New Furnace

[Kroh07]

My landlord had a new (central air) gas furnace (Arcoaire brand) installed after the last one failed. It began running 10/12. My birds have been kept at my parents since then (10 days today). The horrible chemical smell seems gone. The vent air smells 'hot' if that makes sense. The house smells a bit earthy and musty, which I presume is just from not being lived in or having fresh air when people come and go. It has been aired out an hour or so here and there, and once for an entire day.

Would it be safe to return my birds? I have a small sun conure and an African grey. I hate to return them and end up killing them, but it seems like the only way to know it's safe is to return them and see how they fare. Has anyone been through this? Logically I want to think that's long enough to burn off any coating, but I'm afraid to lose my birds.

 

[Peachfaced]

I haven't been through this myself, so I'm tagging a couple of folks that may know.

@Macawnutz @JLcribber (sorry for tagging you so much!)

 

[Macawnutz]

When I did my new furnace we cranked it for 24 hours and then let it sit at temp for a week before returning the flock.

My guess is that it's good.

 

[Kroh07]

We had the heat on about 75° for the first 3 days. When it still smelled on day 4, we left it on 80° with every window in the house opened from 2 pm until 9 am the next day. It was upper 30s that night so the heater ran for a solid 21 hours with no break. We then closed the windows and bumped it down to 76° and left it there until today, airing it out about an hour a day. Today I lowered it to 72° where I normally leave it. Should that have been sufficient enough to burn anything off? Call me paranoid but I am so worried about my sun conure especially as he's so small.

 

[SandraK]

We had the heat on about 75° for the first 3 days. When it still smelled on day 4, we left it on 80° with every window in the house opened from 2 pm until 9 am the next day. It was upper 30s that night so the heater ran for a solid 21 hours with no break. We then closed the windows and bumped it down to 76° and left it there until today, airing it out about an hour a day. Today I lowered it to 72° where I normally leave it. Should that have been sufficient enough to burn anything off? Call me paranoid but I am so worried about my sun conure especially as he's so small.

You're not paranoid, you are worried about your birds' safety and you get kudos for worrying because it means you care for them deeply. I believe you'll be safe.

 

[JLcribber]

10 days is plenty long enough if things were done right.

 

[Kroh07]

@JLcribber My landlord hired a local plumbing and heating company to install so I want to think it was done right. All I have in home is a carbon monoxide detector and it reads safe. I do have an Austin Air purifier as well which will be ran. I don't know how else to detect any issue.

 

[JLcribber]

That means he would have pulled a permit. Which means it would have been inspected. You're good to go.

 

[Kroh07]

Thank you everyone. My dog and my African grey are at home now as of almost the last hour. My CAG seems fine so far. I'm going to monitor him throughout the evening and night. If he is fine tomorrow, my sun conure will be coming home too.

It's crazy how stressful these things are. It means a lot to have a community that gets it.

 

[Peachfaced]

Thank you everyone. My dog and my African grey are at home now as of almost the last hour. My CAG seems fine so far. I'm going to monitor him throughout the evening and night. If he is fine tomorrow, my sun conure will be coming home too.

It's crazy how stressful these things are. It means a lot to have a community that gets it.

Especially when you live with people who don't get it, or don't care.

 

[Kroh07]

Especially when you live with people who don't get it, or don't care.

No one outside of my household gets it All I've heard the entire time at my parents was how it would be fine to take them home. Only bird people understand.

 

[Kroh07]

Thank you everyone for the advice and reassurance. These are my two babies who are extremely happy to be back home. They've been home today with no signs of any issue.

 

[Peachfaced]

You've been holding out on us! Your flock is CUTE!

 

[Kroh07]

You've been holding out on us! Your flock is CUTE!

Thank you! They are my world I am so relieved.

 

[Appolosmom]

No one outside of my household gets it All I've heard the entire time at my parents was how it would be fine to take them home. Only bird people understand.

a friend of mine had a new furnace installed after running for about 20 minutes she found her parolette dead on the cage floor she felt so bad but she didn't know

 

[SandraK]

When our furnace had to be changed last winter, since they couldn't pre-burn it they directed the exhaust out through the garage. Just in case, we sealed all the vents leading towards the bird area as well as any doors/windows facing that way. We also had fans in the family/bird room exhausting out through the sliding doors and the kitchen door. Furnace was run at high for an hour+ to be safe.