Carbon Monoxide: What You Need to Know

Pretty soon now, the winter season shall be upon us and wishes for warm temperatures and sunny days will be uttered with our cold breath. If you plan correctly for the winter months in your home, you do not have to face the coldest of cold temperatures. And part of that plan is to have a certified HVAC technician inspect your water heater and your furnace to make sure that they are operating correctly and not emitting any carbon monoxide into your home. Carbon Monoxide is known as the “Silent Killer”. Carbon monoxide (CO) is an invisible gas that no one is able to see or smell. Therefore, we do not know of its presence, unless we have a working carbon monoxide detector. By PA law, each home and apartment, has to have working CO detectors. They too are recommended to be on every level of each floor, like a smoke detector. Carbon monoxide is received by our circulatory system 200 times more that oxygen is. Why this is important is that CO in high doses can quickly kill us without warning. Carbon monoxide poisoning initially has the signs and symptoms much like the flu. One may experience a headache, dizziness, nausea and vomiting and a general feeling of malaise. And the more and more that we are exposed to carbon monoxide poisoning, the less and less oxygen we receive. With that, we fall unconscious. Then we may eventually stop breathing and the longer that continues, we can fall into cardiac arrest because our heart stops beating. So, it’s pretty serious that we test the carbon monoxide detectors we have. It’s important to change their batteries, even if they are electric as many of them have a battery backup. If you do not own any carbon monoxide detectors, you should install them as soon as you can. They’re available at any hardware or variety store and generally cost under $50.00. You can buy carbon monoxide detectors or buy the combination smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Like smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors provide some additional protection and insurance that works as long as the batteries do. Purchasing them is a great investment when you consider the possible alternatives without them. Ben Franklin said it best. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” If your CO detectors are older than 10 years old, it’s time to replace them. And if your CO detector goes off, call 911 and get the fire department on the way. Until next time, turn your attention to Fire Prevention. Stay safe.