One of the best investments you can make over the holiday season is purchasing a carbon monoxide detector. These devices are not expensive, easy to install, and could save you life! If you have any natural gas appliances in your home you might want to read what Wikipedia says about carbon monoxide detectors below.
A carbon monoxide detector or CO detector is a device that detects the presence of the carbon monoxide(CO) gas in order to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning. CO is a colorless and odorless compound produced by incomplete combustion. It is often referred to as the “silent killer” because it is virtually undetectable without using detection technology.Elevated levels of CO can be dangerous to humans depending on the amount present and length of exposure. Smaller concentrations can be harmful over longer periods of time while increasing concentrations require diminishing exposure times to be harmful.
CO detectors are designed to measure CO levels over time and sound an alarm before dangerous levels of CO accumulate in an environment, giving people adequate warning to safely ventilate the area or evacuate. Some system-connected detectors also alert a monitoring service that can dispatch emergency services if necessary. CO detectors go into alarm and warn people about dangerous CO buildup caused, for example, by a malfunctioning fuel-burning device. In the home, some common sources of CO include open flames, space heaters, water heaters, blocked chimneys or running a car inside a garage.
By definition if you have a natural gas furnace in your home, you have a controlled open flame device. It is very important that you have this system checked every year for CO. Even if you do have a CO detector installed, you do not know that CO is leaking into your home until the CO levels are too high. Our technicians have CO detectors in their tools so you can know if your system is working properly or not. Schedule a HVAC call today and get your system checked properly for the winter.