Carbon Monoxide Detectors

            I received a phone call the other day from a man from Town and Country Homes of Petoskey and Traverse City.  He told me of a foundation created to raise awareness of the dangers of carbon monoxide.  This foundation was created in the memory of two people who died as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning.   

            Town and Country Homes built a beautiful retirement home for Patty and Gene Overbeck on Elk Lake.  In the chaos that came with running errands and unloading the vehicle during a blistery, cold day, the vehicle was left running in the garage.  The Overbeck family figures that their parents settled in for a nice evening of television and a long winter’s nap.  They never woke up because of the carbon monoxide.  They also didn’t have a CO detector. 

            Town & Country Cedar Homes, along with the participation of the surviving Overbeck children, developed the idea for the foundation.  This foundation’s mission is to prevent this tragedy from occurring again.  They have procured carbon monoxide detectors and plan on giving them away free.  They have the support of Town and Country Homes, Eric’s employer, who built the home for the Overbecks.  They are also supporting legislation that will require CO detectors in residential living units.  Currently, homes are required to have smoke detectors but not CO detectors. 

Carbon Monoxide is produced whenever there is a burning process.  I have said before that, if the burning process is 100% efficient and complete, there will be nothing left behind - no ashes, no soot, nothing.  Not only would the fuel have to be completely oxidized but the smoke and by-products of the combustion process, including the water vapor and gases, would have to virtually disappear for 100% complete, efficient burning.  This is also impossible in our world.  We can not replicate the conditions it would take for this to happen.  Our furnaces, water heaters, gas and charcoal grills, ovens/stoves, clothes dryers, boilers, wood stoves, vehicles, and gas or kerosene heaters are examples of appliances that produce carbon monoxide.  These appliances often fail in the smallest sense and more carbon monoxide than the appliance can exhaust is produced. 

We can’t detect carbon monoxide.  You can’t see it, smell it, taste it, hear it, or feel it.  It is truly invisible and undetectable by our senses.  These facts are only a small reason why it is so dangerous.  Most instances involving CO poisoning go unrecognized until it is too late.  Carbon monoxide is always present but we need to be more aware during the fall season and through the winter months.  A common ailment during these times is flu or colds.  Exposure to CO poisoning produces flu-like symptoms such as nausea, dizzy spells, and fatigue.  So many people mistake CO poisoning for the flu and treat it as one may treat having the flu and go to bed.  This same gas is what those who die in fires succumb to.  You just go into a deeper sleep, the amount of oxygen is reduced, and you die. 

People do, however, notice patterns in their lives.  A clue that carbon monoxide may be present is that one or more people in the home have had more intense headaches than normal.  I say more than normal because people live with certain ailments and exposure to CO poison produces signs and symptoms similar to them.  People exposed to CO gas may notice pets acting differently.  Certain people with pre-existing conditions may show signs and symptoms earlier than others and this may be noticed--or not. Others may just think “their condition” is bothering them today.  If CO poisoning is discovered in time, immediate treatment is necessary.  Simply getting the afflicted to fresh air is not enough.   

I will explain to you what happens to the body when exposed to carbon monoxide in the manner I do for children.  I do not intend to be demeaning but the connection is very obvious.  Remember that our cells and our brain use sugar and oxygen to live.  Imagine (this is why this works so well with children, they have wonderful imaginations!) your red blood cells whose employ is to drag a wagon filled to the rim with oxygen molecules to all parts of the body, throwing them at the cells so they may live and prosper.  The wagons are returned to the lungs absent of oxygen molecules and are filled back up.  The oxygen bonds with the red blood cell fairly easy.  Carbon monoxide present in the lungs acts like a bully and pushes the oxygen molecules out of the way and jumps into the wagons.  Only they don’t just fill the wagon to the rim, they overfill it.  The CO molecules bind to the red blood cell ten times faster and easier than oxygen does.  So, the wagon goes on its way dropping off its load as it cruises along.  It doesn’t realize it is dumping CO instead of oxygen to the cells.  It travels back to the lungs still having some CO molecules in the wagon and picks up more.  This continues until death or intervention.   Fresh air helps the victim but, because the affinity of carbon monoxide to the red blood cells, getting rid of it is very difficult.  A hyperbaric chamber is often used in serious cases where oxygen, under pressure, is forced into the body to replace the carbon monoxide.  Divers use the chamber because nitrogen does the same thing to them when they surface too fast. 

CO detectors are similar to smoke detectors in that they need to be placed properly, maintained properly, and involved in practice drills.  Since carbon monoxide simply fills the space it occupies, it doesn’t collect anywhere specifically, their placement can be anywhere on the wall from about 8 inches below the ceiling to about 8 inches from the floor.  The corners and junctions of the ceiling and wall and floor and wall are dead spaces; that is why carbon monoxide and smoke detectors alike should not be within 8 inches of either.  Another thing to remember about placement is that they should not be close to the very appliances that may cause an alarm.  This will prevent a false alarm. The maintenance of CO detectors is similar to that of smoke detectors.   Cleaning the air louvers and keeping the dust out is important.  Testing them for operability is necessary at least once a month.  Remember, each time you test, it uses a little battery life.  This means that battery replacement should be done about twice a year.   We used to test our automatic external defibrillators and would use up all the battery before it even got to help save a life, so replacing batteries is critical.  Maybe place a red sticker on the calendar on the day of each month that you want to test ALL detectors and a green sticker on the calendar on the two times per year that you need to just change the battery as a mini insurance policy.  Also remember that a consistent “beep” indicates something is wrong with the detector and you must investigate.  Drills, drills, drills - they are one of the best ways to learn something.  Each and every time you test any detector, practice a safety escape plan.  The aim for practice is to make perfect.  I don’t believe perfection can be achieved, but I do believe practicing will save your life. 

Please contact me or the Overbeck foundation for information.  The foundation phone number is 231-348-9329.  My contact information is at the top of the page.  Thank you.

            Jim Carroll