We recommend every building with any gas appliance, even if in neighboring flats, or communal boiler for example, has at least one CO detector.
Carbon Monoxide or CO is a natural gas created by the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels. It has no smell, no taste and no colour, making it extremely hard to detect. The effects of carbon monoxide on humans and animals can be deadly – around 40 people die each year in the UK from CO poisoning.
Fossil fuels are used extensively in our lives and are used every day in our homes. Gas, oil, coal and even wood burnt in boilers and engines can emit CO, as can fossil fuels used in water heaters, oil burners, cookers, gas fires, open fires and solid fuel appliances. When these appliances are installed correctly, maintained and serviced regularly, the chance of CO building up are greatly reduced. Most victims of CO poisoning are exposed to gasses that are not vented adequately by heating equipment.
Our bodies will quickly and easily absorb carbon monoxide. In fact our bodies will actively seek to absorb CO over oxygen where it is present, even though the gas is fatal to us. If CO builds up in the air you breathe, you will begin to feel its effects. Once inhaled, carbon monoxide combines with oxygen carrying hemoglobin to form carboxyhemoglobin. Carboxyhemoglobin inhibits the transference of oxygen around the body, starving the organs of oxygen. This oxygen starvation particularly affects the heart, brain and central nervous system.
Symptoms are often flu-like and their severity depends on the amount of carbon monoxide inhaled. The below guide shows symptoms experienced by an healthy adult at the relevant exposure level. The CO is measured in Parts Per Million (ppm) in relation to air.
People who are poisoned over a length of time will often display symptoms ranging from headache, dizziness, nausea, fatigue, lack of concentration, memory loss, disorientation, irritability and tightness across the chest. As the level of CO in the body increases the symptoms will develop to include confusion, weakness, lack of co-ordination, lack of balance, problems with the heart, cerebral edema, convulsions, coma and death.
Effects on the heart include rapid and irregular heartbeat, decreasing blood pressure, cardiac arrhythmias, heart blocks, ventricular ectopic beats, heat attack and death. When subject to CO poisoning the brain can develop cerebral edema (swelling). Cerebral edema causes brain cells to crush into each other through swelling, thus killing the compacted cells. Carbon monoxide related cerebral edema can cause irreversible damage to the brain which in turn can effect the nervous system.
CO poisoning can be miss-diagnosed as flu or gastroenteritis through its symptoms. Due to its effects on the brain and nervous system it can also be miss diagnosed as a neurological or psychiatric disorder.
Although anyone who inhales an unsafe level of CO gas will suffer poisoning to some degree (depending on the amount of CO in the air) children, the elderly and pregnant women succumb quicker to the effects of CO poisoning. It is also suggested that acute CO exposure can give an expectant mother a non-lethal dose of CO, but can harm an unborn child and lead to miscarriage. Pets display symptoms at a faster rate and will show the same kind of effects as humans (dizziness, nausea, fatigue, disorientation, irritability, weakness, lack of co-ordination, convulsions, coma, death).
People already suffering from a heart condition can succumb more rapidly to carbon monoxide, as can those with respiratory health problems. Smokers are at a higher risk as they will already have elevated levels of Carboxyhemoglobin in their blood.
A lot of people assume “it will never happen to me”. The chances are that it won’t, but it does pay to take precautions to make that risk even less likely. If you know the facts surrounding CO poisoning, you can act to reduce your risk.
The facts below are taken from “A review of carbon monoxide incident information for 2000/2001”. Published by the Health and Safety Executive, the review looks at incidents involving piped natural gas and LPG.
Everyone who owns an appliance that uses fossil fuels (gas, oil, coal, wood) should:
Legal Requirements: None
Recommended: Dependent on property, we will give you free advice on this.
We supply and fit quality CO detector priced at £45 NO VAT each if already onsite
Including fitting once at property, we always have them in stock and can provide them at the same time as a Gas Safety report.
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