Chronic Low Level CO poisoning

[Optimistic Paranoid]

There's a thread going on up in the Heating sub-forum about running non-vented heaters all night.  The people who do depend on CO detectors and proper ventilation.

I didn't want to hijack that thread, hence my separate post here.

I was doing a little research on CO detectors, and came across some information I find disturbing.

There is an interesting article on Wikipedia under CO POISONING.  It talks about Acute CO poisoning and Chronic CO poisoning.  Interesting read

Elsewhere on the web, I find the following info:

The UL standard for CO detectors is that the alarm must sound if detects:

30 ppm for 30 DAYS
70 ppm for 60 to 240 minutes
150 ppm for 10 to 50 minutes
400 ppm for 4 to 15 minutes

In short, there is a possibility that the alarm will never sound, yet you might be exposed to low levels of CO that can build up after time to cause chronic problems.  Maybe.

http://www.nchh.org/Portals/0/Contents/Article0359.pdf

Obviously, everyone should do their own research and evaluate this possibility for themselves.

But I would not assume that since the alarm never goes off, everything is hunky dory.

Regards
John

 

[ccbreder]

Yes, well posted. CO displaces oxygen in the blood. It takes a while for the CO to be processed out by your body. A little CO tonight, a little CO tomorrow, soon enough, mental problems.

 

[TMG51]

Yes, well posted. CO displaces oxygen in the blood. It takes a while for the CO to be processed out by your body. A little CO tonight, a little CO tomorrow, soon enough, mental problems.

I had a girlfriend who recounted to me that, prior to our relationship, she'd had a furnace tech discover a crack in the firebox of her furnace, and she realized that her episodes of sluggishness in this time were actually CO poisoning.

I never did figure out if the mental problems came before or after.

 

[GrantRobertson]

I just heard a podcast which asserted that all the stories about haunted houses are actually the result of chronic CO poisoning. It causes hallucinations.

http://m.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/319/and-the-call-was-coming-from-the-basement

 

[eDJ_]

Looks like some of us may be looking to hire a new traveling companion

But we may have to make sure they are equipped for "hazardous duty" to be compliant
with other Government rules and protocols.