The Silent Killer: Carbon Monoxide

Carbon Monoxide poisoning is “The Silent Killer”-the leading cause of accidental poisoning deaths in the United States, and sending another 20,000 people to the hospital in the U.S. every year. Creeping silently through your home, carbon monoxide (also known as CO) is an invisible and odorless gas, and is produced when burning any fuel, such as gasoline, propane, natural gas, oil, wood, or charcoal. It is a silent killer, which causes illness by decreasing the amount of oxygen present in the body. Carbon monoxide can be released by any gas burning appliance in your home; furnace, fireplace, water heater, gas stove, etc. This news video from a Fox TV station in Seattle shows the dangers to you and your family of carbon monoxide in the house, and failing to maintain your furnace properly.

Young children are especially vulnerable to the effects of carbon monoxide poisoning, because of their smaller bodies. Children process carbon monoxide differently than adults, may be more severely affected by it, and may show symptoms sooner.

Four Steps To Help Prevent Carbon Monoxide Poisoning In Your Home

1. Get your furnace, fireplace, water heater, gas stove checked annually.

For a cost that is usually under $100, have an experienced Heating and Air Conditioning Contractor inspect any gas burning appliances (furnace, fireplace, gas stove, water heater, etc.) for CO leaking.

2. Install a Carbon Monoxide detector in your home.

Install a CO alarm outside every sleeping area and on every level of your home.  

Place CO alarms at least 15 feet away from every fuel-burning appliance to reduce the number of nuisance alarms.

Test alarms every month and replace them every five years.

Make sure alarms can be heard when you test them and practice an escape plan with your entire family.

If your CO alarm goes off, follow these steps:

• Get everyone out of the house as quickly as possible into fresh air. Then call for help from a neighbor’s home or a cell phone outside of your home.

• If someone is experiencing CO poisoning symptoms, call 911 for medical attention.

• If no one is experiencing symptoms, call the fire department. They will let you know when it is safe to re-enter your home.

3. Know the symptoms of Carbon Monoxide poisoning.

• Headache
• Fatigue
• Nausea
• Dizziness
• Shortness of Breath
• Confusion or disorientation
• CO poisoning can often be mistaken for other illnesses, such as the flu.

• Often, more than one person in the household will suffer symptoms at the same time.

4. Practice Preventive, Common Sense Measures.

• Never use a stove for heating.

• Do not use a grill, generator or camping stove inside your home, garage or near a window.

• Never leave a car, SUV, or motorcycle engine running inside a garage, even if the garage door is open.

• CO can accumulate anywhere in or around your boat, so install a CO alarm on your motorboat.

Protect your family from carbon monoxide poisoning by installing carbon monoxide detectors, and getting the furnace inspected annually. More helpful tips are available at the Home Safety Council website, if you wish to learn more.

Let us inspect your home furnace, heating appliance or gas fireplace for carbon monoxide dangers. We can also solve your unexpected air conditioning  or heating issues, or provide routine maintenance to make sure your minor problems don’t become major ones.

We offer a wide range of services throughout Salt Lake City, Bountiful, Layton, Ogden, Brigham City and Logan, from Heating & Air to state-of-the-art gas and electric fireplaces, to Napoleon Gas barbecue grills.  Give us a call today at 801-528-9123.

Home AC Protects Against Allergens

Research studies indicate home air conditioners can reduce allergy and asthma symptoms in children.  A study randomly selected 2994 children living in homes without any indoor risk factors. Specific information on demographics, indoor home risk factors, and traffic variables were obtained.  Among children sleeping in non-air-conditioned homes, there were stronger associations between asthma and rhinitis symptoms studied.

• Prevalence ratios for heavy air density were 2.06 for wheeze;
• 2.89 for asthma;
• 1.73 for rhinitis;
• and 3.39 for rhinoconjunctivitis.
• There were no associations found for children sleeping in air-conditioned homes.

These results suggest that Air Conditioning in the bedroom modifies these health effects among preschool children. This finding suggests that attention should also be paid to ventilation characteristics of the homes to remediate health-related traffic pollution problems.

Let us solve your unexpected air conditioning  or heating issues, or provide routine maintenance to make sure your minor problems don’t become major ones.

We offer a wide range of services throughout Salt Lake City, Bountiful, Layton, Ogden, Brigham City and Logan, from Heating & Air to state-of-the-art gas and electric fireplaces, to Napoleon Gas barbecue grills.  Give us a call today at 801-528-9123.

