April 1, 2011

"Every dogma has its day."
Anthony Burgess (1917-1993)

Oregon Families Urged to Add Safety to Spring Home Improvement Plans
 PR Newswire (press release)MEBANE, NC, March 30, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --
While brighter, warmer days are on the horizon, the risk of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning still looms in Oregon homes. Even after gas furnaces and fireplaces are retired for the summer months, other natural ...

Living with Carbon Monoxide

On any given day in nearly every culture on the planet, living, breathing beings come in contact with combustion systems of some sort or another. These combustion systems transport us in the air, on and below the water, on ice & snow and on land in moving vehicles. Some of these systems are rated in horsepower and all belch out re-configured chemical clusters of oxygen (O), carbon (C), hydrogen (H), nitrogen (N) and in many cases sulfur (S). In instances they carry few of us into space and then power us back to terra firma.

The controlled introduction of sufficient heat to specifically organized CH chemical compounds mixed with air (oxygen and nitrogen) vitalize the process we call combustion into energy. This process has warmed our dwellings, fueled our cooking systems, helps build things and destroy things; combustion is in its’ nature change and we call it fire.

The taming of fire includes hand-me-down processes of securing knowledge about combustion and what will and will not burn. From the smoky caves and huts of our earlier ancestors to the street corners near or in auto congested cities we just can’t seem to escape the inhalation of the resulting products of combustion. But, like moths driven to a light, we are driven to answer the problems of combustion with more combustion.

We should however be able to escape from the threat while inside our dwellings with an increase of knowledge through awareness and active participation in prevention.

Know the limitations of carbon monoxide alarms you use

Please read the information on the packaging and in the instructions before you purchase and install them. If they are U.L. 2034 listed, their alarm statement levels are 70, 150 and 400 PPM of carbon monoxide. These devices purchased for home use clearly state they are not compliant with any OSHA statute and their purpose is to alert inhabitants to acute levels of carbon monoxide.

You may also notice that a lot of written statements by the manufacturer’s of these U.L. 2034 listed devices alert the purchaser about people with specific medical conditions requiring alarms that alerted to less than 30 PPM of CO. In the context of their discussion, you would presume their alarm alerted above 30 which it has not been tested to do, only 70 PPM at the lowest. Since 70 PPM is twice the evacuation levels utilized by fire and emergency technicians, then they are pretty much useless at these important levels. Please purchase wisely.

This news link has featured reported incidences where alarm alerted CO poisoning victims have had flu-like symptoms, headaches or some other ailment for a day, a week or longer before the alarm sounded. It is not uncommon to hear of years of misdiagnosed ailments randomly discovered to be low level, chronic carbon monoxide poisoning. Unfortunately these stories arise too often.