Carbon Monoxide Poisoning: Prevention

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Prevention

Steps to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning include the following:

• Purchase and install a carbon monoxide detector on each level of your home and near sleeping areas. Detectors that have been verified by Underwriters Laboratory (UL) and have been manufactured after October 1995 conform to minimum alarm requirements. Those marked UL 2034 or IAS 6–96 have met the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission guidelines. Follow the directions for installing and using the detector carefully. Be prepared by knowing what to do if the detector alarm sounds—tell everyone in the house or building to get out, and call the fire department or your local utility company from a nearby phone. (Even if you are using a carbon monoxide detector, have your heating system inspected each year.)
• Don't ignore possible symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, such as headaches, nausea, and dizziness, especially if more than one person in your home or workplace has these symptoms.

Heat sources

• Have your heating appliances, chimneys, and vents inspected each year. All appliances should be working and vented properly to allow gas to escape from enclosed areas.
• Look at appliances, chimneys, and vents for visible soot, rust, stains, blockage, or corrosion.
• Don't use kerosene or propane heaters in an enclosed area such as a recreational vehicle, camper, motor home, trailer, or tent.
• Don't use a kitchen oven, especially a gas oven, to heat your home.
• Don't close the fireplace or wood/pellet stove damper before the fire is completely out.

Car exhaust

• Don't sit in a parked car with the windows closed and the engine running.
• Don't run the car engine in an enclosed or semi-enclosed area, such as a garage, even if the garage door is open.
• Don't ride in the back of a pickup truck with a camper shell.

Cooking

Don't burn charcoal or use a grill indoors or in a recreational vehicle, camper, motor home, trailer, or tent.

Other sources

• Don't place power generators or pressure washers near windows or doors of your home.
• Don't smoke cigarettes or be near someone who is smoking in a poorly ventilated room.
• Don't use paint remover that contains methylene chloride. (Methylene chloride converts to carbon monoxide in the body.)

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Last updated:	April 14, 2006
Author:	Sabra L. Katz-Wise
Reviewed By:	Kathleen Romito, MD - Family Medicine, R. Steven Tharratt, MD, MPVM, FACP, FCCP - Pulmonology, Critical Care, Medical Toxicology
Editors:	Susan Van Houten, RN, BSN, MBA, Terrina Vail