Are You Safe? What I Learned About Carbon Monoxide (CO) Detectors!
Last month I wrote about the mother that, after living with an incurable “flu” for a quarter of her life, found out that the mysterious illness that left her with extreme, debilitating fatigue for 10 years was chronic carbon monoxide poisoning from a leak from her family’s home’s heating systems. Even worse, their CO monitor did not detect it!
Carbon monoxide exposure typically happens in the winter, so read on and protect your family.
CO poisoning types:
- ACUTE poisoning includes headaches, stomach upsets, dizziness, drowsiness, confusion, and seizures, leading to coma and death. Acute cases are what we hear about in the news.
- CHRONIC poisoning is somewhat vague but includes fatigue, flu-like symptoms, musculoskeletal pain, memory issues, motor and emotional disorders including irritability, moodiness, and depression.
9 PPM max specified: CO exposure limits as defined by governments and experts:
- US OSHA: 8 hour average of 50 PPM for a HEALTHY Adult
- Health Canada: 24 hour average of 10 PPM
- US EPA: 8 hour average of 9 PPM
- World Health Organization: 8 hour average of 9 PPM
- American Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE): 8 hour average of 9 PPM
50 PPM min alarmed: Regular CO detectors typically alarm as follows:
- average of 50 PPM alarm after 8 hours
- average of 70 PPM alarm after 1 to 4 hours
- average of 400 PPM alarm after 4 to 15 minutes
When a regular CO detector goes off, it is an emergency, ie. do something now. Unfortunately, this regular CO detector will not alarm to let you know that you are being exposed to low levels that lead to chronic CO poisoning.
False sense of security? You bet! Even worse for babies, kids, and adolescents with still-developing brains, and seniors and chronically ill (eg. COPD, cardiovascular disease) whose bodies are strained. Bottom line: regular CO alarms are meant to offer protection to healthy adults during very high levels of CO in a home’s air.
A low-level detector typically alarms at 10 PPM, which gives you crucial early warning of a developing CO problem possibly leading to chronic CO poisoning. I invested in one for only pennies a day and now I have my peace of mind.
For more information on low level CO detectors, see www.albertacleanair.com/blog/lowlevelCOdetectors/
by Carla Berezowski,
Home Comfort Expert
