Your home should be a place of safety and rest. To help ensure that this is true, it’s important to understand potential risks in your Athens home so that you can mitigate those risks as much as possible.
Although there are certainly other pressing risks that are worth addressing, the risk of a carbon monoxide release ranks near the top of the list in terms of seriousness. Fortunately, there are plenty of steps that we at Clockwork Heating and Air Conditioning can recommend to ensure that your family is never put in harm’s way due to carbon monoxide.
How Is Carbon Monoxide Released?
The most common source of carbon monoxide in a home is incomplete combustion in or improper venting of a gas appliance. Furnaces, specifically, are the most common culprit behind carbon monoxide releases that we see at Clockwork Heating and Air Conditioning. Incomplete combustion can occur if the burners on your furnace are dirty or otherwise malfunctioning. Rather than creating a flame only, the burner may create a flame and carbon monoxide.
When it comes to improper venting, a gas appliance, such as a furnace or water heater, may not properly release its exhaust gases into the flue. This can occur if the flue is blocked or develops a crack due to old age. No matter how carbon monoxide is released into your home, it’s important to know that it is undetectable by humans because it is odorless, colorless, and tasteless.
What Are the Risks?
Carbon monoxide exposure carries with it serious risks. Since carbon monoxide can lower the level of oxygen in your lungs, even short-term exposure carries the risk of headaches, dizziness, vomiting, blurred vision, and more. Eventually, exposure to carbon monoxide can cause loss of consciousness and eventually death unless you move to fresh air quickly.
If you don’t die from carbon monoxide poisoning, it can still have lifelong consequences because it can starve your brain of the oxygen it needs to function properly. Therefore, permanent brain damage can occur that can leave you without the use of certain faculties. With that said, we at Clockwork Heating and Air Conditioning want you to know that if you have even the slightest suspicion that there may be carbon dioxide in your home or workplace, it’s important to evacuate immediately.
How Can I Avoid These Risks?
There are several steps you need to take to help reduce your risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. The first step is to keep your gas appliances properly maintained. If you have your furnace, water heater, and other gas appliances annually inspected by a technician from Clockwork Heating and Air Conditioning, it is very unlikely that they will develop problems that could cause a carbon monoxide release.
Another step you should take is to evaluate your daily patterns of living. Since carbon monoxide poisoning can also occur due to a release of the gas from a running vehicle, it’s important to make sure that you get in the habit of turning off your vehicle before you close your home’s garage door.
Without a doubt, though, the most important thing that you can do to help reduce your risk of carbon monoxide poisoning is to install carbon monoxide detectors in your home. These detectors are as essential as smoke detectors when it comes to maintaining a safe home. Carbon monoxide detectors should be placed on every level of your home, making sure that they can be heard from each bedroom, even if it requires installing extra detectors.
You’ll also want to make sure that you don’t place your detectors too close to a gas-fueled appliance, as that could cause false alarms to occur. In addition, it’s important to change the batteries in your carbon monoxide detectors according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
Working Hard to Keep Your Family Safe
At Clockwork Heating and Air Conditioning, our first and foremost concern is your family’s safety. That’s why we offer complete inspection and maintenance services for your furnace and air conditioner so that no dangerous conditions have a chance to develop. We also want to make sure that you and your family are comfortable, which is why we offer dehumidifiers, heating and cooling services, and other home comfort solutions. Our commitment to service has never wavered in our 30-plus years of operation, which is why we consistently receive glowing reviews from our customers. Call us today at Clockwork Heating and Air Conditioning to ensure that your family is safe from carbon monoxide.
