December 12th, 2017
It might not be the turkey that puts you to sleep after Thanksgiving dinner. Traditionally, few people have considered gas ovens to be a major source of carbon monoxide (CO), even though all their exhaust products are often vented directly into the indoor air of a residence. Yet unvented space heaters with a similar output of combustion gases have been banned in many states because of indoor air quality (IAQ) dangers inherent in their use. CO poisoning in homes is generally the most serious of the wide variety of IAQ problems, in that people can die quickly from it, whereas most other such problems can be considered chronic. Weatherization personnel must perform a variety of combustion safety tests to determine if CO is being produced by any of the combustion appliances in a residence. If they find dangerously high levels, the crew should know how to fix the problem.