What Is Carbon Monoxide?

• Carbon Monoxide (CO) is an invisle and odorless gas created when fossil fuels burn incompletely. In the home, heating and cooking equipment are possible sources of carbon monoxide.
   
• Vehicles running in an attached garage could also produce dangerous levels of carbon monoxide. Most certainly a chimney from a home heating unit produces carbon monoxide.

What is the effect of exposure to CO?

• CO replaces oxygen in the bloodstream, eventually causing suffocation. Mild CO poisoning feels like the flu, but more serious poisoning leads to difficulty breathing and even death.
   
• Just how sick people get from CO exposure varies from person to person, but it can be fatal to everyone in sufficient quantities.
   
• Carbon monoxide replaces oxygen in the blood. As more and more carbon monoxide accumulates in the blood, people get sicker and sicker. Eventually, if untreated, carbon monoxide poisoning can be fatal.

So what is your risk of CO poisoning?

• While the use of carbon monoxide detectors has helped, deaths from unintentional carbon monoxide are a serious problem. Three of every five of these deaths typically involve vehicles, one of every five typically involves heating or cooking equipment, and the other one of every five typically involves other or unspecified causes.

How can you protect yourself from CO poisoning?

• The best defenses against CO poisoning are safe use of vehicles (particularly in attached garages) and proper installation, use and maintenance of household cooking and heating equipment.
   
• A properly placed and working carbon monoxide detector is excellent protection giving you warning.

Fireplace flues

• You may also want to install CO detectors inside your home if you have a wood burning fireplace or stove to provide early warning of accumulating carbon monoxide. However, a CO detector is no substitute for safe use and maintenance of heating and cooking equipment.

Safety Tips

• If you need to warm up a vehicle, remove it from the garage immediately after starting the ignition. Do not run a vehicle or other fueled engine or motor indoors, even if garage doors are open.
   
• CO from a running vehicle inside an attached garage can get inside the house, even with the garage door open. Normal circulation does not provide enough fresh air to reliably prevent dangerous accumulations inside.
   
• Have your vehicle inspected for exhaust leaks, if you have any symptoms of CO poisoning.
   
• Have fuel burning household heating equipment (fireplaces, furnaces, water heaters, wood stoves, and space or portable heaters) checked every year before cold weather sets in. All chimneys and chimney connectors should be evaluated for proper installation, cracks, blockages or leaks. Make needed repairs before using the equipment.
   
• Before enclosing central heating equipment in a smaller room, check with your fuel supplier to ensure that air for proper combustion is provided.
   
• When using a fireplace, open the flue for adequate ventilation.
   
• Kerosene heaters are illegal in many states. Always check with local authorities before buying or using one. Open a window slightly whenever using a kerosene heater. Refuel outside, after the device has cooled.
   
• Always use barbecue grills which can produce carbon monoxide outside. Never use them in the home or garage.
   
• When purchasing new heating and cooking equipment, select factory built products approved by an independent testing laboratory. Do not accept damaged equipment. Hire a qualified technician (usually employed by the local oil or gas company) to install the equipment. Ask about and insist that the technician follow applicable fire safety and local building codes.
   
• If you purchase an existing home have a qualified technician evaluate the integrity of the heating and cooking systems, as well as the sealed spaces between the garage and house.
   
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What are CO detectors?

• Household carbon monoxide detectors measure how much CO has accumulated. A CO alarm goes off when the levels reach a pre-set figure.

What causes CO detector nuisance alarms?

• Pollution and atmospheric conditions in some areas cause low levels of CO to be present for long periods of time, causing CO detectors to alarm even though conditions inside the home are not truly hazardous.
  Treat all CO detector alarms as real, until it has been verified that there is no threat from equipment inside the dwelling.

If you buy CO detectors

• Select detector(s) listed by a qualified, independent testing laboratory.
   
• Follow manufacturer's recommendations for placement in your home.
   
• Test CO detectors at least once a month, following the manufacturer's instructions.
   
• Replace CO detectors according to the manufacturer' s instructions, usually about every two years.
   
• Battery powered CO detectors may have unique battery packs designed to last approximately two years, compared to batteries used in smoke detectors, which require yearly replacement.

What to do if your CO detector alarm goes off

• If anyone shows signs of CO poisoning, immediately have everyone leave the building. Leave doors open as you go.
   
• Use a neighbor's telephone to report the CO alarm, following the instructions you received from the fire department when you bought the detector.
   
• Get immediate medical attention.
   
• If no one has symptoms of CO poisoning: Open windows and doors, shut down heating and cooking equipment, and call a qualified technician to inspect all equipment.
   
• Be on the lookout for any symptoms of CO poisoning.
   
• Follow the steps above if symptoms appear.

Safety Checklist

• Carbon monoxide detectors, are not substitutes for smoke detectors. Smoke detectors react to fire by products, before CO detectors would alarm. Smoke detectors give earlier warning of a fire, providing more time to escape.
   
• To guard against smoke and fire, be sure that your home has working smoke detectors on every level and just outside of all sleeping areas.
   
• Know the difference between the sound of the smoke detectors and the sound of the carbon monoxide detector.
   
• Have a home evacuation plan for any home emergency and practice the plan with all members of the household. (E.D.I.T.H.).

Here's some more information about carbon monoxide from Suffolk County's Fire Rescue Emergency website.