Indoor Comfort Enemies: Carbon Monoxide (CO)
In this new series, I thought we'd focus time on the many things that might work against making your home a comfortable one. Although I won’t make an effort to list these 'enemies' in any particular order in future posts, this one is an important exception. Carbon Monoxide, or CO, is the most critical factor to your home comfort.
Why is Carbon Monoxide so important?
Because it’s not only a comfort concern it’s often a matter of life and death. CO is the leading cause of accidental poisoning deaths in the US*, and conditions of CO poisoning have been
known to be misdiagnosed as the flu, viral infections and chronic fatigue, among many others. This makes CO poisoning an often hidden enemy that can be fatal over several years, or within just a few short hours.
Carbon Monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas by-product of burnt fuel. It’s often associated with wood stoves, car engines and other fire combustion sources such as gas or oil furnaces. Acute poisoning takes place from breathing large concentrations, but CO poisoning may also happen gradually over many months or years. Some symptoms may include nausea, vomiting, flu-like symptoms, dizziness and fatigue.
Here’s a list of more of the symptoms.
So what can you do?
- First, if you don’t have a CO detector in your home, get one right away. You can call your local Service Experts to purchase one.
- If you do have a CO detector that is battery-powered, check or replace the batteries regularly, at least every 90 days. It's also a good idea to replace the detector every 3-5 years.
- If you experience or have experienced some of the symptoms mentioned above, ask your doctor to test for CO poisoning, and get a second opinion if necessary.
*emedicinehealth.com. Prevention information for Carbon Monoxide poisoning may be inaccurate or incomplete; none of these methods guarantee prevention of Carbon Monoxide poisoning.