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Tuesday, 25 November 2014 00:00

The Importance Of Having Carbon Monoxide Detectors In Your Home

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With the cold weather here, our homes are tightly sealed and our furnaces working to keep to keep us warm. With today's tightly sealed and well insulated homes, carbon monoxide can accumulate to hazardous levels in a short period of time. Therefore, it's critical to have working carbon monoxide detectors in your home.

Carbon monoxide poisoning is caused by the incomplete combustion of fuels including oil, propane, natural gas, coal, wood, kerosene, gasoline, diesel fuel and charcoal. Deadly amounts of carbon monoxide can be produced by defective or poorly vented appliances that use these fuels such as furnaces, fireplaces and wood stoves, as well as water heaters, generators and vehicles.


Carbon Monoxide is the leading cause of accidental poisoning deaths in America, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). 1,500 people die annually due to accidental carbon monoxide poisoning, and additional 10,000 seek medical attention. Because CO poisoning can resemble other common ailments, it's important to recognize the symptoms and seek medical attention if you think you or a family member has been sickened by carbon monoxide.


Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning may include:

Dull headache

Weakness

Dizziness

Nausea

Vomiting

Shortness of breath

Confusion

Blurred vision

Loss of consciousness

 

Installing Carbon Monoxide Detectors

Proper placement of a CO detector is important. If you only have one carbon monoxide detector, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recommends that it be near the sleeping area, where it will wake you if you are asleep. We recommend having a CO detector on every level of your home directly above or beside fuel-burning appliances to alert you as soon as possible of a CO leak.

 

How Can You Prevent Carbon Monoxide From Accumulating In Your Home?

An annual heating system tune-up is essential to maintaining the safety and reliability of your gas furnace. Your technician will clean and check the furnace burners and test for the presence of carbon monoxide.

Other fuel burning appliances such as gas water heaters, dryers and other appliances should be checked to ensure they are properly vented to the outside of the house. If you have any questions about carbon monoxide, or need your furnace checked call MacGregor at 231-526-9633.

Read 6982 times Last modified on Tuesday, 25 November 2014 19:55