Yup, I'm doin' it!

Becker

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Becker
Newer vans produce little carbon monoxide looks like a van powered machine.

But no way in hell even on the coldest day would I risk it.

A slide in would be a huge risk.


But let's say it worked fine.
Client.

Carpets look great but why died my house and garage stink if exhaust?

Couple of yeArs ago a local cleaner sent himself other tenants and firefighter to the hospital cleaning from a under the building garage.
 

Becker

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How do you create heat Dave? Personally I'd not want to exhaust my humid machine into a clients closed garage.

While you were there Dave did ya do a load of white and made a sandwich with catching up on the latest daytime soap?
 

Royal Man

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How do you create heat Dave? Personally I'd not want to exhaust my humid machine into a clients closed garage.

While you were there Dave did ya do a load of white and made a sandwich with catching up on the latest daytime soap?

I don't watch soap operas and I heat with a little giant. They just make water vapor and I leave the garage door open unless it is below zero.
 
F

FB7777

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Sshhh Becker , I think Dave should smoke when igniting his Little Giant. And toss an extra 2 or 3 propane tanks in the back of his purple shag mobile
 

Spurlington

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Wasnt there a story of a crew that parked their van next to the air intake of a building sucking in the exhaust killing them while they were cleaning ..

Back when I was an idiot .. I needed to descale my system .. it was 10 degrees outside, so I kept the garage door closed .. I figured since I was ''in'' the van, the exhaust blowing out the floor wouldnt get to me .. since I didnt smell it, I thought it was ok .. my son comes out mumbling something .. Im like .. you got to get to bed bud .. hes mumbling again so I say it louder .. he goes inside and comes back out with a paper in his hand .. so as Im getting ready to climb out of the van, I fell straight to the garage floor and could not get up .. I got real dizzy and asked him to open the garage door .. I actually had to crawl out because my body felt like 1000 lbs ..

So I ended up going to the hospital .. they said my lack of oxygen level was near death .. they wanted to keep me over night and Im like nooo, I gotta work in the morning .. she said keep inhaling the oxygen thru the mask and if my level comes down enough I might be able to go home ..

I did go home that night .. I couldnt believe how fast that crept up on me .. I was just jammin tunes and shining up the TM while the descaler was running thru the system .. man .. my son saved my life .. I had no clue I was in trouble .. I didnt smell exhaust .. it was creeping up to kill me .. carbon monoxide is no joke ..
 

Becker

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Becker
A lot of my clients drive very nice cars, I'd rather them have access to their protected garage, besides that, many of my clients have very expensive tools and toys in their garage, not sure I'd want to expose them to an increased risk of theft. Thieves like to target upscale neighborhoods as the crime is worth it. Sure, low risk, but not a risk I wish to expose my clients to. If they wish to have thier garage door open then that is on them. In rare cases I need to access though the garage per my request I lower the door to my hoses.
 

Royal Man

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Propane is used inside of millions of buildings everyday. (Forklifts, buffers, heaters, fireplaces etc... ) The couple of stairs you walk into the house are far mor dangerous.
 

Becker

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Propane is used inside of millions of buildings everyday. (Forklifts, buffers, heaters, fireplaces etc... ) The couple of stairs you walk into the house are far mor dangerous.



Is that the line you use when asking your client to move their car, and they question the safety "high powered, heat, professional" equipment being in their garage.

If you asked me to move then with replied with the stair line, I'd come back with.. Well you know most car wreck happen with in 10 miles of the drivers home. So you are asking me to move my car risking those stairs, and driving my car. Because you don't want to be in the weather?
 

Royal Man

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Is that the line you use when asking your client to move their car, and they question the safety "high powered, heat, professional" equipment being in their garage.

If you asked me to move then with replied with the stair line, I'd come back with.. Well you know most car wreck happen with in 10 miles of the drivers home. So you are asking me to move my car risking those stairs, and driving my car. Because you don't want to be in the weather?
Its really not that big of deal most clients are more than happy to move their car. Because most are just meeting me for a moment and leaving anyway. There are over 100 million uses of propane in America every year. 23 people die almost all from fires. Every thing in life has inherant risks. Propane fume danger is near the bottom of the list. I wonder if you wake up scared to take a shower. Walk down stairs. Cook on the stove. Drive your van? All those things are far more dangerous.
 
