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Carbon Monoxide Detectors Can Save Lives |
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U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission |
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Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas that is
produced when any fuel is incompletely burned. Symptoms of carbon
monoxide poisoning are similar to flu-like illnesses and include
dizziness, fatigue, headaches, nausea, and irregular breathing. Carbon
monoxide can leak from faulty furnaces or fuel-fired heaters or can be
trapped inside by a blocked chimney or flue. Burning charcoal inside the
house or running an automobile engine in an attached garage also will
produce carbon monoxide in the home. |
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What You Should Know About Combustion Appliances and Indoor Air
Pollution |
| U.S. Consumer
Product Safety Commission |
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Hazards may be associated with almost all types of
appliances. The purpose of this booklet is to answer some common questions
you may have about the potential for one specific type of hazard - indoor
air pollution - associated with one class of appliances - combustion
appliances.
Combustion appliances are those which burn fuels for warmth, cooking, or
decorative purposes. Typical fuels are gas, both natural and liquefied
petroleum (LP); kerosene; oil; coal; and wood. Examples of the appliances
are space heaters, ranges, ovens, stoves, furnaces, fireplaces, water
heaters, and clothes dryers. These appliances are usually safe.
However, under certain conditions, these appliances can produce combustion
pollutants that can damage your health, or even kill you.
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| Protect Your
Family and Yourself from Carbon Monoxide Poisoning |
| U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency |
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You can’t see or smell carbon monoxide, but at
high levels it can kill a person in minutes. Carbon monoxide (CO) is
produced whenever any fuel such as gas, oil, kerosene, wood, or charcoal
is burned. If appliances that burn fuel are maintained and used properly,
the amount of CO produced is usually not hazardous. However, if appliances
are not working properly or are used incorrectly, dangerous levels of CO
can result. Hundreds of people die accidentally every year from CO
poisoning caused by malfunctioning or improperly used fuel-burning
appliances (a more recent review claims CO
as the leading cause of more than 15,000 ning deaths in the
United States each year, and another 10,000 injuries, according to the
Carbon Monoxide Medical Association). Even more die from CO produced by idling cars.
Fetuses, infants, elderly people, and people with anemia or with a
history of heart or respiratory disease can be especially
susceptible. Be safe. Practice the DO’s and DON’Ts of carbon monoxide. |
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| Automobiles and Carbon Monoxide
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| U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency |
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Carbon monoxide results from incomplete combustion of fuel and is emitted
directly from vehicle tailpipes. Incomplete combustion is most likely to
occur at low air-to-fuel ratios in the engine. These conditions are common
during vehicle starting when air supply is restricted ("choked"), when cars
are not tuned properly, and at altitude, where "thin" air effectively
reduces the amount of oxygen available for combustion (except in cars that
are designed or adjusted to compensate for altitude). |
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ARTICLE |
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| Sources
of Indoor Air Pollution |
| U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency |
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Un-vented kerosene and gas space heaters; leaking chimneys and
furnaces; back-drafting from furnaces, gas water heaters, wood stoves,
and fireplaces; gas stoves. Automobile exhaust from attached garages.
Environmental tobacco smoke. |
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