A few years ago, I rented an old apartment with a malfunctioning gas water heater. My family nearly escaped the deadly carbon monoxide that was released one january evening...
"A few years ago, my wife, my daughter and I were living in Ixelles. It was one of those apartments in an old town house with all the rooms one behind the other. At the back were the kitchen and a tiny little bathroom with a gas water heater.
One January evening, my wife and I were giving our little daughter a bath while Moustique, our dog, watched the proceedings attentively. Our daughter was just a few months old at the time, so we’d closed the only door properly so that she wouldn’t catch cold. It was very warm in that small room.
Suddenly Moustique began to stagger around. Because I thought he was suffering from the heat, I took him into the kitchen, where he quickly recovered. Going back to the bathroom, I saw that my wife was about to faint. She thrust our daughter into my arms, and I went and laid her down in our bedroom. When I got back, I found my wife unconscious. I switched off the gas supply straight away and dragged her into the kitchen as best I could.
The doctors at the hospital soon knew what was wrong: carbon monoxide poisoning! CO, the bathroom killer. Because the CO level in her blood had already gone up to 25 per cent, my wife had to be put in a hyperbaric chamber. Our daughter and I got off with a fright. If our dog hadn’t been taken ill, the inadequate CO discharge due to the steam and a ventilation pipe that was too small would have been fatal for us.
Do you have a gas water heater in your home? If so, have it inspected regularly. And don’t forget to ventilate the room it is in all the time. These small precautions can save lives, because not everyone has a little Moustique at home…"
(Editor’s note: Because Jean-Pierre is still affected by what he experienced, we have respected his wish to remain anonymous.)
See also the question 'How can I prevent CO poisoning?'
