{"id":954,"date":"2022-05-16T10:31:20","date_gmt":"2022-05-16T14:31:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.njairquality.com\/?p=954"},"modified":"2022-05-16T15:24:50","modified_gmt":"2022-05-16T19:24:50","slug":"is-the-air-quality-in-your-home-safe-from-carbon-monoxide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/njairquality.com\/is-the-air-quality-in-your-home-safe-from-carbon-monoxide\/","title":{"rendered":"Is the Air Quality in Your Home Safe from Carbon Monoxide?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tragedy struck a luxury Sandals resort in the\nBahamas last week when three tourists died and another became seriously sick\nfrom originally unknown causes. However, recently it is seriously suspected\nthat the venting in the hotels rooms unknowingly spread carbon monoxide into\nthe air of the suites. These high-end accommodations go for up to one thousand\ndollars a night and were booked for honeymooners fresh from their weddings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Emerald Bay is situated in Great Exuma,\nBahamas and is billed as a couples only resort. Four innocent newlyweds were\nsent back to their rooms even after complaining about feeling sick and seeking\nmedical treatment. Three out of the four are dead. So far, the suspicion is\nthat the carbon monoxide got through to the suites from some construction work\nthat affected the ventilation and\/or heating system in the resort. Until the\nautopsy results come back the verdict is still out on the reasons for these\ntragic deaths but no matter what the cause the ventilation systems are to\nblame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every year vacationers get sick or die from carbon monoxide poisoning due to defective or malfunctioning equipment such as pool and water heaters, boilers and other devices that can leak carbon monoxide<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How\nDoes Carbon Monoxide Get into Your Home?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It all boils down to adequate venting. Whether\nit\u2019s your air conditioning and heating system, your furnaces, wood stoves and\nfireplaces and even gas stoves, these are all potential hidden danger zones for\nleaky carbon monoxide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For example, if a defective unvented gas heater is working in a 1680 square foot home, the carbon monoxide level could be raised to 30 ppm (parts per million). In a mobile home half the size, the deadly concentration will be double or 60 ppm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are two types of homes regarding dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning, loose and tight homes. Loose means that the house is large such as an old house or that there is an open door. A tight house is one where it seems that there is not a lot of space for air to circulate such as a mobile home. The trouble is both these types of homes are danger zones for carbon monoxide poisoning. Just because the door to the garage is open does not guarantee that a resident cannot be overcome by this substance. It entirely depends on the concentration at the moment of inhalation<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is\nCarbon Monoxide?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It is odorless, colorless, and deadly and it can kill someone before they are aware of what is happening to them. The way carbon monoxide kills<\/a> is by attaching itself to the red blood cells and depriving these crucial cells from absorbing oxygen. This is called formation of carboxyhemoglobin<\/a> in the blood preventing the intake of oxygen. The age of the person, the concentration of the gas and the length of exposure time will vary greatly in each venue where people are exposed. When there is a low concentration in a healthy person, he or she will feel tired while someone who has a heart condition will feel dizzy and feel pain in the chest. As the concentration increases so do the symptoms such as impaired vision, headaches, confusion, and nausea. These flu- like symptoms will dissipate when the person leaves the house, but this is false hope of feeling better unless the resident realizes why he or she is showing signs of improvement. This is most likely what occurred in the Bahamas when the unfortunate victims left the medical facility since they were feeling better only to go back to the \u201cscene of the crime\u201d and perish. This false relief is called dilution which means getting some fresh air to mix with the dangerous gas. There are advantages to dilution which will be detailed later but to just go out and get fresh air and go back into a contaminated home or building will not solve the issue and therefore people end up dying in their sleep when there is no dilution. So, this type of dilution is just a temporary bandage which can help until a venting solution is found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How Can\nYou Keep Your Residence Safe from Carbon Monoxide Poisoning?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

