Take steps now to protect your family from the unseen
danger of carbon monoxide. Install a carbon monoxide
detector in your house, and plan to check its battery
every time you check your smoke detector batteries.
A Real Danger
Carbon monoxide is often referred to as CO, which is
its chemical symbol. Unlike many gases, CO has no
odor, color, or taste, and it doesn’t irritate your
skin.
Red blood cells pick up CO quicker than they pick up
oxygen. If there is a lot of CO in the air, your body
may replace oxygen in your blood with CO.
This blocks oxygen from getting into your body, which
can damage tissues in your body and can kill you.
Knowing where CO is found and how to avoid it can
protect you from serious injury or death.
Precautionary Measures
The following tips apply equally to homeowners,
campers, and renters. Renters should ask their landlords
about maintenance and repairs.
Have your fireplace draft and the drafts of other
fuel-burning appliances checked every year, and have all
fuel-burning venting systems in your home checked by an
expert once a year.
The same goes for all gas appliances. All gas
appliances must be vented so that CO will not build up
in your home, cabin, camper, or ice fishing house.
Have them checked annually. Your gas company may be
willing to do this for you.
Inspect your chimney vent for defects or debris and
have it cleaned every year. Chimneys can easily become
blocked by debris. This can cause CO to build up inside
the structure.
Likewise, you should never patch a vent pipe with tape,
gum, or something else. This kind of patch can make CO
build up in your home, cabin, or camper.
The horizontal vent pipes to a fuel appliance should
not be perfectly level. Indoor vent pipes should go up
slightly as they go toward outdoors. This helps prevent
CO or other gases from leaking if the joints or pipes
aren’t fitted tightly.
Improper Indoor Heating
Never use a gas range or oven for heating. Doing so can
cause a build up of CO inside the building.
In the same way, you should never use a portable gas
camp stove, charcoal grill, or a barbecue grill indoors.
Using a grill indoors will cause a build up of CO unless
you use it inside a vented fireplace. Remember, burning
charcoal – red, gray, black, or white – gives off CO.
Portable flameless chemical (catalytic) heaters are
unsafe to use indoors. Although these heaters don’t have
a flame, they burn gas and can cause CO to build up
indoors.
Motor Vehicles
A mechanic should check the exhaust system of
your car every year. A small leak in your car’s exhaust
system can lead to a build up of CO inside the car.
Never run your car or truck inside the garage unless the
garage door is open to let in fresh air. CO can build up
quickly while your car or truck is running in a closed
garage.
The doorway leading into your home from inside the
garage, however, must remain closed when the vehicle is
running because CO can easily go from your garage
through the door and into your house.
For more information on carbon monoxide poisoning,
visit the CDC website at: www.cdc.gov/nceh/airpollution
