A top priority in any home should be to protect you and your family from carbon monoxide exposure. Even limited carbon monoxide exposure can cause serious health issues, and in certain conditions it can be fatal. Since carbon monoxide (CO) is both colorless and odorless, it’s imperative to take steps to limit the presence of CO in your home – and detect it when it is present.
Tips to Prevent CO Production
With current technology, there’s a lot of equipment that will generate at least a small amount of CO, including gas furnaces, water heaters and stoves, and even the cars you park in the attached garage. CO is the result of incomplete combustion, which can occur burning fuel in poor conditions (limited oxygen). While you can’t avoid running your furnace or water heater inside, you can and should avoid running gas-powered equipment indoors that’s intended for outdoor use – including a gas grill or portable generator. These items also should not be operated in an enclosed area such as the garage. You should, in addition, avoid idling your car in an attached garage, since some of those fumes, including CO, can make their way into your home.
As stated, some equipment, like a gas stove or water heater, are necessary to use in the home. To prevent carbon monoxide exposure indoors, regularly inspect gas-fueled equipment for damage that could affect their function. This should include any vents or pipes intended to carry CO outside the house. They should not be blocked or damaged and should have the proper upward slope. There should be plenty of open space around gas-fueled appliances as well. These factors should be checked during an annual HVAC tune-up.
Install CO Detectors
Even if you are the safest homeowner, it’s still possible for accidents to happen or for CO to enter your home from neighbors or nearby construction. The only way to protect yourself in these cases is with a detector. A CO detector will monitor levels of CO in the air and alert you if there is an issue. If the detector goes off, turn off any gas-using appliance in the house and get everyone outside. Call the fire department and report a potential problem.
If you have any questions about carbon monoxide exposure and how it relates to your Twin Cities metro area home, contact the HVAC experts at Marsh Heating & Air Conditioning.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about carbon monoxide and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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