Preventing carbon monoxide poisoning
More than 400 people die each year from carbon monoxide poisoning in the United States.
Two more possible victims of the deadly gas were found in Caon City only a few days ago.
But it’s all preventable with something that emits a piercing – but lifesaving – sound.
Lynn McNelly knows about that all too well. When she was getting her carpet cleaned a few months ago, the last thing on her mind was carbon monoxide poisoning.
“We had all the windows open,” she said.
So she got quite a surprise when the fire department showed up after being summoned by her security company.
What she heard from the firefighters shocked her. “He said we would have been unconscious and dead within 30 minutes.”
McNelly and the carpet cleaner were being poisoned. But they had no idea that it was happening because carbon monoxide is odorless and colorless.
The only way to spot it is to get a detector.
Detectors are readily available at any hardware store. Some of them even come as a combination of smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector.
But the key is not what kind of detector you get, but that you get a detector.
Like a smoke detector, you might need more than one for your home to be totally protected.
“If the alarm is on the basement level of the home then you might not hear it on the sleeping level of the home so it’s recommended that you have one on each level to be safe,” said Natilia Sibert of Colorado Springs Utilities.
But there is a slight difference between the two types of detectors.
Sibert said, “also check the expiration dates – they do expire – to make sure they’re still functional.”
The average shelf life of a carbon monoxide detector is usually a few years shorter than a smoke detector.
McNelly knows that her detector was worth the money.
“It’s a matter of life and death,” she said.
She knows that it means that there can be more moments with her husband in the years ahead.
Some of the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include headache, nausea and fatigue.
The main source of carbon monoxide in the home is heating systems, but stoves produce it as well.
