What is "carbon monoxide". How to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning at home? Why is carbon monoxide coming from the stove?
Carbon monoxide formation in the furnace
Carbon monoxide is formed when carbon burns in a lack of oxygen. Fuel combustion in furnaces occurs in several stages: carbon burns with the release of carbon dioxide CO 2 (incomplete combustion of flue gases); then carbon dioxide reacts with hot coke residues of fuel or coal, forming carbon monoxide; carbon monoxide burns (blue flames) to form carbon dioxide, which is removed through the chimney.
In the absence of draft in the stove (the chimney is clogged, the damper is closed prematurely, there is no supply air for combustion), the coals continue to smolder in conditions of insufficient oxygen supply, carbon monoxide does not burn and can spread throughout the heated room, causing a toxic effect on the human body and poisoning (carbon monoxide ).
Carbon monoxide CO and carbon dioxide CO 2
The processes of formation of carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide and vice versa, during the combustion of fuel in a furnace, occur continuously. When the fuel is almost burned out, the combustion of carbon monoxide with a blue flame and the formation of carbon dioxide (a component of flue gases) are clearly visible. Under normal combustion conditions, all carbon monoxide burns in the firebox of the stove with virtually no residue.
Carbon dioxide CO 2 is a colorless gas with a faint sour odor. Carbon dioxide, being heavier than air, accumulates in depressions (basements, wells, adits, catacombs, caves). When a room becomes smoky with reverse draft in the chimney, there is just a lot of carbon dioxide.
Carbon monoxide CO is a product of incomplete combustion and a strong poison. Carbon dioxide poisoning has less toxic effects.
Causes of carbon monoxide poisoning
The lack of color and odor of poisonous carbon monoxide makes carbon monoxide especially dangerous. The cause of carbon monoxide poisoning is:
- Violation of the rules for operating stove heating (untimely closing of the stove damper, insufficient access of fresh air to the firebox, poor draft).
- Malfunctioning stove and chimney (cracks in the stove structure, clogged chimney).
- Finding a person at the source of a fire.
- Car maintenance in a garage or area with poor ventilation.
- Sleeping in a car with the engine running.
- Use of poor quality air in scuba gear and breathing apparatus
- Using a charcoal grill in a barbecue gazebo with poor ventilation.
Symptoms of poisoning are very difficult to recognize at first, so you may not realize that carbon monoxide is the cause of your illness. The manifestation of the same symptoms in all people in the same room makes it possible to recognize the moment of carbon monoxide poisoning.
With a small concentration of carbon monoxide, the first signs of toxicity and poisoning may appear: lacrimation, headache and dizziness, weakness and nausea, dry cough, confusion, possible visual and auditory hallucinations. If you feel the symptoms of poisoning, leave the room as quickly as possible, going out into the fresh air. In an open space, the risk of poisoning is minimal.
If you spend a long time in a room with a small concentration of carbon monoxide, symptoms of poisoning are observed: respiratory failure, tachycardia, loss of coordination of movements, visual hallucinations, drowsiness, blue discoloration of the mucous membranes and facial skin, vomiting, possible convulsions, loss of consciousness.
With an increased concentration of carbon monoxide in the indoor air, loss of consciousness and coma with convulsions occur. Without providing first aid to a victim of carbon monoxide poisoning, death may occur.
Effect of carbon monoxide on the body
Carbon monoxide enters through the lungs, binds to hemoglobin in the victim’s blood and blocks the transfer of oxygen to tissues and organs. Oxygen starvation disrupts the functioning of the nervous system and brain. The higher the concentration of carbon monoxide and the longer the time spent in the room, the stronger the poisoning and the higher the likelihood of death.
After poisoning, medical observation is necessary for several days, as complications are often observed. Patients with severe poisoning are subject to hospitalization. Problems with the lungs and nervous system are possible even several weeks after carbon monoxide poisoning. It’s interesting but true: carbon monoxide affects women less than men.
First aid for poisoning
We must remember that when removing a victim from a room with a dangerous concentration of carbon monoxide, first of all it is necessary to protect yourself, in order to avoid poisoning as well. The main “antidote” for carbon monoxide poisoning is oxygen. First aid for carbon monoxide poisoning:
- Remove the victim to fresh air.
- Eliminate the flow of carbon monoxide. Ventilate the room (open windows and doors) and leave the room.
- If the victim is conscious, provide continuous access to fresh air and short-term inhalation of ammonia, and rub the body. Call an ambulance.
- If the victim is unconscious, it is necessary to immediately begin artificial respiration until he regains consciousness or until the ambulance arrives.
- Notify the emergency physician if you suspect carbon monoxide poisoning.
Carbon monoxide detector or alarm
It is easier to avoid poisoning or inhalation by using an autonomous alarm or carbon monoxide detector in your home. If the concentration of carbon monoxide in a residential building or technical room exceeds the permissible level, the sensor signals, warning of danger. Carbon monoxide detectors are electrochemical sensors designed to continuously monitor the level of CO in indoor air and respond with sound and light signals to increased levels of carbon monoxide concentration.
