The same appliances that are such a huge help, the ones that keep our home comfortable in the winter and help us make hot, nutritious meals for our families, are also the machines that can silently malfunction and kill us – with absolutely no warning.
Your furnace, stove, some portable heaters and open fires can be the source of deadly carbon monoxide or CO if they malfunction. CO is an odorless, colorless and deadly gas. With malfunctioning appliances in the home, families may experience CO poisoning symptoms such as headache, dizziness, weakness, upset stomach, vomiting, chest pain, and confusion. More than 20,000 emergency room visits and over 4,000 hospitalizations are caused by CO poisoning each year in the United States.
And that’s if you’re lucky. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 400 Americans die every year from accidental CO poisoning.
CO actually suffocates your body. Hemoglobin in your red blood cells carries oxygen from the lungs to tissues all over the body, but CO binds to hemoglobin over 200 times more easily than oxygen does. When CO is present, oxygen is choked out of blood cells, and your body is starved of oxygen. A person exposed to CO for shorter periods of time may notice flu-like symptoms, but when a home fills with CO undetected, overnight while family is sleeping, fatalities will occur.
The best way to protect your family from CO poisoning is simple: Install a CO detector near every sleeping area in your home and check the detectors regularly to be sure they are working properly.
You can also lower your risk of CO exposure by:
- Having your furnace checked by a professional, qualified technician every year
- Never burn charcoal in your fireplace or indoor barbecue
- Never use a portable gas, oil or propane camp stove indoors
- Never use portable flameless chemical heaters indoors
- Do not use gas ranges or ovens to heat your home
- Make sure all gas appliances, like clothes dryers, water heaters and stoves, are vented properly
- Get your chimney and flue swept professionally each year
- Don’t run vehicles or gas-powered devices in an enclosed garage
- Ventilate areas well when using certain paints, paint removers and cleaning fluids
- Wear a mask when using products that contain methylene chloride.
- Never use a gas generator inside your home
- Place gas generators outside your home, more than 20 feet away from a window, door, or vent
Maertin Heating and Cooling cares very much about your family. Please install a CO detector near every sleeping area in your home and check detectors regularly to be sure they are working properly.
If you have questions about which CO detector is right for your home, please call us at 708-479-9350. We are happy to help!
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