I know what you're expecting - not writing that blog yet.

Nay, how about something we should all be thinking about, though?


You know I drive a large vehicle for work. It produces copious amounts of toxic and lethal exhaust fumes, and while the possibility I will be gassed to death at work is small - It is not zero.

I have not felt quite right all week. Almost like a low-grade fever or other ail, digestive upsets, and that generic "I'm not getting enough sleep" kind of thing.

Yesterday, I finally put two and two together - helped by the fact that when I turned on the heating system on the coldest day of the year, my bus immediately filled up with visible exhaust fumes.

Yeah, something wasn't right there. Fortunately, it was only me on board, so no evacuation was necessary. I shut down the vehicle, and manually closed all the ventilation ports.

Fortunately, I have an auxiliary heater that is totally electric, and is physically disconnected from the engine and heat exchanger. Within about two hours of switching everything over, I was feeling much better. That vehicle is now out-of-service for the weekend.

There are a handful of fatalities every year in Massachusetts. Most of them happen due to poorly-ventilated generators during power outages. Most of them never even make the news.



I'd guess that most of us have a CO detector somewhere in the house. Maybe it's time to develop a small, vehicle-sized plugin too.

Carbon Monoxide Safety