Carbon Monoxide Safety & Your Furnace

What You Need to Know About This Poisonous Gas

At Valley Oil, our goal is to help our Hudson Valley customers pay less and smile more. We also care about the safety of our customers. If you have a furnace in your home, it’s important for the health and safety of your family that you understand the risks carbon monoxide (CO) gas poses and how you can mitigate those risks.

Know the Risks

Carbon monoxide kills hundreds of Americans every year. It is an odorless and colorless gas that is produced when any fuel is burned. Unfortunately, it’s also poisonous. Because your furnace burns a fuel (heating oil), it produces carbon monoxide when it’s running. That is a normal part of its operation. Problems arise if that carbon monoxide is allowed to build up inside your home due to poor ventilation or malfunctioning equipment. Exposure to carbon monoxide can lead to carbon monoxide poisoning, which in turn can cause any of the following: illness, disorientation, and even death.

Symptoms of Carbon Monoxide Poising

Even if you take every precaution, it’s important to be able to recognize the symptoms of carbon monoxide exposure and poisoning. The longer the exposure to carbon monoxide, the worse the symptoms are likely to be.

• Limited exposure to carbon monoxide can cause flu-like symptoms.
• Moderate exposure to carbon monoxide can lead to severe headache, drowsiness, and disorientation.
• Extended exposure to carbon monoxide can cause unconsciousness, cardiac arrest, and death.

Carbon monoxide poisoning is a medical emergency. If you think someone may have been exposed to carbon monoxide, get them into fresh air as quickly as possible and then get them to an emergency medical care facility or call 911 immediately. All fuel-burning appliances in the home should be inspected until the cause of the leak is identified and resolved.

You can visit the Mayo Clinic website for additional information on carbon monoxide poisoning.

Safety Measures

There are a few simple but very important things you can do to protect your family from carbon monoxide poisoning. Remember, you won’t be able to see or smell it if it’s filling the rooms of your home.

1. Make sure that your furnace receives a yearly inspection by a trained professional. They will look out for leaks and other potential problems that could put you and your family at risk and address them.
2. There should be carbon monoxide detectors installed on every floor of your home and near every bedroom. Check them monthly to make sure they’re working. Replace the batteries twice a year and the units themselves every 5 to 7 years (or according to the manufacturer’s instructions).

Choose Valley Oil

At Valley Oil, we care about your family’s safety. You can also count on us for quality, affordability, and dependability in New York’s Dutchess and Ulster counties.

Contact us today to order oil, register for one of our budget plans, or sign up for automatic delivery.