3D printer kills couple and their cats

[NumLock21]

Quote

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.

 

A couple was found dead on Monday afternoon by authorities in their home. The couple were both MIT graduates and they had two cats. The building was evacuated and the Fire Department's hazardous team was bought in to check out if there was anything wrong with the building. They couldn't find anything wrong with it. Then a few days later results came in and the couple showed signs of Carbon Monoxide poisoning. Both the couple and their cats were killed by their 3D printer when it, vented carbon monoxide into their home.

Not too sure how much toxic fumes a 3d printer releases. On the other hand, it's said that toner emitted from laser printer is like second hand smoke, so a 3D one is probably much worse?  As for the couple and their pet, rip.

 

 

 

 

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2017/01/27/source-carbon-monoxide-poisoning-killed-berkeley-couple/

 

 

update

 

[potoooooooo]

That really sucks.

 

TIL 3d printers vent gases

[ARikozuM]

Doesn't fit the Tech News format.

 

My question would be "Why didn't the CO detectors go off?"

[79wjd]

4 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

Doesn't fit the Tech News format.

 

My question would be "Why didn't the CO detectors go off?"

maybe they didnt have one?

 

Is it normal for a 3D printer to vent deadly levels of CO? Or was there just terrible ventilation? 

[Mr.Meerkat]

Rest in pieces...this is not gonna go well for 3D printer's reputation  

[suits]

6 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

Doesn't fit the Tech News format.

 

My question would be "Why didn't the CO detectors go off?"

I'd venture to say the majority of people don't have CO sensors. 

[ARikozuM]

5 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

maybe they didnt have one?

CO monitors are required in 20 states, last time I checked, and California is one of them.

 

2 minutes ago, suits said:

I'd venture to say the majority of people don't have CO sensors. 

[79wjd]

2 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

CO monitors are required in 20 states, last time I checked, and California is one of them.

That doesn't mean they follow the guidelines/law. A lot of homes don't even have smoke detectors because they don't want to deal with it going off in the middle of the night. 

[suits]

2 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

CO monitors are required in 20 states, last time I checked, and California is one of them.

 

That leaves 30 states where I doubt 10% of be people have them. Michigan no one has them. 

[0ld_Chicken]

moved to general discussion.  @NumLock21 fix your post to meet tech news and reviews guidelines and it'll be moved it back

 

and thanks for reminding me to get a co detector 

[AshleyAshes]

9 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

Doesn't fit the Tech News format.

 

My question would be "Why didn't the CO detectors go off?"

They may not have needed one.  In California you only require a CO detector if your home has gas burning appliances.  If they were otherwise electric, by default their home would not have needed one, except that they didn't understand the CO risk from the printer and thusly didn't properly equip.

[suits]

2 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

That doesn't mean they follow the guidelines. A lot of homes don't even have smoke detectors because they don't want to deal with it going off in the middle of the night. 

For real, you'd be surprised how many people take the batteries out of smoke detectors. Lot of people get caught when inspector comes for house improvements, and not that many people doing house improvements. 

[tikker]

Damn, when I saw the title I was really like "How can a 3D printer kill someone?". I didn't know they could release that much gas.

[AddonCustoms]

RIP to those that died, but 3D printing wasn't the cause. A member of the 3D printing community I am apart of looked into it a bit more, turned out they owned multiple laser cutters as well as 3D printers, if they did die by the fumes it was most likely the laser cutters. 

[Litargirio]

Damn.

 

Just how does a 3D printer produce that much CO? No, how does it produce any at all?

[ARikozuM]

http://www.ncsl.org/research/environment-and-natural-resources/carbon-monoxide-detectors-state-statutes.aspx

 

Spoiler

California

Cal. Health & Safety Code § 17926 to 17926.2 – Regulation of Buildings Used for Human Habitation

Requires the owner of every single family dwelling, hotel and motel dwelling units and all other existing dwelling units intended for human occupancy to maintain a carbon monoxide devise in the unit. A tenant shall be responsible for notifying the owner or owner's agent if the tenant becomes aware of an inoperable or deficient carbon monoxide device within his or her unit.

 

[AddonCustoms]

Found a post by one of their friends.