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KevinD

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Binghamton,New York
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Kevin Dumas
Some of the survivors who talked to me about it said they felt tired, and just thought they needed to take a break. Some went outside and other people saw how red their faces were and told them something was wrong, others had terrible headaches and figured out the problem in time.

From personal experience.
I was cleaning an American Legion Hall at 2am as I have always done.
Half way through the job I developed a headache which I just blew off.
Shortly after that I became dizzy, starting feeling weak, nausea set in. Just thought I was getting the flu bug.
Minutes later disorientated and confused (but must finish job).
Then I can no longer stand and must lay down but remember pulling the phone off the bar
and calling our friend Jim Potter which lived 8 minutes down the road to finish the job.
If he had not answered or was 12 minutes away I probably would not be writing this today.

So guys, at the first sign of headache and dizziness on a job get outside.
And velcro a battery operated co2 to your spotting kit or coaster tray that you bring in on every job.
 

Jim Pemberton

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From personal experience.
I was cleaning an American Legion Hall at 2am as I have always done.
Half way through the job I developed a headache which I just blew off.
Shortly after that I became dizzy, starting feeling weak, nausea set in. Just thought I was getting the flu bug.
Minutes later disorientated and confused (but must finish job).
Then I can no longer stand and must lay down but remember pulling the phone off the bar
and calling our friend Jim Potter which lived 8 minutes down the road to finish the job.
If he had not answered or was 12 minutes away I probably would not be writing this today.

So guys, at the first sign of headache and dizziness on a job get outside.
And velcro a battery operated co2 to your spotting kit or coaster tray that you bring in on every job.

Jim Potter has been a good friend to you for decades. I had no idea this one time that friendship saved your life.

I'm glad he answered the phone too Kevin
 

Becker

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Becker
Jim Potter has been a good friend to you for decades. I had no idea this one time that friendship saved your life.

I'm glad he answered the phone too Kevin

Wow, what a story..

Lee, Dave is fine. He is electric and propane, both completely safe, and have never been known to start a single accidently fire.
 
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Doug Cox

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Dec 17, 2006
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Delavan, WI
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Doug Cox
For someone who has dealt with two occasions of a fire starting in or on my van in 30 years, I would never park in a customers garage (and they offer all the time). I don't even like being under their eaves. I couldn't live with myself if I burned down a customers house.
 

Able 1

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I did it once, that was enough for me(0 degrees with a 20 degree wind chill).. I was feeling the symptoms above and pulled the van out mid job. Not worth it, ever! Usually (if not always) when running a forklift indoors they have massive air handlers that move crazy amounts of air. I have ran in under ground parking(with air handlers) for some apts. I have cleaned and the maintenance guy said I was in the red zone the whole time I was cleaning.
 

Russ T.

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Slater, IA
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Russ Terhaar
I had planned on just parking in there to keep the van out of the cold while I measured and set up. It took me all of another 30 seconds to just pull the van out and hook up from there once I removed my head from my a$$. I guess it was just a bonehead move. I really did appreciate the caution from everyone. A situation like that is even more risky being that I was working alone in a vacant home.


The Clean Machine
 

Mark Saiger

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Dec 26, 2006
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Grand Rapids, MN
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Mark Saiger
Was -19 today when we started and made it up to -6 when we got home. Just plain old dang cold!

I don't need to say more about the van in the garage except we never would. Appreciate the post though so maybe someone else will see and we can avoid a potentially bad situation.

In don't know how many times I have been offered by homeowners to just back my van in their garage. Always explain the concerns and we should all try to live another day. They laugh with me typically and appreciate the safety measures we take. :smile:

So stay warm if you can and look forward to seeing everyone soon!

Mark Saiger
 
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Terry

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May 18, 2007
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Wrentham, MA
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Terry O'Brien
Any of you guys that think parking in a garage with whatever energy system you use to power your cleaning should inform your insurance agent and ask them if your covered. I'm guessing your not.
Even if its electric, you have gasoline and other materials that will fuel a fire.

How many of you carry a exhaust hose?

I was working in an ally in the back bay area of Boston when a guy came out from the building across from where we were working to tell us that we had set off the co2 detector because our exhaust was getting into their intake. Since then we're much more careful of our surroundings when operating our machines.
 

Cleantechsk

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Dustin
oh come on 20F is just go out and get stuff from your truck in just your shirt :p

Thought americans were made tougher lol
 
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