sick!!!! She said she can understand the need for TONIGHT but maintained she came over as fast as she could given the timing and store hours for her favourite hardware store.
I told her I’M THE ONE LIVING HERE and I’M THE ONE WHO IS COLD, THIS HOUSE IS 65°F AND THAT’S UNACCEPTABLE, and as a landlady, she is RESPONSIBLE for providing me with heat ASAP when I say I had to turn the furnace OFF.

She asked if I’d turned the gas to the furnace off, or just the thermostat. I told her I turned off only the thermostat, that she’s never taught me how to maintain the wall register. She opened up the bottom of the furnace register and turned off the pilot light, and complained about cat hair she found in there.

I then stated the severity again of CO poisoning. She stated she understood and believes me, but I don’t believe her. She said she only trusts her one guy and he’ll be out friday unless he can get here sooner (i.e. if one of his other appointments cancels).

My man lived for three years in a house with a gas furnace wall register. I don’t know that he ever cleaned it or knew how. I certainly thought it was self maintaining. We’re not mechanically inclined people outside of computer chasses.

I have no idea if cat hair under the register is enough to cause a clog and therefore carbon monoxide poisoning. I do the best I can to vacuum weekly just under the register but didn’t know I could open the bottom part up and clean more thoroughly, especially with a pilot light on full time.

I consulted with a friend about this, he said “burnt cat hair and not enough inlet flow? yes”, it could cause blockage / CO poisoning. He wants the furnace guy to still look for corrosion issues though before the landlady passes judgement on me as a bad housekeeper.

We moved into this house in July, 2006. There was no heating technician summoned by our landlady at the start of last winter to make sure the heater was in proper working order. Same with this winter season - no one was called out to inspect the heaters. I will raise this issue with her when I next see her.

When I first moved into this house, I DID tell the landlady that I never lived in a house with a gas furnace, and so I had no idea on how to maintain it. She told me not to worry about it. Well. Bite in the ass that was.
Of course I do not have my statements in writing, nor hers, even from today.

The bottom line is, she’s at fault.

If there’s pipe corrosion, she’s SERIOUSLY at fault and I don’t know what the next steps are to nail her.

If there’s no pipe corrosion, then she’s still partially at fault for not showing us how to clean the wall register by opening the bottom portion, because I mentioned at move-in that I’d never maintained a gas furnace before.

The landlady just called - her heating guy can’t make it out til FRIDAY.

I asked if she could call PG&E - she said all they’d do is shut off the gas (then we can’t even use the stove/oven).

She’s going to bring over a space heater in the meantime. It better be a NICE one.

Meanwhile, the house is 64°F. I’m chattering cold in anything under 73°F (hence why I left Michigan a decade ago!!!).

We bought a cheapo Walgreen’s space heater for the bedroom last night while I was still in a hazy daze from being POISONED.

Last night, I was thinking about everything in the past five days with regards to the carbon monoxide poisoning. I was really dyslexic and had a very hard time writing it down. Pasting here w/ updates/corrections today:

January 24th: worst headache I’ve ever had - officially called it a migraine. I was in the house full time, bedridden due to girl do0m.

January 25th: let on to my man that I’d been having nightmares. I was in the house full time, bedridden due to girl do0m.

January 28th: woke up in whimpering neck and shoulder pain with another migraine that lasted over 4 hours. The pain went away when I stepped out of the house for a few hours. Got paranoid at that point that the house has high levels of carbon monoxide, cuz I realised too that the house had been smelling funny when the furnace goes on. I can’t remember if it was around the 24th, 25th or 26th of January when I realised this about the furnace. When I went to bed on January 28th, I cracked open the window so we wouldn’t die in our sleep, I was that paranoid. Even though we don’t normally run the furnace at night, the thermostat is usually set to 65°F, and sometimes the house temp dips below that. I could’ve just turned the furnace OFF, but well I wasn’t thinking correctly. I WONDER WHY.

January 29th: charlie horse to the right foot in the wee hours of the morning. Was out of the house for much of the day, no migraines. Picked up the carbon monoxide tester on the way home, and you know the rest - the headache/nausea came back and the tester alarm went off twice, indicating high levels of carbon monoxide present in the house.

My neck and shoulders were killing me last night, and I was REALLY tired by 9:30pm, despite having had a big ‘ol mocha earlier in the day, which always keeps me going to at least midnight. I had that same sort of fuzzy vision I get when I’m stoned on Tylenol3 for girl do0m. I know I should’ve left the house as soon as the alarm went off, but I thought opening all the windows would suffice. My lower legs ached, too.

The treatment for poisoning is high dose oxygen mask according to emedicinehealth.com. What I did instead was try to breathe as much outside air as possible. It was 45°F outside last night, and 65°F inside the house with the cold night air pouring in through open windows. I kept stepping outside for a few minutes, then coming back in the house, but the dizziness didn’t go away.
When my man came home from band practice, he took us out to the store and drove me around and let me roll the car windows down every now and again.

