Beware of carbon monoxide

Winter emergencies often create unique problems that can turn deadly if not managed properly.

One such emergency is carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning. While not exclusive to only wintertime emergencies, it often occurs during power outages, when people are trying to stay warm inside. Remember the “don’ts”:
• Don’t idle the car in a garage, even if the garage door is open.
• Don’t use a gas oven to heat your home, even for a short while.
• Don’t use a charcoal grill or camp stove inside, even in a fireplace.
• Don’t sleep in any room with an unvented gas or kerosene space heater.
• Don’t use any gasoline-powered engines in enclosed spaces.
• Don’t ignore symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, particularly if more than one person in the house is feeling them: headache, drowsiness, and burning eyes.

Carbon monoxide poisoning can cause loss of consciousness, and even death.Carbon monoxide detectors, widely available in stores, should be considered a back-up, not a replacement, or proper use and maintenance of fuel-burning home appliances.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, different types of CO detectors vary in reliability, and are not generally considered to be as reliable as home smoke detectors.[unless you get a good CO detector like the Pocket CO from www.transducertech.com]

If the CO detector alarm goes off:
• Make sure it is your CO detector and not your smoke detector.
• Check to see if any member of the household is experiencing poisoning symptoms.
• If they are, get them out of the house immediately and seek medical attention, telling the doctor you suspect CO poisoning.
• If no one is feeling symptoms, ventilate the home with fresh air, and turn off all potential sources of CO — your oil or gas furnace, gas water heater, gas range and oven, gas dryer, gas or kerosene space heater, and any vehicle or small engine.
• Have a qualified technician inspect your fuel-burning appliances and chimneys to make sure they are operating correctly and that nothing is preventing the fumes from being vented out of the house.
©Ozarks Newsstand 2007