Know THIS Before Your End of Summer Travels: Bring First Alert With You
All of a sudden, the TV and lights turned off and I couldn’t see anything. It was 9PM, the twins were asleep, my husband was out of town on business, and the power had just gone out. That’s when our 5-year old ceiling-mounted carbon monoxide (CO) monitor started beeping loudly and incessantly—and it was located right outside of the kids’ bedroom, of course! The CO monitor was usually powered by our electricity, but with the power being out, the back-up battery was letting me (loudly) know it was dying. Naturally, this concerned me greatly as I always want to put my children’s safety first. As you might already know, carbon monoxide is an odorless, silent killer that can be emitted by anything in your house that burns fuel (i.e. furnace, dryer vent, chimney, car, gas stove, etc.). It can be extremely dangerous and lead to death if it reaches certain levels. It’s actually the 2nd most common cause of death related to non-medicinal poisonings. The ONLY way to detect carbon monoxide is by a CO monitor.
I fumbled around until I found our lanterns and flashlights. When I jumped into my critical thinking mode to solve the problem, I realized I couldn’t reach the CO monitor on the high ceiling; it could only be done with a ladder. The problem was, though, that I couldn’t get our ladder out of the detached garage because I couldn’t open the garage door without power. I resorted to calling my father-in-law (our hero!) who lives nearby to come help and bring his ladder and replace the battery. Luckily, the kids stayed asleep, but it was still a nightmare! This experience that occurred a few months ago taught me a lesson--that this could happen anywhere, at any time, and there are better solutions out there--like First Alert’s CO monitor! This experience taught me that I should be thinking about protecting my family regardless of whether we are at home or not. We like to take vacations and if we are protecting ourselves at home, then we should also be protecting ourselves when we are traveling.
Not only does the First Alert CO monitor not require installation/mounting (although, you can if you want it mounted), it also doesn’t die after only 5 years and require frequent battery replacements (like our original monitor)! Instead, it lasts an impressive TEN years. It’s small (fits in your luggage easily!), discreet, and it has a digital screen that shows the temperature and CO levels (if/when peak levels are detected). It can be placed on a nightstand or tabletop, it doesn’t require any cords or mounting, and it protects you, your family, and your pets for 10 long years. With the best part being its portability, it’s turned into one of my travel essentials. With so many people gearing up for their end-of-summer vacations, I wanted to share this information with you all as I think it’s important. I highly encourage you to pack one of these monitors in your bags.
Case in point is this Labor Day weekend! We are packing up and traveling to my family’s lake house on Lake Texoma in Oklahoma to celebrate my birthday! The lake house is an older (~30-year-old) house that’s used rather infrequently (maybe only once a year). Since the house goes without visitors for so long, I want to take the right precautions by bringing our portable First Alert CO monitor with us. I want to be able to go on our little family vacation, enjoy ourselves, and know that we are properly protected.
No more worries for us during vacation—AND, no more late-night ladder-climbing with battery chirps at home. If you haven’t already added this First Alert CO monitor to your home and travel essentials, then protect yourself, your family, and your pets by grabbing one here!
