Ensuring Carbon Monoxide Detectors Work Well This Season

Carbon monoxide is a very dangerous gas produced as a byproduct of combustion. If your furnace burns any type of fossil fuel, it will also produce carbon monoxide. The gas is usually safely directed outdoors by your furnace’s ventilation system. However, if the exhaust system malfunctions or if your furnace is compromised by problems such as a cracked heat exchanger, carbon monoxide can escape into your home. Carbon monoxide detectors installed in your home can help protect you and your family from the dangerous gas.

Since carbon monoxide is odorless, tasteless and colorless, it can’t be detected by human senses. It can harm your health or even kill you before you know it’s there. This is when CO detectors come in handy.

A carbon monoxide detector will sound a loud alarm if it detects the gas. If your detectors sound, you and your family should immediately leave your home and go to a safe area where the air is clear. Contact your local fire department and utility company for help finding and stopping the leak.

You can make sure your home is safe and your carbon monoxide detectors work properly by following these steps:

• Press the test button to ensure the carbon monoxide detector still works.

• Put fresh batteries in the detector at the start of the season. If the detector uses household current for power, make sure it has a battery backup.

• If your carbon monoxide detector is over five years old, replace it with a new model.

• Make sure there are enough carbon monoxide detectors in your home. There should be, at a minimum, one detector outside each bedroom, one at each end of your home and one over every attached room or garage.

• Move any carbon monoxide detectors that are installed within 15 feet of cooking stoves, ovens or other fuel-burning appliances. These appliances can produce small amounts of carbon monoxide that could trigger a false alarm.

Contact us today for more information on the dangers of carbon monoxide and the necessity of having enough carbon monoxide detectors in your home to keep your family safe from danger.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Wilmington, Delaware and surrounding areas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC & plumbing systems).

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