Furnace Causes Raised Carbon Monoxide Levels

Dear Attorney Johnson:

I thought I’d share with you some of what happened yesterday when I spent Christmas with my dad, sister and nephew.

While driving to Kentucky, my dad was telling me that my nephew Jim was doing very well in the 6th grade making all A on his report card, but had missed 18 days of school. Jim’s doctor did some blood work and discovered that he had a carbon monoxide level of 3.1. He slept in a back room where the furnace was located. “So there was something wrong with the furnace?” My dad, who seems to be in eternal denial, responded, “Well, you know there are the fumes from the school buses. He did get sick when he went on a field trip.” I said, “If the cause of the problem were bus fumes, there would be a lot of kids having problems.” Then my dad says, “Well, there are a lot of other kids missing school as well.”

Fortunately, they did have Jim start sleeping in the front room. And my dad did replace the furnace even though he said that he had someone come out and check it and found “nothing wrong with it.” Jim’s carbon monoxide level did drop down to .6 once he started sleeping in the front room. He now has his own room that he sleeps in.

Well, that was my Christmas. We did have a pleasant time.

Angela