Choosing the right central air conditioner for your home is not that complicated, when you follow these 9 steps. That is the best way to ensure that the central air-conditioning system you choose is installed properly, and will provide the most efficient and reliable cooling for your home.

The pointers below can help you to find the right hardware and the right technician to install your system, whether you’re replacing an older air conditioner or installing one for the first time. The information comes from our experts.

And while there’s no one money-saving strategy that will work for everyone all the time, there are simple steps that you can take, as we show in Keeping costs down. In some cases, you may be able to cut back on air-conditioner use considerably without seriously inconveniencing your family.
1. Design: Split System Central Air Conditioners

In a “split system,” the typical design, refrigerant circulates between an indoor coil and a matching outdoor condenser with compressor. The refrigerant cools the air, dehumidifying it in the process; a blower circulates air through ducts throughout the house. A variation is the “heat pump,” a type of system that functions as heater and cooler. When used as an air conditioner, a heat pump discharges heat from the house either into the air or deep into the ground. In the winter, a heat pump extracts heat from the ground or the air to warm the house.
Efficiency

This describes how much cooling the unit delivers for each watt of electricity. Efficiency is expressed as the Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rating, or SEER. At present, a SEER of 10 denotes a low-efficiency unit; medium efficiency is 11 to 14; high efficiency is above 14. New federal regulations that took effect in 2006 set the minimum SEER for a central air conditioner at 13.
Size

A synonym for the air conditioner’s cooling capacity, size is measured in British thermal units per hour (Btu/hr.) or in “tons.” One ton of cooling equals 12,000 Btu/hr.
Get the right contractor

Finding a trustworthy contractor to install and service an air-conditioning system matters the most. Here’s how to choose:
Ask around

Seek referrals from neighbors, family, or business associates. It’s wise to get price quotes from at least three contractors.
Check the background

Contractors who bid on your installation should show you proof of bonding and insurance, plus any required contractor’s licenses. Check with your local Better Business Bureau and consumer affairs office for complaint records. It’s a plus if technicians are certified by a trade organization, such as North American Technician Excellence or HVAC Excellence, to service residential heating and cooling equipment. These and other similar programs assess the technician’s knowledge of specific types of equipment and its proper service methods. We believe that a contractor who has made the effort to get certified and has practiced this trade and learned from several years of service and installation experience, will be a better service provider.
Get specifics

Contractors who bid on your job should calculate required cooling capacity by using a recognized method like the Air Conditioning Contractors of America’s Residential Load Calculation Manual, also called Manual J. An additional reference for assessing ductwork needs is Manual D. The calculations produce a detailed room-by-room analysis of cooling needs. Ask for a printout of all calculations and assumptions, including ductwork design. Be leery of a contractor who bases estimates merely on house size or vague rules of thumb.
Expect maintenance

A service plan that combines regular inspections with discounts on repairs and a labor warranty is worth negotiating into the overall price. Prices for such service vary widely.

At a minimum, regular inspections should include these steps:

Check for and repair refrigerant leaks.
Detect and correct duct leaks.
Inspect and tighten the electrical connections, checking for damage.
Clean the coils, drain pan, and drainage system.
Vacuum the blower compartment.
Replace filter monthly or as recommended by the manufacturer.

Choose the right unit

If you’re replacing an old central-air system, you can expect to pay around $3,000 for the equipment. If you need ductwork installed because you’re starting completely from scratch or are upgrading a forced-air heating system, expect to pay $6,000 or more. Improving the system’s air-filtration capabilities is also easiest to do as part of a general upgrade.

Brand plays some role in the selection.

Here are other factors that may affect reliability:

Matching new equipment with old. If you replace only the condenser, you have a “field-matched” system that can be less efficient than advertised and that may require more repairs because of undetected incompatibilities between the two.
Damper-zoned cooling. A large or multistory house is often divided into several heating and cooling zones to improve temperature control. However, this type of system is complex and has many more moving parts and controls and so may require more repairs.

Let us solve your unexpected heating or air conditioning issues, or provide routine maintenance to make sure your minor problems don’t become major ones.

We offer a wide range of services throughout Salt Lake City, Bountiful, Layton, Ogden, Brigham City and Logan, from Heating & Air to state-of-the-art gas and electric fireplaces, to Napoleon Gas barbecue grills.  Give us a call today at 801-528-9123.