1)<\/strong> First and foremost,\nmake sure you have a carbon monoxide detector in your home. If you live in a\nlarge residence, you may need several. The wisest advice is to consult your\nlocal fire department to find out the safest way to keep your home carbon\nmonoxide free. There is no specific data on the general requirements of these\ndetectors in specific hotel rooms nor do we have specific news information if\nthe hotel in the Bahamas where three people were killed had carbon monoxide\ndetectors in each room. Some experts suggest bringing your own detector when\nvacationing in strange resorts since each state and country may have their own\nlaws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2)<\/strong> Keeping your\nkitchen ranges and stoves clean and in proper working condition is imperative for\nkeeping your home safe. These appliances can be sources of carbon monoxide\nespecially if they are used without the right ventilation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3)<\/strong> Clothes dryers,\nwater and space heaters and furnaces are powered by burning fuel in some homes.\nInspection and maintenance by air quality specialists will assure you that\nthese machines are not emitting carbon monoxide into your home. It is a fact\nthat carbon monoxide poisoning happens more often during the cold winter months\nwhen less fresh air is let into the home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4)<\/strong> Fireplaces are\nused during the winter months as an additional source of heating the home.\nSmoke from burning wood can increase the concentration of dangerous airborne\nfactors including carbon monoxide so make sure to open the flue when using your\nfireplaces and have your chimney cleaned when necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5)<\/strong> Carbon monoxide\nis present when smoking since when the tobacco burns carbon monoxide is created\nand especially in enclosed rooms the toxic air will increase and expose all the\noccupants besides the smoker to dangerous fumes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6)<\/strong> Portable\ngenerators that are gas-powered are a great bonus to homes that are in an area\nwhere power loss is present such as flooding, and hurricane zones and people\nfeel that these machines are a great safety addition to their homes. Beware\nthat these types of generators produce high levels of carbon monoxide and\nshould only be utilized outdoors and at least twenty-five feet from open doors\nand windows. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is\nDilution and is it an Efficient Method of Removing Contaminants?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

By bringing in outside air the carbon monoxide<\/a> level gets diluted or lowered. However, this is an inefficient way to remove pollutants from the home simply because the carbon monoxide is still being produced and even with high amounts of fresh air the pollutants are not removed. Dilution is also not cost effective since bringing in cold air in the winter or warm air in the summer will increase heating and cooling costs. Instead of using this temporary band aid it would be much smarter for the homeowner to have the carbon monoxide removed directly by an air quality specialist who is trained to specifically test the air and clean it. Additionally, there are also new direct-venting heaters that will vent the combustible substances straight outdoors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Final\nWords<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

No one wants to wait for tragedy to strike to\nfix ventilation system problems. When visiting friends, relatives or going to a\nnew hotel it is prudent to check on their carbon monoxide detector\nrequirements. Just because a hotel in another country or city is charging\nexorbitant prices is no guarantee for your family\u2019s safety as three unfortunate\nnewlyweds families learned recently when they were killed in the Bahamas. The\nstory is unfortunate, but it could be prevented in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We tend to hermetically seal ourselves in the\nhot summer and cold winter and maybe open our windows when the spring hits.\nThen there are those who suffer severe seasonal allergies in the spring and\ncannot stand having the windows open. Now sneezing, wheezing, and coughing are\ncertainly no laughing matter, but they still don\u2019t hold a candle to the danger\nof carbon monoxide poisoning. If an otherwise healthy person is feeling\nnauseous, dizzy, or having flu-like symptoms and feels better almost\nimmediately upon going out in the fresh air, he or she might be suffering from\ncarbon monoxide poisoning. It can still be fatal if the person goes right back\ninto the dangerous indoors that they just left. This is what happened in the\nBahamas and has happened to others whose loved ones may never find out why they\ndied. There is just a one letter difference between carbon dioxide, which is a\nsource of life on earth and carbon monoxide, which is a source of death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interchanging the m<\/em> <\/strong>for the d<\/strong><\/em> and you can have a serious crisis on your hands that not even the fire department can do much about when it is too late. Let\u2019s say, \u201cTo life\u201d by following the simple steps listed above to keep your family safe no matter where you are or where you travel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tragedy struck a luxury Sandals resort in the Bahamas last week when three tourists died and another became seriously sick from originally unknown causes. However, recently it is seriously suspected that the venting in the hotels rooms unknowingly spread carbon monoxide into the air of the suites. These high-end accommodations go for up to one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/njairquality.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/njairquality.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/njairquality.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/njairquality.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/njairquality.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=954"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/njairquality.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":961,"href":"https:\/\/njairquality.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954\/revisions\/961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/njairquality.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/njairquality.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/njairquality.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}