Sandy, UT – A Sandy couple says they are lucky to be alive, after a faulty pool heater installation leaked carbon monoxide into their home.
Renae Rindlisbacher says she barely heard the alarm sounding from her basement. It was the middle of the night, when the woman just happened to wake up to use her inhaler.
“Had that not happened, I think we would’ve slept through the whole thing, and I don’t think we would’ve woken up,” she said.
Rindlisbacher says she and her husband thought someone may have broken in so called their alarm company hotline.
“[The representative] said it’s more than likely carbon monoxide, and she immediately sent the fire station here…” Rindlisbacher said. “I ran around and I started turning furnaces off…” she explained.
Little did they know, the source of the deadly emission was coming from their indoor pool. After hours of investigating, authorities attributed the carbon monoxide leak to a faulty heater installation.
Experts say standard pool systems come with wired connections between the boiler and power vents but not always. The couple recently had their pool drained and the fan pushing emissions out of the house failed to turn on when they restarted the system.
“The Rindlisbachers have hired our company to install a new heather — one that is not a gas powered heater, just for their peace of mind,” Anthony Findley, the owner of Deep Blue Pools and Spas told Good 4 Utah, Monday.
Findley is now fixing the problem and attributes the dangerous mistake to the initial installers.
“Whomever they’ve hired to wire the blower to the furnace is where I believe the mistake was made,” he explained.
But carbon monoxide can seep out of anywhere with gas-powered equipment — not just homes with pools inside. Everyone involved agrees strategically placing carbon monoxide detectors is key. The Rindlisbachers had just one inside their 13,000 square-foot home.