But when we got home, all I could do was just go to bed. As you can see, we made it through the night alive. :p

AWESOME, I TELL YA. :/

Yesterday I got another migraine. It lasted for over four hours and was accompanied by nausea.

My friend and I stepped out for a bit to go look at dresses, and over the few hours we were out, the headache went away.

Got back home, went about the rest of my day. By bedtime, the headache returned. It was a headache, not a migraine, but I was worried. I never get migraines.

I told my man that the furnace has been smelling funny lately, too, and that because I never get migraines, I suspected carbon monoxide poisoning. He didn’t take it seriously, mainly because he’s not experienced any headaches or nausea. But he’s not home all day like I am.
Although, he did agree that the house does smell kinda weird when the furnace is running, now that I mention it…
But yer not supposed to smell carbon monoxide, which is why he didn’t take me seriously.

Today I bought a carbon monoxide tester. Plugged it in, let it sit for a bit. Fine, no problem.

Turned on the furnace.

Half hour to 40 mins later,

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!!!!

Ok so the instructions say to press the reset button and wait four minutes. If it goes off again, GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE HOUSE AND CALL THE GAS COMPANY.

Four minutes later,

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!!!!

All windows are open now, and yes I have a headache and nausea again. Called the landlady. She’s on the horn with her heating guy now.

Good times.

BTW, carbon monoxide testers are sold at your local hardware store for as cheap as $25.

9:34pm Edit: Been thinking about everything in the past five days with regards to the carbon monoxide poisoning.
January 24th: worst headache I’ve ever had - officially called it a migraine. In the house full time, bedridden due to george.
January 25th: let on that I’d been having nightmares. In the house full time, bedridden due to george.
January 28th: woke up in whimpering neck and shoulder pain with another migraine that lasted over 4 hours. The pain went away when I stepped out of the house for a few hours. Got paranoid that either I’ve got brain cancer (see my cancer fears) or the house has high levels of carbon monoxide, cuz I realised too that the house had been smelling funny when the furnace goes on. I can’t remember if it was around the 24th, 25th or 26th of January when I realised this about the furnace. When I went to bed on January 28th, I cracked open the window so we wouldn’t die in our sleep, I was that paranoid. Even though we don’t normally run the furnace at night, the thermostat is set to 65°F, and sometimes the house temp dips below that. I could’ve just turned the furnace OFF, but well I wasn’t thinking correctly. I WONDER WHY.
January 29th: charlie horse to the right foot in the wee hours of the morning. Was out of the house for much of the day, no migraines. Picked up the carbon monoxide tester on the way home, and you know the rest - the headache/nausea came back (it’s still with me despite windows open and me freezing) and the tester alarm went off twice, indicating high levels of carbon monoxide present in the house.

My neck and shoulders are killing me, and I’m REALLY tired now. I have that same sort of fuzzy vision I get when I’m stoned on Tylenol3. I know I should’ve left the house as soon as the alarm went off. I thought opening all the windows would suffice. My lower legs ache, too.

The treatment for poisoning is high dose oxygen mask according to emedicinehealth.com. For now, I’m just trying to breathe as much outside air as possible. It’s 45°F outside and 65°F inside the house with the cold night air pouring in. I keep stepping outside for a few minutes, then coming back in.

My man will be home, soon. Maybe we go to E.R., dunno yet.

George seems to be going away, now. The cramps went away last night by around 9pm, and didn’t return until I was out shopping with my friend early this afternoon. When the cramps and bleeding returned, it was mild. It seems to have dissipated again.

The store I went to with a friend wasn’t on the Sunday Wedding Dress Shopping agenda - I skipped that this week due to george. I’ll be hitting wedding shops tomorrow, though. Anyway, while I was at this local consignment shop, I saw a black dress, and my friend said she’d been eyeballing that one for me, and wanted me to try it on. So I did, and IT FIT PERFECTLY. It’s a black gown, a-line style dress. My friend convinced me that if I don’t use it for my wedding dress, I can always use it for other nice events, or to go to Convergence. And the price? Only $38.

Twist my arm! I bought it!

When I came home, I decided to give my father a call. Yes, I caved in, first. I called and sounded chipper, and in like fashion, both he and his wife were chipper. I asked if he’d read the last email I sent. He said he had, and said it’s okay, he’ll deal, but he’s still not happy with the idea of a Halloween theme, nor is he happy with how expensive our tastes are. Ahhh, ok, so here’s part of the confusion. I told him I’d sent him all that to let him know we needed a baseline from him - that we were looking at all these venues not knowing what kind of budget we’d be gifted with from him. My father finally gave me a firm budget he wants to gift us with, and now we can continue looking at more reasonable venues. This also means I have to talk with my man again about the reality of our budget, and see if his father and father’s wife are willing to budge on their “no money til we see a signed marriage license” nonsense.
It is likely that the guest list is going to have to be halved, sad to say. We just don’t have the money even for a $10K wedding, now, unless we put it on a credit card or two. It’s good to finally have solid numbers to work with, though. No more dreamland wedding planning.

I have my energy back today, and got some housework done. I also went crazy looking for wedding pix of friends I’d been meaning to upload. Here they are! Enjoy.