St. Johns County, FL – ST.JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — It’s a hidden danger inside golf carts. Now, a St. Johns County couple is sharing their close call so you don’t become a victim.
It was a routine call for Capt. Andrew O’Quinn with St. Johns County Fire Rescue: a carbon monoxide detector was going off inside the family’s home.
Authorities evacuated and ventilated the Wade family’s home. Later, a malfunction was found with a water heater in their garage and repairs were made.
But about 1 a.m. the next day, the Wades’ carbon monoxide detector went off again.
“One of the firefighters noticed we had a golf cart and he came over this way and it (the gas meter) got higher and higher, and they lifted up the seat and put it near the battery and it just skyrocketed, and it was attached to the charger,” recalled Heather Wade.
“They had the same experience. They got gas readings inside the house. They checked around all the gas appliances and went to the gas appliance that was in question the last time but weren’t getting any readings, but they noticed the gas readings were higher in the garage near the golf cart,” said Capt. O’Quinn.
She and her husband, Jody, never thought twice about plugging in their golf cart to charge in their garage.
“Normally, it shuts off after 20 or 30 minutes, and it wasn’t shutting off and we didn’t realize that. It had been charging probably for 12 hours straight with the garage shut, just opened occasionally when we were getting the cars in and out. It was overcharging the batteries,” said Heather Wade.
As the batteries were overcharging, they were emitting highly explosive, odorless hydrogen gas.
“I was just shocked. I had no idea that was even a possibility,” said Heather Wade.
With the garage door closed, that gas only had one place to go.
“It was being sucked up through our air conditioning unit, which was in the garage,” said Heather Wade. “It was coming out in our vents into our home. It was in our girls’ bedrooms, our bedroom, all over our house.”
Without their carbon monoxide detectors, this could have ended much differently.
“It could have. I think you look at totality of situation there could have been an outcome where they had a fire or the gas could have continued to accumulate and then they would start to feel the symptoms of gas accumulation which could be nausea, dizziness and eventually leading to unconscious and death,” said Capt. O’Quinn.
The Wades are now wondering if the hydrogen gas could be to blame for their daughter’s headaches, which have since gone away.
“My 7-year-old daughter was diagnosed with migraines a few months ago so we are wondering because her bedroom is the closest to garage, so we are wondering if possibly if it was linked,” said Heather Wade.
Captain O’Quinn says golf cart owners need to be aware.
“Knowing this is a potential problem, charge it in an adequately ventilated area. Try not to leave it in enclosed area. Make sure your batteries are maintained. If you have maintenance free batteries make sure they are checked. If you have to add water to your batteries make sure that water level is at the adequate level,” said Capt. O’Quinn.
“My advice would be to monitor your charger. Keep an eye one it. If it doesn’t shut off like it should, that’s a problem and it doesn’t take very long for it to become a big problem potentially, so keep an eye on charger. Unplug it,” said Jody Wade.
The Wades now charge their golf cart with the garage door open and are thankful they had working carbon monoxide detectors in their home.
“I would encourage everyone to get them. We would have had no idea,” said Heather Wade.