c02 The Silent Killers in Your Home | Episode 586 Good morning. It’s 45 degrees, I’m dragging butt, and today we’re talking about something that quietly kills a lot of people every year. Carbon dioxide. Smoke. Ventilation. The invisible stuff. This isn’t sexy prepping. This is boring, basic, “why are we even talking about this?” prepping. Because a $20 device can literally save your life. Carbon Dioxide: The Cheap Life Insurance You’re Ignoring I was scrolling headlines this morning and saw another story about deaths from carbon dioxide poisoning. It happens every single year. A lot. And here’s the stupid part — a CO₂ detector costs like twenty bucks. Even if you don’t run a propane heater, even if you think your house is “fine,” they’re cheap enough that not owning one is just negligence. Modern homes are airtight. That’s great for energy efficiency. It’s not great if something is off-gassing inside. We run:
- A Mr. Buddy propane backup heater
- On-demand propane hot water
Both can introduce CO₂ into the air. Under normal conditions? Fine. Crank the flame too high? It absolutely spikes. We’ve set ours off before. We’ve seen it climb toward 150 parts per million. The alarm goes off, we crack windows, levels drop. If we didn’t have the monitor? We’d have no clue. That’s the scary part. Without a detector, you literally do not know. Backup Heat Means Backup Monitoring If you’re running any kind of propane heater — especially in winter — this is not optional. Yes, some heaters have built-in shutoff sensors. The Mr. Buddy claims it will shut itself off if CO₂ gets too high. Cool. I still want my own monitor. That’s a belt-and-suspenders situation. Redundancy matters when the failure mode is “you don’t wake up.” Also: crack a window. It feels counterintuitive when you’re trying to heat a space, but fresh air matters. Smoke Detectors: The Highest ROI Device in Your House If your house doesn’t have smoke detectors, I don’t know what to tell you. They are cheap. The return on investment is astronomical. The ROI of not dying in a house fire? I’ll take that trade every day of the week. Yes, I’ve had one fail before. I installed one when I built my house, it broke, and there was a stretch where we didn’t have one. It happens. Then you fix it. Also: change your batteries. Do not be the person whose smoke detector chirps for three months. Just replace the batteries. Batteries: The Boring Prep That Matters CO₂ detectors. Smoke alarms. Flashlights. They all need batteries. Stock some. I bought one of those zippered foam battery organizers that holds multiple sizes. It’s nerdy, but having a full case of ready-to-go batteries is awesome. Also, don’t cheap out on garbage rechargeable batteries. I bought some that were labeled rechargeable and either weren’t — or were just trash. They wouldn’t hold a charge. When it comes to life-safety gear? Buy decent batteries. Combination Units vs Dedicated Monitors Many modern smoke detectors also monitor CO₂. That’s fine. Two-for-one is great. Personally, I like a dedicated CO₂ monitor that shows parts per million in real time. I want to see the numbers. I want to watch them drop when I open a window. But if you’re starting from scratch? A combo unit is far better than nothing. The goal is awareness. Radon and Other Invisible Problems Carbon dioxide isn’t the only invisible threat. Radon is real. I’ve watched a YouTube renovation series where a homeowner tested high radon levels in a basement before sealing and fixing it. That’s something you may want to test, depending on where you live. Ventilation matters. Fresh air matters. And if you have natural gas? Know where your emergency shutoff is. That’s non-negotiable. Final Thoughts This episode isn’t dramatic. It’s not about collapse. It’s about not dying from something preventable. Buy a CO₂ detector.
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