Carbon Monoxide is the number one cause of poisoning death in America, killing approximately 1800 people a year. On average, 10,000 people are treated annually for Carbon Monoxide poisoning.
What is Carbon Monoxide?
Carbon Monoxide is an invisible, odorless gas. It is a common by-product of incomplete combustion, produced when fossil fuels (like oil, gas or coal) burn. Because you can't see, taste or smell it, carbon monoxide can kill you before you know it's there. Exposure to lower levels over time can make you sick.
Where does Carbon Monoxide come from?
Carbon Monoxide can be produced by the combustion that occurs from fossil fuel burning appliances like furnaces, clothes dryers, ovens or ranges, water heaters or space heaters. When appliances and vents work properly, and there is enough fresh air in your home to allow complete combustion, the trace amounts of Carbon Monoxide produced are typically not dangerous. Normally, Carbon Monoxide is safely vented outside your home.
Problems may arise when something goes wrong. An appliance can malfunction, a furnace heat exchanger can crack, vents can clog, or debris may block a chimney or flue. Fireplaces, wood burning stoves, gas heaters, charcoal grills, or gas logs can produce unsafe levels of Carbon Monoxide if they are unvented or not properly vented. Exhaust can seep into the home from vehicles left running in an attached garage. All these things can cause a Carbon Monoxide problem in the home.
Why is Carbon Monoxide so dangerous?
Carbon Monoxide robs you of what you need most, oxygen, which is carried to your cells and tissue by the hemoglobin in your blood. If you inhale Carbon Monoxide, it quickly bonds with hemoglobin and displaces oxygen. This produces a toxic compound in your blood called carboxyhemoglobin (COHb).
Carboxyhemoglobin produces flu-like symptoms, such as headaches, fatigue, nausea, dizziness, confusion and irritability. Since symptoms are similar to the flu, carbon monoxide poisoning can be misdiagnosed. As levels of COHb rise, victims suffer vomiting, loss of consciousness, and eventually brain damage or death.
Who is at risk from Carbon Monoxide poisoning?
Everyone is at risk because everyone needs oxygen to survive. Medical experts believe some people may be more vulnerable to Carbon Monoxide poisoning: unborn babies, infants, children, seniors, and people with heart and lung problems due to higher metabolic rates.
How can I help protect against Carbon Monoxide poisoning?
Early warning is important. Install one or more alarms. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recommends that every home have at least one carbon monoxide alarm with an audible warning signal installed near the sleeping area. Choose a Carbon Monoxide alarm that is tested and listed by a Nationally Accredited Lab such as ETL or UL.
Have your appliances checked regularly. Have a qualified appliance technician check all fossil fuel burning appliances, venting and chimney systems at least once a year, or as recommended by the manufacturer.
Where should I look for potential sources of Carbon Monoxide in the home?
A forced air furnace is frequently the source of leaks and should be carefully inspected by a professional. Have a professional do the following:
- Measure the concentration of Carbon Monoxide in the flue gases.
- Check furnace connections to the flue pipes and venting systems.
- Check furnace filters and filtering systems.
- Check forced air fans for proper installation and to assure correct airflow of flue gases.
- Check the combustion chamber and internal heat exchanger for cracks, holes, corrosion, dirt or debris.
- Check burners, ignition systems and pilot lights.
- Check fireplaces for closed, blocked or bent flues, soot and debris.
- Check all venting systems to the outside of your home, including flues and chimneys for cracks, corrosion, holes, debris or blockage. Animals and birds can build nests in chimneys, preventing gases from escaping. Vibrations can shake vent pipes loose from gas dryers or water heaters, preventing gases from being vented properly outside.
- Check all appliances in the home that use fossil fuels such as natural gas, oil, propane, wood or kerosene. Such appliances include water heaters, clothes dryers, kitchen ranges, ovens, gas heaters, wood-burning stoves, gas refrigerators or alternative power sources such as generators.
- Check to make sure space heaters are properly vented. Unvented space heaters that use a fossil fuel such as kerosene or propane can release Carbon Monoxide into the home.
- Check the clothes dryer vent opening. Lint may block proper venting outside the house.
- Make sure barbecue grills are never operated indoors under any circumstances.
- Make sure stovetop ranges or ovens that use fossil fuels are never used to heat a residence.
What do I do if my Carbon Monoxide alarm goes off?
Never ignore an alarm! It is very possible that you won't be experiencing symptoms of Carbon Monoxide poisoning when the alarm sounds. That doesn't mean there isn't Carbon Monoxide present. The alarm is designed to go off before you feel sick, so you have time to react and take action. In some cases, problems can occur even if all appliances are working properly:
- If appliances, flues and chimneys are confirmed to be in good working order, the source of carbon monoxide may be from backdrafting. This condition exists primarily in newer, more energy efficient, "airtight" homes. Flue gases normally vent to the outside through flues and chimneys. As temperatures drop at night, air pressure inside an airtight home may become lower than outside, causing flue gases that normally exit the house to turn around and flow back down the pipes.
- Inadequate air supply in a room where two or more combustion-driven appliances share the same air source, such as a water heater and furnace in a utility closet, can create a more complicated form of backdrafting called reverse stacking. This occurs when one appliance turns on, such as the furnace, and is unable to get adequate fresh air. When the furnace operates, it draws contaminated air from the water heater exhaust, and spreads polluted air throughout the house.
- A broken thermostat can keep the furnace running continuously, depleting the oxygen supply inside the house and leading to backdrafting.
- In multiple family dwellings like apartments or townhouses, where living spaces share walls and pipes, Carbon Monoxide from one unit may go into a neighboring space through floorboards, cracks, or underneath doors.
How does a Carbon Monoxide alarm work?
It's not a smoke alarm, and should not considered a substitute for a smoke alarm. A Carbon Monoxide alarm does not sense smoke or fire. While a smoke alarm triggers an alarm when it detects particles of smoke, a Carbon Monoxide alarm triggers an alarm based on exposure to Carbon Monoxide over time. It is designed to sound an alarm before an average, healthy adult experiences symptoms.
Let Texana Security help protect your family by installing a Carbon Monoxide alarm today!
