It’s October, and Halloween is right around the corner. That means it’s the time of year to gather ‘round the fire and share tales of strange haunts and mysterious happenings.
But what if those horror stories don’t involve specters at all? Sometimes, the scariest things are less than paranormal, and they could be happening in your own home.
The Tale of the Invisible Spectator
When sticky notes started appearing in a Massachusetts man’s apartment, he went to the internet for answers. The notes had been showing up at random for several weeks, in a handwriting he didn’t recognize. Sometimes, they contained errands he needed to run or things he needed to remember, but the man lived alone and definitely didn’t remember writing them. As time went on, more notes started appearing around his apartment: on doors, on cabinets or in places he’d never put them. He became convinced someone was in his apartment, watching him from the shadows unseen.
A little bit of detective work uncovered that this man lived in a tiny apartment with no windows in an old building with poor ventilation. Carbon monoxide was coming from somewhere in the building, filling his apartment with an invisible and odorless gas. The man was having headaches, memory loss and hallucinations. The sticky notes were his, even though he never remembered writing them. Another commenter recommended he buy a carbon monoxide monitor, and when he plugged it in, it read 100ppm — definitely enough to cause his symptoms, and over the long-term, to be fatal.
We Ain’t Afraid of No Gas
The most common source of carbon monoxide buildup is from oil or natural gas-fueled combustion units like HVAC heat pumps and boilers. If you haven’t kept up with your heating system maintenance, cracks around the combustion chamber can result in carbon monoxide building up in your own home. Without a carbon monoxide detector, there’s no way to know how much is in your home or where it’s coming from.
If you haven’t had your heating system inspected in a while, you could be at risk for carbon monoxide leaks, gas leaks, soot buildup and more. These can not only impact your health and safety but the long-term function of your heating system as well. Call Southern Trust Home Services today at (540) 343-4348 for a heating system inspection and tune-up, and make sure your home stays safe this fall. 23
