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- Protect Your Entire Family
- With NSI Professional Grade Low-Level
Carbon Monoxide Monitors.
- NSI Professional Grade Low-Level Carbon
Monoxide Monitors provide protection for all age groups and conditions,
- especially infants, children, the
elderly, and highly sensitive or ill people,
- other detectors barely provide minimal
protection for healthy adults.
- NSI Professional Grade Low-Level Carbon
Monoxide Monitors let you know there’s a problem before reaching
dangerous,
- even deadly CO levels, long before the
other detectors even begin to work.
- NSI Model 3000 Monitors employ the same
electrochemical sensor technology found in
- professional CO Analyzers that cost
thousands of dollars.
- These monitors are calibrated using CO,
not electronic guesswork!
Ask your
how an NSI 3000 Monitor can help keep your home safe and healthy today!
Here
are the Facts :
- Carbon monoxide poisoning
- According to the
National Safety Council, 200-300 unintentional-injury deaths a year are
due to carbon monoxide poisioning. The dangers
of CO exposure depend on a number of variables, including the victim's
health and activity level. Infants, pregnant women, and people with
physical conditions that limit their body's ability to use oxygen (i.e.
emphysema, asthma, heart disease) can be more severely affected by lower
concentrations of CO than healthy adults would be.
A person can be poisoned by a small amount of CO over a
longer period of time or by a large amount of CO over a shorter amount of
time.
-
- Know the symptoms of CO poisoning. At
moderate levels, you or your family can get severe headaches, become
dizzy, mentally confused, nauseated, or faint. You can even die if
these levels persist for a long time. Low levels can cause shortness
of breath, mild nausea, and mild headaches, and may have longer term
effects on your health. Since many of these symptoms are similar to
those of the flu, food poisoning, or other illnesses, you may not
think that CO poisoning could be the cause.
The concentration of CO,
measured in parts per million (ppm) is a determining factor in the symptoms
for an average, healthy adult.
|
CO concentration (parts per million) |
Symptoms |
| 50 |
No adverse effects
with 8 hours of exposure. |
| 200 |
Mild headache after
2-3 hours of exposure. |
| 400 |
Headache and nausea
after 1-2 hours of exposure. |
| 800 |
Headache, nausea,
and dizziness after 45 minutes; collapse and unconsciousness after 1
hour of exposure. |
| 1,000 |
Loss of
consciousness after 1 hour of exposure. |
| 1,600 |
Headache, nausea,
and dizziness after 20 minutes of exposure. |
| 3,200 |
Headache, nausea,
and dizziness after 5-10 minutes; collapse and unconsciousness after 30
minutes of exposure. |
| 6,400 |
Headache and
dizziness after 1-2 minutes; unconsciousness and danger of death after
10-15 minutes of exposure. |
| 12,800 |
Immediate
physiological effects, unconsciousness and danger of death after 1-3
minutes of exposure. |
Source: NFPA's
Fire Protection Handbook, 19th Edition.
- If you experience symptoms that you
think could be from CO poisoning:
-
DO GET FRESH AIR IMMEDIATELY. Open doors and windows, turn
off combustion appliances and leave the house.
-
DO GO TO AN EMERGENCY ROOM and tell the physician you
suspect CO poisoning. If CO poisoning has occurred, it can often be
diagnosed by a blood test.
-
DO Be prepared to answer the following questions for the doctor:
-
Do your symptoms occur only
in the house? Do they disappear or decrease when you leave home and
reappear when you return?
-
Is anyone else in your
household complaining of similar symptoms? Did everyone’s symptoms appear
about the same time?
-
Are you using any
fuel-burning appliances in the home?
-
Has anyone inspected your
appliances lately? Are you certain they are working properly?
-
DO have your fuel-burning appliances -- including oil and gas
furnaces, gas water heaters, gas ranges and ovens, gas dryers, gas or
kerosene space heaters, fireplaces, and wood stoves -- inspected by a
trained professional at the beginning of every heating season. Make
certain that the flues and chimneys are connected, in good condition,
and not blocked.
DO choose appliances that vent their fumes to the outside whenever
possible, have them properly installed, and maintain them according to
manufacturers’ instructions.
DO read and follow all of the instructions that accompany any
fuel-burning device. If you cannot avoid using an unvented gas or
kerosene space heater, carefully follow the cautions that come
with the device. Use the proper fuel and keep doors to the rest of the
house open. Crack a window to ensure enough air for ventilation and
proper fuel-burning.
DO call EPA’s IAQ
INFO Clearinghouse (1-800-438-4318) or the
Consumer Product Safety Commission (1-800-638-2772)
for more information on how to reduce your risks from CO and other
combustion gases and particles.
DON’T idle the car in a garage -- even if the garage door to the
outside is open. Fumes can build up very quickly in the garage and
living area of your home.
DON’T use a gas oven to heat your home, even for a short time.
DON’T ever use a charcoal grill indoors -- even in a
fireplace.
DON'T sleep in any room with an unvented gas or kerosene space
heater.
DON’T use any gasoline-powered engines (mowers, weed trimmers, snow
blowers, chain saws, small engines or generators) in enclosed spaces.
DON’T ignore symptoms, particularly if more than one person is
feeling them. You could lose consciousness and die if you do nothing.
- So What’s a Consumer to Do?
- First,
don’t let buying a CO detector lull you into a false sense of security.
Preventing CO from becoming a problem in your home is better than
relying on an alarm. Follow the checklist of DOs and DON’Ts above.
- Second, if
you shop for a CO detector, do some research on features and don’t
select solely on the basis of cost. Non-governmental organizations such
as Consumers Union (publisher of Consumer Reports), the American
Gas Association, and Underwriters Laboratories (UL) can help you make an
informed decision. Look for UL certification on any detector you
purchase.
- Carefully follow manufacturers’
instructions for its placement, use, and maintenance.
-
- If the CO detector alarm goes off:
- Make sure it is your CO detector and
not your smoke detector.
- Check to see if any member of the
household is experiencing symptoms of poisoning.
- If they are, get them out of the house
immediately and seek medical attention. Tell the doctor that you suspect
CO poisoning.
- If no one is feeling symptoms,
ventilate the home with fresh air, turn off all potential sources of CO
-- your oil or gas furnace, gas water heater, gas range and oven, gas
dryer, gas or kerosene space heater and any vehicle or small engine.
- Have Vander
Hyde inspect your fuel-burning appliances and chimneys to
make sure they are operating correctly and that there is nothing
blocking the fumes from being vented out of the house.
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