What is Carbon Monoxide Poisoning, and how does it happen?
Carbon Monoxide is an odorless, colorless, and tasteless gas. With exposure to it over a long period of time, it can cause serious damage to your respiratory system, eventually resulting in death. The reason carbon monoxide is poisonous to you and your family is because it starves your heart, brain and other organs of oxygen. Some of the signs of carbon monoxide poisoning are headaches, nausea, pains and mental confusion. These symptoms are often misdiagnosed as the flu or a bad cold. And even worse, carbon monoxide poisoning from faulty home heating causes hundreds of deaths in America every year. Children and the elderly are the most severely affected. Homeowners who have created energy-efficient homes could actually increase their chances of C.O. Poisoning. Ideally, the home should “breathe” air from the outside to replace the air used by combustion appliances inside. But when the home has been sealed up and “unable to breathe”, dangerous levels of carbon monoxide build up.
