With the winter season in full swing, the use of wood burning stoves, natural gas fired furnaces and fuel oil burners will increase dramatically throughout the majority of the nation. Increased reports of carbon monoxide poisoning and related death expectancies are higher. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), about 200 people die each year from carbon monoxide poisoning associated with home fuel-burning heating equipment.

As professional life safety and security system installers we are often called upon to install carbon monoxide detectors, aimed at detecting this silent killer. Yet, significant confusion on proper placement, correct testing and dispatch procedures have left many in the industry guessing on how to best handle these devices.

Characteristics of carbon monoxide poisoning

What is carbon monoxide (CO) and how is it produced?

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a deadly, colorless and odorless poisonous gas that is produced by the incomplete burning of various fuels, including coal, wood, charcoal, oil, kerosene, propane and natural gas. Products and equipment powered by internal combustion, engine-powered equipment such as portable generators, cars, lawn mowers and power washers also produce CO.

What are some of the symptoms of CO poisoning?

Because CO is undetectable to the human senses, people may not know that they are being exposed to it. The initial symptoms of low to moderate CO poisoning are similar to the flu and include:

• Headache

• Fatigue

• Shortness of breath

• Nausea

• Dizziness

High level CO poisoning results in progressively more severe symptoms, including:

• Mental confusion

• Vomiting

• Loss of muscular coordination

• Loss of consciousness

• Ultimately death

Symptom severity is related to both the CO level and the duration of exposure. For slowly developing residential CO problems, occupants and/or physicians can mistake mild to moderate CO poisoning symptoms for the flu, which sometimes results in tragic deaths. For rapidly developing, high level CO exposures (e.g., associated with use of generators in residential spaces), victims can rapidly become mentally confused and lose muscle control without having first experienced milder symptoms; they will likely die if not rescued.