Carbon Monoxide Detector

[Lotti]

I'm off to get one now.  We have been saying for a while we should have them because of the woodburners, but never got round to it.  Today we have had the gas fire going in the office and I started to feel very very odd, so we turned it off and I went outside for a bit of a walk.  I have to go out to do the shopping today, so will pop into Lloyds if Morrison's don't sell them.  Nasty experience!

[stuwaudby]

Clinical trials of small amounts of carbon monoxide as a drug, are on-going. So you see small amounts are not toxic. Similarly small amounts are produced when you burn candles at home ,    http://sg.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101023022119AAWW1SK , how many of you worry about burning fragranced candles? The majority of detectors are used near the central heating boiler which. if not properly maintained, can produce copious amounts of carbon monoxide and produce the fatalities that are reported in the press. An open window mitigates any danger. Low levels of carbon monoxide in the blood are completely normal, see http://www.carbon-monoxide-survivor.com/carbon-monoxide-levels-in-the-body.html for information on carbon monoxide in the bloodstream.

Sorry to keep correcting you Pat:

Just because something is used as drug does not make it safe. Every chemical has a safe exposure limit. What is important in poisioning is cumulative build up. Carbon monoxide bonds to red blood cells and prevents them from carrying oxygen around the body. Any cells affected remain so until they are broken down and replaced. This means that the amount of carbon monoxide in your body is a balance between the intake you breathe and the speed it is broken down and excreted. A glass torch has the potential to generate much more than a candle, the torch is right in front of your face, just where you are breathing from. You are unlikely to be killed by the emissions of your torch but high levels of carbon monoxide will have an effect on your health.

Smokers bodies adapt to deal with the lower levels of oxygen available in their blood stream. How often do you see heavy smokers with pale faces? thats the lack of oxygen.

Every vehicle in the UK is fitted with a catylitic conmvertor to ensure that any carbon monoxide is combined with oxygen to be emitted as carbon dioxide. I remember the old days of going into town shopping and coming home with a stinking headache - that was the carbon monoxide.

Lotti: If you started feeling better when you went outside then it's unlikely to be carbon monoxide. So long as there is sufficient chimney to emit all the smoke and sufficient ventilation to supply air then your room is always circulating fresh air and you should be ok. CO poisioning is rare from wood or coal fires because the smoke tends to kill first. No harm in getting a detector though.

[Lotti]

Hi, thanks, actually this was a gas fire that we haven't used for a year, it might not have been CO but it of course may have been the fire itself, think as it hasn't been used for a while that we should get it checked (or get our lovely landlord to do it!).  It's a mobile one by the way not a fixed one and we have only used it when we couldn't like the WB.   Thanks for your help and advice.

[Pat from Canvey]

You can correct all you want, Stuwauby but I take my information from adult son who is an analytical chemist. He's read your posts and throws up his hands in horror at the misinformation in them. Can you please enlighten us with your sources. At least I give mine.

[stuwaudby]

Pat,

I am an industrial gas engineer, I have an engineering degree and A level in chemistry. I have worked in natural gas processing and gas storage for 20 years. I currently work importing liquified natural gas into the Isle of Grain (Right over the river from Canvey).

For basic Carbon Monoxide information there are many sources, the most unbiased and reliable is probably the NHS:
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/carbon-monoxide-poisoning/pages/introduction.aspx

In relation to smoking and carbon monoxide the sources tend to be a bit more vaugue because of all the other negative effects of tobacco.
http://www.carbonmonoxidekills.com/15/carbon_monoxide_cigarettes
http://www.smoking-cessation.org/content/healthissues.asp

This medical article is particularly interesting:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10771127?ordinalpos=1&itool=PPMCLayout.PPMCAppController.PPMCArticlePage.PPMCPubmedRA&linkpos=3

There is alot of data available on UK air quality but it is very extensive and difficult to access:
http://www.airquality.co.uk/data_and_statistics_home.php

This site gives some good information on safe levels of CO in the air:
http://www.nutramed.com/environment/monoxide.htm
Sustained exposure above 30ppm is harmful.

New York had levels above 60ppm in the late 1960's (see page 821).
http://ukpmc.ac.uk/backend/ptpmcrender.cgi?accid=PMC1808364&blobtype=pdf
(Dhaka currently has 100ppm during peak hours.)

I admit to being inaccurate about a blood cell being disabled until broken down, heamaglobin is slowly able to release CO and it is excreted thorugh the lungs over a number of hours.

Yahoo Answers is not a valid source, it is filled with people trying to score ranking points by answering any question they can find.
You are correct in saying that low levels of CO are normal in the body however if you look at the other pages of carbon-monoxide-surviver.com it certainly does not say that CO is safe.

[stuwaudby]

Hi, thanks, actually this was a gas fire that we haven't used for a year, it might not have been CO but it of course may have been the fire itself, think as it hasn't been used for a while that we should get it checked (or get our lovely landlord to do it!).  It's a mobile one by the way not a fixed one and we have only used it when we couldn't like the WB.   Thanks for your help and advice.

Lottie, the portable gas fire will use oxygen from your room and emit Carbon Dioxide (not Carbon Monoxide). If there is insufficient ventilation then the level of oxygen will drop and CO2 increase, you will feel more tired and probably get a headache. (The same effect can be felt in a closed room with alot of people breathing.) Fresh air should resolve it within minutes. If the fire is left on for longer then as the oxygen level drops the gas begins to burn richer and will emit carbon monoxide, this can then lead to a more serious problem. You should never goto sleep in a room while using a portable fire. The build up of gasses can be reduced with sufficient ventilation - somewhere for the air to get in and also somewhere for the air to get out. Built in fires do not have this problem because they emit the flue gas out through a chimney.

[Lotti]

Hi, thanks, actually this was a gas fire that we haven't used for a year, it might not have been CO but it of course may have been the fire itself, think as it hasn't been used for a while that we should get it checked (or get our lovely landlord to do it!).  It's a mobile one by the way not a fixed one and we have only used it when we couldn't like the WB.   Thanks for your help and advice.

Lottie, the portable gas fire will use oxygen from your room and emit Carbon Dioxide (not Carbon Monoxide). If there is insufficient ventilation then the level of oxygen will drop and CO2 increase, you will feel more tired and probably get a headache. (The same effect can be felt in a closed room with alot of people breathing.) Fresh air should resolve it within minutes. If the fire is left on for longer then as the oxygen level drops the gas begins to burn richer and will emit carbon monoxide, this can then lead to a more serious problem. You should never goto sleep in a room while using a portable fire. The build up of gasses can be reduced with sufficient ventilation - somewhere for the air to get in and also somewhere for the air to get out. Built in fires do not have this problem because they emit the flue gas out through a chimney.

Hi.  Thanks.  Don't want to use it much anymore anyway, smells horrible, must get the woodburner sorted out (smokes badly in a northerly and what do have a the mo!).  Have got the CO alarm now anyway.