Carbon dioxide poisoning
Carbon dioxide poisoningCarbon Monoxide Poisoning
Imagine that it is the first really cold night of the winter season. You begin to feel a chill in the house so you decide it's time to turn on the furnace. So you get up out of your chair and adjust the thermometer. After a while you notice that it has not really warmed up much in the house. So you decide to check it again just as soon as you get something for this awful headache that just came on. But, as you get up out of your chair you almost fall over because you are so dizzy. You also begin to feel weak and nauseous. You think that it is just a case of the flu coming on but it could be something much worse. Without even knowing it a silent killer has made it's way into your home. This killer shows no remorse. It strikes men, women, and children. It does not care what color you are, nor does it care what nationality you are. The killer is carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide, or CO as it is also called, is an odorless, colorless, and deadly gas given off when any fuel is incompletely burned by, for example, a furnace or water heater (Marable 97). Unlike a fire where you can immediately see smoke and flames, carbon monoxide poisoning gives no physical evidence of its presence. But, when taught to see and look for the warning signs of carbon monoxide, deaths in the home due to carbon monoxide poisoning can be prevented.
Sometimes, in a home the hot water supply is low, or the furnace fails to keep the house warm. A natural reaction in any of these situations would be to turn up the tempeture on both appliances. But, did you know that a low supply of hot water, and a furnace that does not keep a house warm could be a warning sign of a CO problem ("More on CO" 97)? Additionally, by turning up the temperature on both units you just made a bad problem worse. Now each appliance is going to be running longer to try to keep things warmed up. This in turn will allow more deadly gas to be floating around in your home. These are just a couple of the warning signs. Other warning signs include, an unfamiliar burning odor, an increase of condensation on walls or windows near the furnace. A build up of soot, especially on appliances, could be an indicator, as well as fresh rust or stains that are visible on vents and chimneys ("More on CO" 97). One or all these, rarely noticed indicators, could be preludes to a tradgity. Carbon monoxide is responsible for at least 300 accidental and preventable deaths per year in the US (Race 97). The Consumer Product and Safety Commission...
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