Winter Carbon Monoxide reminder,

As homes are being built tighter down in the Deep South the threat of trapping (CO) Carbon Monoxide in these homes has become increasingly real.

Our mindset has to change from the floor heaters we had all around grandma’s home venting into the rooms. Because new homes are tighter, the heater, water heater, stove, oven, fireplace, etc. are even more important to have checked out for a combustion analysis. Gone are the days of saying “It’s got a blue flame, it must be OK”

Our friends north of Interstate 40 have known about these issues for years and we are just beginning to see the effects of tighter, negative pressure, homes back drafting CO into the lives of our customers.

The states code require UL rated CO detectors in new construction homes but they will not alarm until they reach 70 parts per million (ppm). Even if you have a digital one UL restricts it from showing anything below 30 ppm. The problem with that is firefighters generally are required to don breathing apparatus at 25 ppm.

If you have a situation with a tightly constructed home with any fuel burning appliance in it, please consider the use of a Low Level CO detector such as the Defender LL6070 to help protect your customers from low level CO poisoning.

Rick Kincel
Tech Services