Berkeley couple killed by carbon monoxide poisoning.

Berkeley couple killed by carbon monoxide poisoning.

BERKELEY (CBS SF) – A couple found dead in their Berkeley home under mysterious circumstances earlier this week was killed by carbon monoxide poisoning, a law enforcement source told KPIX 5 Friday.

35-year-old Roger Morash and 32-year-old Valerie Morash were found dead Monday afternoon in a fourplex on Deakin Street in Berkeley where they had lived for several years.

The source said that the couple was using a laser 3-D printer that was venting into their residence. Symptoms and signs consistent with carbon monoxide poisoning were found in their bodies.

Police evacuated the apartment building and called in PG&E and the fire department’s hazardous materials team to look for a gas leak or some other hazard but no contaminant was found.

Their two cats were also found dead. The couple was identified by authorities Tuesday.

Roger was a game developer working on an adventure game called Shard. Valerie was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute in San Francisco.

They both attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

A memorial service is planned for 6 p.m. night at the Ed Roberts Campus on Adeline Street in Berkeley.

© Copyright 2017 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Are they saying the 3D printer was giving off carbon monoxide? I had no idea they did that.

Remember to check the batteries in your CO detector so you don't wind up dead berkeleyers

Apparently this was not the typical melted plastic string type of 3d printer, it was a more industrial type device.

Somehow I thought this was going to be about people berkeleying in a car in the garage with the engine running...

SVreX wrote: Somehow I thought this was going to be about people berkeleying in a car in the garage with the engine running...

Having just seen a news story about this in the last 2 weeks from Germany? Sweden? somewhere in Europe, I assumed the same

Don't a be a E36 M3head. Install some CO2 detectors so you don't end up like those poor Berkeleyers.

3D printer huh, that's good to know, who woulda thunk it.

Polymers all off gas during whe in a melt state. I have never heard of something like this happening but we do often see polymer fever in plastics processing employees. Big fan of CO and smoke detectors.

berkeley indeed

I had a very close call in my first house back in 1995. Bad gas furnace was dumping CO into the house. We did not realize and did not know. We were at the point of sleepy and headachey.

Based on some advise, we called the local fire dept who came and tested...off the charts. They kicked us out of the house for the night and we stayed with parents.

Yeah, detectors.
Coincidentally, I live in an all electric house now. Electric is more expensive here but I will say, I like the piece of mind.

JohnRW1621 wrote: Coincidentally, I live in an all electric house now. Electric is more expensive here but I will say, I like the piece of mind.

Yeah, you've obviously never been on the receiving end of an electrical fire...

I'm trying to imagine the warning sticker they will have to put on the printer from now on.

"This product is known by the state of California to kill berkleyers"

I have had two cases of carbon monoxide . First was when my wife and I woke up with the same headache etc. Dawned on me what it was. Second was when my old detector started doing some strange things. I thought maybe old age. I bought a new one. Same off and on warnings. Both case were failed fire boxes in the furnace. Gas heat.

JohnRW1621 wrote: I had a very close call in my first house back in 1995. Bad gas furnace was dumping CO into the house. We did not realize and did not know. We were at the point of sleepy and headachey. Based on some advise, we called the local fire dept who came and tested...off the charts. They kicked us out of the house for the night and we stayed with parents. Yeah, detectors. Coincidentally, I live in an all electric house now. Electric is more expensive here but I will say, I like the piece of mind.

My Mom tells a story of when she and my Father were helping friends clean out a flooded basement. After cleaning for awhile, one of their friends stated they were tired and proceeded to lay down on the floor in the two inches of standing water . At that point they realized that maybe it was time to get out of the basement.

maybe open a window when playing with melted plastics..

Streetwiseguy wrote:

JohnRW1621 wrote: Coincidentally, I live in an all electric house now. Electric is more expensive here but I will say, I like the piece of mind.

Yeah, you've obviously never been on the receiving end of an electrical fire...

Which could happen in any home regardless of type of heat, gas or electric.

84FSP wrote: I have never heard of something like this happening but we do often see polymer fever in plastics processing employees.

Polymer fever? The hell is that? Sounds awful.

In reply to Appleseed:

ala the Wiki. This is a Teflon specific one but they all do it to varying degrees.

Polymer fume fever or fluoropolymer fever, also informally called Teflon flu, is an inhalation fever caused by the fumes released when polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE, known under the trade name Teflon) reaches temperatures of 300 °C (572 °F) to 450 °C (842 °F)[1]. When PTFE is heated above 450 °C the pyrolysis products are different and inhalation may cause acute lung injury.[citation needed] Symptoms are flu-like (chills, headaches and fevers) with chest tightness and mild cough. Onset occurs about 4 to 8 hours after exposure to the pyrolysis products of PTFE. A high white blood cell count may be seen and chest x-ray findings are usually minimal.

The polymer fumes are especially harmful to certain birds whose breathing, optimized for rapidity, allows toxins which are excluded by human lungs. Fumes from Teflon in very high heat are fatal to parrots,[2] as well as some other birds (PTFE Toxicosis).[3]

Sounds like we all need to start keeping birds around just in case...

I've had CO poisoning once, as a result of extensive cutting and grinding in the basement work room for a project up in the garage. Project lasted about half the day, and later that night was watching a movie with my GF in the basement. Got up to use the restroom and made it probably 25 feet before basically passing out on the floor. Could still hear, but couldn't see or move. She got me upstairs and outside (where it was about 20 degrees out) and we stayed out there for probably an hour to get fresh air into my system. That was a scary experience. I've got an alarm in my house, but this thread is making me think I should probably put one in the garage as well. Cheap insurance...

Streetwiseguy wrote:

JohnRW1621 wrote: Coincidentally, I live in an all electric house now. Electric is more expensive here but I will say, I like the piece of mind.

Yeah, you've obviously never been on the receiving end of an electrical fire...

WOAH, does that mean you can be on the delivering end of one??? COOOOOL!!!

In reply to 4cylndrfury:

You can, but it will hurt the entire time you're dieing.

After being saved by drafty windows in my house the year we bought it i now have a CO2 detector on every floor. Home inspector missed a hole in the furnace heat exchanger. 4 months of headaches and sinus like symptoms explained in 20 minutes.

minivan_racer wrote: Apparently this was not the typical melted plastic string type of 3d printer, it was a more industrial type device.

If it's a laser cutter (something I wouldn't be at all surprised if a newspaper got confused about), you need to be really careful what you cut with those because of fumes.

Appleseed wrote:

84FSP wrote: I have never heard of something like this happening but we do often see polymer fever in plastics processing employees.

Polymer fever? The hell is that? Sounds awful.

Sounds like metal fume fever, which is also awful. That happened to me while welding aluminized exhaust pipe last year with no breeze, all the crap was hanging around me. It was 3 days of the worst pain i've ever felt followed by 2+ weeks of general pain and lethargy.

I have this in the garage:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00002N86A/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I like that it has a metered display.