An important component of home safety is ensuring any residential systems that use flammable fuels, such as a gas furnace, are operating properly. If your furnace is damaged or malfunctioning, it could lead to a dangerous carbon monoxide (CO) leak. Here are some reasons why it’s important to make sure you have functioning carbon monoxide detectors in your home.
What is Carbon Monoxide?
Carbon monoxide is a highly poisonous gas that is produced when a flammable object or fuel is burned. Inside a home, a leak of this gas can quickly allow enough CO to accumulate to become dangerous, even fatal. For this reason, it is extremely important to make sure your home is protected with carbon monoxide detectors.
Why Use Carbon Monoxide Detectors?
We cannot smell, see or taste carbon monoxide. It is invisible to human senses. This means that CO can be present and causing harm without anyone being aware of it. Even exposure to small amounts of carbon monoxide can be very unpleasant, but in higher amounts, CO can be deadly.
In most cases, your HVAC system will operate very safely and will vent the CO to the outdoors. However, a problem with the ventilation system can keep the CO gas from being removed from your home. Other issues, such as a cracked heat exchanger, can also let carbon monoxide leak into your living spaces.
Best Practices for Carbon Monoxide Detectors
- You should install at least one carbon monoxide detector on each floor of your home. Ideally, there should be one on each end of each floor and one above the door of every bedroom.
- CO detectors should be cleaned and tested at least once a week.
- Fresh batteries should be installed in CO detectors at least annually, usually at the same time you have preventive maintenance performed on your fuel-burning heating system.
Hansberger Refrigeration and Electric Company has been serving heating, cooling, and electric services customers in and around Yuma for more than six decades. Contact us today for more information on how you can improve residential safety with carbon monoxide detectors in your home.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Yuma, Arizona about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).
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