How to Detect Carbon Monoxide Leak at Home

Rarely does one go without reading about accidental deaths in homes in the newspaper. One such danger is from poisonous gases in and around your home. If the carbon monoxide level in your house is above the safety levels, it can cause brain damage and be fatal to human life. The problem with this lethal gas is that it is odorless, colorless and tasteless, making it difficult to detect. The major problem in recognizing the gas leak is that if a person is exposed to it, the symptoms are similar to flu. Carbon monoxide is the by-product of incomplete combustion of fossil fuels.

Carbon monoxide is dangerous to a person's health as it replaces oxygen in blood and easily combines with hemoglobin causing problems in vital organs such as heart and brain. This dangerous gas is emitted through faulty appliances in home like gas heaters, generators, kerosene heaters and wood burning stoves. Therefore, wherever these appliances are installed, the area should be properly ventilated. Even fires are the culprit in increasing the CO levels and cigarette smoke too, is known to have harmful effects. Similarly, another chemical named methylene chloride, which is used as a solvent in paints, gets absorbed easily by the body and can be changed to CO. Also, automobile exhaust emitted by car are harmful to health. Even in car garages, automobile exhaust with inadequate ventilation resulting in dangerous levels of gas can make people sick.

In order to detect a leak, it's important to be alert for the following symptoms:Flu like symptoms excluding fever and body aches, unexplained lethargy, dizziness, vomiting, hallucinations and difficulty in judgment, confusion, chest pain, shortness of breath, abdominal pain, visual change and memory and walking problems. These symptoms disappear when you are outside and when you are in the area where there is gas leak, the symptoms recur.

Detecting Carbon Monoxide Leak

If more and more people in your home or office are showing these symptoms, then it's better to consult a general physician and inform him about your doubts. Also an effective way to detect CO leak is by installing CO detectors at a correct place. It's advisable to buy a government approved detector which has good ratings from other customers as well. These detectors should not be placed within four feet of kitchen appliances as there may be chances that you might encounter false alarms and end up disabling the beeper which could endanger your life in case of a leak. Also, there might be a case where the person might be exposed to low levels of CO. This further can aggravate the problems as the leak can go unnoticed. Therefore, it's better to get your home checked and tested by health department in your area who can detect the leak in the air.

In order to avoid CO leak, it's important to keep a tab on certain aspects of your home or office.

• Keep the grills outside and do not use them indoors especially charcoal grills are more risky if used in the house.
• Do not operate the car in the garage with the garage door closed and do check the exhaust system of the car.
• Install all the appliances with the help of professionals and do keep a tab on the ventilation of these appliances.
• If the fireplace uses wood then do get your chimney checked as the fumes of the burnt wood are dangerous if inhaled.

In conclusion, CO gas is injurious to health and exposure to this deadly killer can leave a person with a permanent damage. Even though the gas leak is difficult to detect but with the help of these symptoms you can avoid harmful effects. After all, safety of your loved ones is your priority.