Improperly using appliances in your home can be a danger to you and others. A Reddit user noticed their neighbor using their oven as a heating source in an apartment building and flagged it with major concern.
In the post in r/hvacadvice, they said that heating in the building was included with rent but that their neighbor turns on their oven for additional heat. The poster called maintenance once after smelling gas, but their neighbor continued leaving their oven on for extended periods of time.
"How much danger am I in?" they asked the subreddit. "His apartment is very close to mine, just across the hall. I've heard in the past that this is a major carbon monoxide risk and very dangerous."
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Using an oven as a heat source is strongly discouraged across the board, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers it to be dangerous behavior that puts people at risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.
One in five low-income Americans have said they've heated their homes with their ovens, according to a survey by Consumer Reports. Leaving the oven on could lead to burns and fire. Burning natural gas inside could also negatively affect people with asthma and other respiratory conditions.
Climate-smart homeowners are always looking for tips and tricks to make their homes and appliances more energy efficient. But a tough neighbor can get in the way of that and even pose a risk of danger.
Commenters on the Reddit post were mixed on how the poster should get involved, with several suggesting that they should at least make sure to have a working carbon monoxide detector.
"As others have said, a carbon monoxide alarm is a good idea. You should have one of those anyway," one user said. "But to be honest I would be more worried about him burning the place down than I would be with carbon monoxide."
Another commenter wrote: "Call the landlord, local and state health dept. and gas utility to help your neighbor come up with a healthy solution. Let the landlord know he could be liable for any injury or death from the gas oven misuse."
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