Cold weather brings up carbon monoxide risks
Posted on Sunday, October 1, 2006
BENTONVILLE - With cold weather ahead and folks turning on their heaters to keep warm, the risk of carbon-monoxide poisoning is increasing.
On Sept. 24, the Bentonville Fire Department responded to a residential call when a carbon-monoxide detector went off.
Thankfully, it was only a dead battery in need of changing, Fire Chief Dan White said.
But the department takes carbon-monoxide calls seriously because carbon monoxide is a silent killer.
The Environmental Protection Agency defines carbon monoxide as a colorless, mostly odorless and tasteless gas. It can come from a number of sources: • Unvented kerosene and gas space heaters; • Leaking chimneys and furnaces; • Back-drafting from furnaces, gas water heaters, wood stoves and fireplaces; • Gas stoves; • Generators and other gasoline-powered equipment; • Automobile exhaust from attached garages; and • Tobacco smoke.
Worn or poorly adjusted and maintained furnaces or boilers can also be significant sources, as can a chimney flue that is improperly sized, blocked, disconnected or leaking.
At low concentrations, CO can cause fatigue in healthy people and chest pain in those with heart disease. Higher concentrations can cause impaired vision and coordination, headaches, dizziness, confusion and nausea.
At very high concentrations, CO exposure can be fatal.
As the weather cools down, local fire departments are on the alert for carbon-monoxide calls. "When people's heaters kick on and they begin starting up the fireplaces, the use of gases increases," White said.
To prevent an unnecessary visit for a battery malfunction, White recommends changing CO-detector batteries twice a year.
Older heating units can be especially risky if not maintained, White said. Vents also need to be cleared, he added. "You need to be sure that birds aren't building nests in your vents. Be sure your vents are unobstructed," he said.
The EPA also recommends the following measures: • Keep gas appliances properly adjusted. • Consider purchasing a vented space heater when replacing an unvented one. • Use proper fuel in kerosene space heaters. • Install and use an exhaust fan vented to the outdoors over gas stoves. • Open flues when fireplaces are in use. • Choose properly sized wood stoves that are certified to meet EPA emission standards, and make certain that doors on all wood stoves fit tightly. • Have a trained professional inspect, clean and tune up central heating systems (furnaces, flues and chimneys ) annually, and repair any leaks promptly. • Do not idle the car inside the garage.
The last known carbon-monoxide scare in Bentonville occurred at Washington Junior High School in February 2005, when exposure forced evacuation of the school and sent more than 50 students to the emergency room.
White could not recall any incidents of CO exposure last year, but a few false alarms were reported.
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