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Carbon Monoxide DetectorsBy Jim Sulski Summary: Carbon Monoxide is a deadly gas that can poison your home. Carbon monoxide detectors and preventative measures can keep your family safe from CO poisoning. If you haven't already, now is the time to install a carbon monoxide detector in your home. While installing a detector is a very wise step, however, there are additional measures a homeowner can take to minimize the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Carbon monoxide (CO) is an odorless and colorless gas that is produced naturally by burning oil, natural gas or any other fossil fuel in furnaces, boilers, water heaters, fireplaces, wood stoves or room heaters. If carbon monoxide isn't exhausted from a home, it can quickly become a major danger. Inhaled, CO deters the movement of oxygen in the body. what can result is headaches, nausea, coma and death. According to the various media reports, carbon monoxide poisoning is responsible for 200 to as many as 1,500 deaths each year. Normally, CO is exhausted from a home via the chimney. There are, however, a number of ways it can remain in the home. The most common way carbon monoxide gets into a home is through venting problems. For example, a bird’s nest obstructs the chimney, or a furnace flue pipe deteriorates and develops a hole in it, or disconnects from the chimney. A house that is too tightly sealed with weatherstripping can cause produce a phenomenon known as backdrafting, in which carbon monoxide produced by a furnace or water heater stays in the house instead of being sucked up the chimney. A car left running in an attached garage can also produce high levels of CO in the bedrooms above. So would using an outdoor grill inside. As a result, most carbon monoxide poisoning deaths occur during colder weather, and, ironically, early carbon monoxide poisoning symptoms are mistaken for symptoms of a cold or the flu, also typical in winter. CO DETECTORS One of the best lines of defense against carbon monoxide poisoning is a carbon monoxide detector, which sounds an alarm if a dangerous level of CO is detected. Now selling for as low as $40 at home improvement stores, discount stores and pharmacies, most detectors are fairly easy to install. Homes in many cities are now required to have a CO detector. About the only homes exempted by such ordinances are those with electric or solar heat. If those homes have a natural gas appliance such as a water heater, or a wood- or gas-burning fireplace or stove, they are required to have a CO detector. There are several styles of detectors, the most common and least expensive being devices that resemble smoke detectors. These detectors have integrated sensor/battery units, which need to be replaced every two to three years if they are not activated. Replacement senor/battery units cost about $20. There are also AC-powered units, which can be or powered with a plug-in power unit or hardwired into an existing electrical circuit. There are also units that plug directly into a wall outlet. Except for the last two detectors, the rest are installed similar to a smoke detector: Tow small screw anchors are inserted into a wall or ceiling and the unit is anchored via screws. According to the city law, the detector is required to be installed within 40 feet of the sleeping rooms of a home. An excellent location is the hallway ceiling outside of the bedrooms, near the smoke detector, which is hopefully in place. Do not place the CO detector near the furnace room, the garage or the kitchen, where they may react to temporary but high levels of CO. Once installed, test the detector as per the manufacturer's instructions. If the detector ever activates by sounding the alarm, quickly leave the house and call the fire department and your utility company from a neighbor's house. Opening doors and windows may help but may also hinder investigators trying to trace the source of the CO. In addition to installing a CO detector, there are other measures you can take to prevent carbon monoxide problems in a home: •Have the forced-air furnace or boiler checked each year before the heating season by a licensed professional of your utility company. •Check your chimney each autumn for blockage, such as an animal’s nest or twigs and leaves. Clean the chimney out or have it cleaned, especially if you use a fireplace or wood-burning stove. •Finally, look for a few of the signs that may forecast carbon monoxide problems: Streaks of soot around the service door of a gas-burning appliance; large rust spots on flue pipes or the exterior of furnaces, boilers or water heaters; or constant stale air through the house.
© by Jim Sulski. All rights reserved. March 22, 2005. NOTE: This column is distributed by Real Estate Matters Syndicate, PO Box 366, Glencoe, Illinois, 60022. This column may not be resold, reprinted, resyndicated or redistributed without written permission from the publisher. © 2005 by Ilyce R. Glink. Distributed by Real Estate Matters Syndicate. |
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