Why Carbon Monoxide Is So Dangerous

RayWohlfarth

In this weeks video, I talk about the dangers and effects of carbon monoxide exposure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsNy6Cnfx_o

Steamhead

That's why CO is called the "silent killer".

I bet most of us have CO stories………

Mad Dog_2

Great scientific explanation Ray. It's deeply troubling to me how few, home and building owners, take active Carbon Monoxide issues in their living/working space, seriously. I find residential homeowners even less so. Whether it's in the budget or not, we install ALL boilers - Small and Big - with a Smoke/Carbon Monoxide Interlock. Mad Dog

RayWohlfarth

@Steamhead yes sir scary I brought my co detector on vacation to check the hotel rooms lol

@Mad Dog_2 thank you

mattmia2

I wonder if hotels actually have more of a CO problem or if they get more press than a CO incident in a single family home? I'm sure they are worse than most other commercial buildings but maybe not worse than residential.

Bob Harper

I always wear a personal CO alarm. I get teased about that, but you know the best part about getting teased? You have to be alive for teasing to matter. A nice, quick overview from Ray. As a retired paramedic who has taken the NCI course more times than I can remember allow me to interject this about symptoms: They are wholly unreliable prognosticators and virtually never manifest until you have been significantly exposed. The exception is chronic low level CO. While CO itself is not cumulative in the body but clears at a half life of 3-5 hrs. depending upon your sources, the sequelae, meaning the long term effects from cellular hypoxia can be. There is a growing body of evidence for chronic low level CO sufferers becoming so debilitated they become non-ambulatory but bedridden. How many people take drugs for mood swings, ADHD, psychosis, etc. when it is really CO? How about those mysterious allergies that fail to show up on testing? Chronic headaches diagnosed as idiopathic (meaning they don't have a clue). How about your mental focus, memory, reaction times, and cognition? Think of CO poisoning as suffocating because that's the net effect to the cells- hypoxia. You need O2 for Krebs Cycle (Citric acid cycle) for cellular aerobic (oxygen) metabolism. Another side effect of CO is the garbage piling up at the curb. Hemoglobin cannot assist your blood plasma with removing the metabolic wastes from cellular metabolism, such as lactic and pyruvic acid. Thus, these metabolic acids damage cells as well as cause metabolic acidosis to some degree.

ArthurPeabody

I was getting progressively and inexplicably sleepy. I eventually figured out it was my gas range. I opened the windows, turned on the fans, even though it was January, and went outside. I bought a CO monitor - and a new range.

Steamhead

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1899489#Comment_1899489

Did you do a combustion test on the new one? I've seen brand-new stoves produce over 500 PPM out of the box, mainly from the oven burners. Most can be readjusted to eliminate this.

mattmia2

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1899506#Comment_1899506

conversely their old one probably could have been cleaned and adjusted to to eliminate the majority of the CO unless the burner itself had collapsed or something like that.

Steamhead

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1899516#Comment_1899516

I've done a lot of that.

hot_rod

Roy Colver, a former combustion trainer, out in Western Canada always travels with a personal CO detector. I was in a restaurant with him years ago, an open grill steakhouse. His detector went off the minute we walked in. We got a table near the front entry door!

Steve Minnich

I’ve worn a personal detector for decades, still do. We took the kids on vacation every year and Estes Park in Colorado was always one of our favorites. One time, the minute we walked into our cabin my detector went crazy within seconds. We had it booked for a week. I told everyone to just turn around and get back in the car.

I went to sales office, explained what happened, and they refused to return my money. I stayed calm and asked if I could borrow their maintenance man for a few minutes. We walked over to our cabin and, again, the moment we opened the door the detector went off with a very high reading although I don’t remember the number. We walked back to the office. My money was refunded and that cabin was shut down