Polar Heating and Refrigeration offers carbon monoxide testing.

carbon monoxide testingA primer on carbon monoxide and carbon monoxide testing might be order to help you understand why it is so important!

Definition of carbon monoxide (CO)

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a deadly, colorless, odorless, poisonous gas produced by the incomplete burning of various fuels including:

  • Coal
  • Wood
  • Charcoal
  • Oil
  • Kerosene
  • Propane
  • Natural gas

Internal combustion engines can also produce CO. We have all heard about deaths in car in closed garages by CO but generators, lawn mowers, pressure washers and any other engine can produce CO as well.

The problem is that CO is odorless, colorless, and otherwise undetectable to the human senses, the people who die or become seriously ill don’t even know why!

The symptoms of mild CO poisoning are very similar to the flu!

  • Headache
  • Fatigue
  • Shortness of breath
  • Nausea
  • Dizziness

For those who do not heed these initial symptoms and remove themselves from the source they will progress into:

  • Mental confusion
  • Vomiting
  • Loss of muscular coordination
  • Loss of consciousness
  • Ultimately death

There are many cases with a slow CO leak where even medical personnel have mistaken the milder symptoms for the flu and sent patients back to the source of the illness only to result in a tragic and preventable death.

In the case of someone being exposed to high levels of CO, the quickness of the poisoning can overwhelm with mental confusion and loss of muscle control without having first experienced milder symptoms and can lead to death if not rescued.

CO alarms work!

Follow manufacturer’s instructions for installation of CO alarms.  Alarms can be installed in the hallway outside the bedrooms in each separate sleeping area of the home – either in a plug-in receptacle or high on the wall.  Do not install an alarm in the kitchen or near fuel burning appliances as you will get false alarms.

And finally call us to make sure everything is good in your house with a carbon monoxide testing if you have any questions that they are not!