 

Quote

Hi folks. Val and Roger were dear friends, and I am on the ground here, and I'd like to respectfully ask that you refrain from speculation. The press is rushing to print sensational items, and they don't know the actual facts.
I've been talking to the police directly, and nothing is conclusive yet. Nothing has actually been ruled out, nor determined to be the cause. They don't even have full toxicology reports yet, those take days and sometimes weeks.
On a personal note, I can tell you that there were two devices in the house, a small 3D printer, and a small laser cutter, that were used for building models and rigs for scientific research. Val was an immaculate engineer, and conformed to all safety rules in operating these machines. To the best of our knowledge, neither of the machines were operating the night they passed away.
Again, please refrain from fear-mongering and speculation. I know it's natural for engineers to attack unsolved problems, but you are not working with correct or full data. Once more data is available, we will write up a complete and truthful statement to try and provide closure on this issue.

2

 

[Dash Lambda]

2 minutes ago, AddonCustoms said:

RIP to those that died, but 3D printing wasn't the cause. A member of the 3D printing community I am apart of looked into it a bit more, turned out they owned multiple laser cutters as well as 3D printers, if they did die by the fumes it was most likely the laser cutters. 

According to the article...

Quote

The source said that the couple was using a laser 3-D printer that was venting into their residence.

So my question: What the hell is a laser 3D printer? Are they talking about SLA printers? Do those produce CO?

Or is the writer just an idiot?

[AshleyAshes]

3 minutes ago, Dash Lambda said:

According to the article...

So my question: What the hell is a laser 3D printer? Are they talking about SLA printers? Do those produce CO?

Or is the writer just an idiot?

Being an unoffical report, it's possible the writer was not given accurate information.

 

That said, there are laser 3D printers, but they are big, expensive, high end devices.  They're not something you'd typically see a hobbiest install into a home.

 

Laser engravers and cutters can also be a serious risk too.  Particularly if you're cutting ABS since it'll release hydrogen cyanide gas.

[Dash Lambda]

1 minute ago, AshleyAshes said:

That said, there are laser 3D printers, but they are big, expensive, high end devices.  They're not something you'd typically see a hobbiest install into a home.

Which is why I mentioned SLA printers.

[AddonCustoms]

1 minute ago, Dash Lambda said:

According to the article...

So my question: What the hell is a laser 3D printer? Are they talking about SLA printers? Do those produce CO?

Or is the writer just an idiot?

 

Don't get me started on that lol.  3D Printers and Lasers are separate, yet some call a laser cutter a 3d laser printer, no idea why as it is not.

[79wjd]

8 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

http://www.ncsl.org/research/environment-and-natural-resources/carbon-monoxide-detectors-state-statutes.aspx

 

  Hide contents

California

Cal. Health & Safety Code § 17926 to 17926.2 – Regulation of Buildings Used for Human Habitation

Requires the owner of every single family dwelling, hotel and motel dwelling units and all other existing dwelling units intended for human occupancy to maintain a carbon monoxide devise in the unit. A tenant shall be responsible for notifying the owner or owner's agent if the tenant becomes aware of an inoperable or deficient carbon monoxide device within his or her unit.

 

I don't deny that it's required. But it's very hard to enforce and a lot of people won't use them for one reason or another or they won't have replaced theirs recently enough and it's now too old to work. 

[Dash Lambda]

1 minute ago, AddonCustoms said:

Don't get me started on that lol. 3D Printers and Lasers are separate, yet some call a laser cutter a 3d laser printer, no idea why as it is not.

I just found Glowforge.

Now I want to kick someone's teeth in.

[AddonCustoms]

6 minutes ago, Dash Lambda said:

I just found Glowforge.

Now I want to kick someone's teeth in.

 

 

 

OH GOD!!! You found what I was referring to... Horrible product, but a fantastic marketing team.

Due to the reporter mentioning "3D Laser Printer" some people in the laser/3dprinting community I am a part of stated it must have been a GlowForge as they are the main people that refer to lasers as "3D Laser Printers", someone claiming to be the CEO of Glowforge said that their machine was not involved in this incident, but I cannot be 100% sure that they were who they said they were.

EDIT: Can confirm it was the CEO of GlowForge that responded.

[ARikozuM]

8 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

I don't deny that it's required. But it's very hard to enforce and a lot of people won't use them for one reason or another or they won't have replaced theirs recently enough and it's now too old to work. 

It's hard to enforce, but it's one of those common sense items (like a fire alarm) that you should have regardless of what the owner thinks. Especially given the fact that the couple were engineers and would have been aware of the device's utility.