Even though winter is starting to wind down, many of our customers still have questions on the best way to prevent carbon monoxide from building up inside their homes. Before we get to methods of prevention, let’s first look at how carbon monoxide forms in the first place.
Carbon monoxide, or CO, results from burning materials, including gas and oil. By that definition, the average home has several potential sources of CO emissions, including furnaces, wood burning stoves, gas stoves, water heaters, gas clothes dryers, and more. And then you have your portable sources of CO emissions which include your lawn mower, leaf blower, and the like. Even smoking can produce unhealthy levels of CO, which is just one more reason why, if you do smoke, please don’t do so indoors.
While it’s virtually impossible to rid your home of 100% of all CO gases, an acceptable amount is considered to be about 0.03-2.5 parts per million (ppm). Outside levels are generally higher than that. So at what point does CO become potentially dangerous? Here’s some information from Yahoo Answers:
- 35 ppm (0.0035%) Headache and dizziness within six to eight hours of constant exposure
- 100 ppm (0.01%) Slight headache in two to three hours
- 200 ppm (0.02%) Slight headache within two to three hours
- 400 ppm (0.04%) Frontal headache within one to two hours
- 800 ppm (0.08%) Dizziness, nausea, and convulsions within 45 minutes. Insensible within two hours.
How to Prevent Serious Side Effects
For tips on how best to prevent unhealthy levels of carbon monoxide from building up inside your home, we turned to WebMD.com:
- Monitor appliances, chimneys, and vents for visible soot, rust, stains, blockage, or corrosion. Also have them inspected each year. When in use, make sure they vent properly to allow gas to escape from enclosed areas. Don’t close the fireplace or damper before the fire is completely out.
- Open flues when fireplaces are in use.
- Hire a professional to clean your chimney at least once a year.
- Make sure wood burning stoves comply with local regulations and meet current EPA emissions standards.
- Never use generators indoors or in crawl spaces.
- Use proper fuel in space heaters.
Click here for more CO prevention measures.
Not Just Any CO Detector Will Do
If you’re thinking “I already have CO detectors in my home, so I’m good,” our reply is: “Not so fast!”
Because if you purchased battery-operated CO detectors from your local home center, for example, chances are they won’t register until CO levels reach 70 ppm, by which point serious health symptoms can already be in full evidence.
As an alternative, we recommend low-level CO detectors that trigger their hard-wired alarms at around 10 ppm, which then gives you plenty of time to open windows and take other proactive steps to locate the source of the emissions and see to your family’s health and safety.
To learn more about installing low-level CO detectors in your home, or to schedule service now, contact Messmer Mechanical for an added measure of safety and peace of mind.