When choosing an alarm sensor, you should pay attention to the features of the devices (if they are similar in appearance): smoke alarms and open fire sensors, carbon monoxide CO sensors and carbon dioxide CO 2 sensors react to different components in the room air. Carbon monoxide sensors are mounted at a height of 1.5 meters from the floor (some manufacturing companies recommend 15-20 cm from the ceiling), a smoke sensor should hang on the ceiling, a CO 2 carbon dioxide detection device is recommended for installation at floor level or at instrument panel level ( carbon dioxide is heavier than air).
In many countries, the use of the above sensors is regulated by law to ensure public health and safety. In Europe, only a smoke detector is required. The installation of a carbon monoxide detector in homes with stove heating or a fireplace is currently voluntary. Carbon monoxide detectors are relatively inexpensive, although it is incorrect to measure the price of human life in money.
Preventing carbon monoxide poisoning
By following safety rules, you can avoid carbon monoxide poisoning:
- Do not use fuel burning devices without sufficient knowledge, skills and tools.
- Make sure the stove, chimney, supply and exhaust ventilation are working properly.
- Do not burn charcoal in areas with poor ventilation.
- On the smoke channels of stoves operating on wood, it is necessary to install two tight valves in series, and on the channels of stoves burning coal or peat - one valve with a hole in it with a diameter of 15 mm. (clause 3.72 of SNiP 2.04.05-91*)
- Do not leave your car in the garage with the engine running.
Carbon monoxide during stove heating operation
A stove or fireplace with a closed damper and unburnt fuel is a source of carbon monoxide and an invisible poisoner. Believing that the fuel has completely burned out, the stove owners close the chimney damper to conserve heat. Smoldering coals with a lack of air form carbon monoxide, which penetrates into the room through leaky areas of the stove structure.
With weak draft in the chimney and without air supply, chemical under-combustion of the fuel occurs, and as a result, the formation and accumulation of carbon monoxide. The air flow should be sufficient to both maintain the combustion process and provide optimal draft in the design of the stove or fireplace. Sealed rooms and lack of supply air are problems with natural ventilation and the causes of poor draft in the fireplace.
For good combustion of fuel, the required amount of fresh air should be supplied to the stove firebox, especially when burning coal. If there are several unburned firebrands left in the firebox of a fireplace or stove, it is better to extinguish them or allow time to burn out completely. When the coals darken and there are no flames above them, after about ten minutes the valve can be closed. You should stop using the fireplace or heating the stove 2 hours before bedtime.
If a stove or fireplace is properly operated and maintained, the amount of carbon monoxide produced during fuel combustion is usually not dangerous. Caution is the key to preventing carbon monoxide poisoning.
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Carbon monoxide, or carbon monoxide (chemical formula CO), is an extremely poisonous, colorless gas. It is an obligatory product of incomplete combustion of carbon-containing substances: it is detected in automobile exhaust gases, cigarette smoke, smoke from fires, etc. Carbon monoxide has no odor, so it is impossible to detect its presence and assess the concentration in the inhaled air without instruments.
Source: depositphotos.com
Once in the blood, carbon monoxide displaces oxygen from its connection with the respiratory protein hemoglobin and inhibits the functioning of active centers responsible for the formation of new hemoglobin, thereby causing acute oxygen starvation of tissues. In addition, carbon monoxide disrupts the flow of oxidative processes in the body.
Carbon monoxide, which has a high affinity for the respiratory protein, attaches to it much more actively than oxygen. For example, if the concentration of CO in the inhaled air is only 0.1% of the total volume (the ratio of carbon monoxide and oxygen is 1:200, respectively), hemoglobin will bind equal amounts of both gases, i.e. half of the respiratory protein circulating in the systemic bloodstream will be occupied by carbon dioxide gas.
The breakdown of the carboxyhemoglobin molecule (hemoglobin-carbon monoxide) occurs approximately 10,000 times slower than the oxyhemoglobin molecule (hemoglobin-oxygen), which determines the danger and severity of poisoning.
Car exhaust gases contain a maximum of 13.5% carbon monoxide, with an average of 6-6.5%. So, a low-power 20 hp engine. With. produces up to 28 liters of CO per minute, creating a lethal concentration of gas in the air within 5 minutes in a closed room (garage, repair box).
Characteristic symptoms of poisoning appear after 2–6 hours of inhalation of air containing 0.22–0.23 mg of carbon monoxide per liter; severe poisoning with loss of consciousness and death can develop after 20-30 minutes at a carbon monoxide concentration of 3.4–5.7 mg/l and after 1-3 minutes at a poison concentration of 14 mg/l.
Carbon monoxide poisoning most often occurs in the following cases:
- improper operation or malfunction of furnace equipment, gas heating appliances;
- staying in an unventilated enclosed area with the car engine running;
- fire;
- smoldering electrical wiring, household appliances, interior parts and furniture;
- violation of safety regulations when working in chemical production where carbon monoxide is used.
The likelihood of poisoning is directly proportional to the concentration of carbon monoxide in the inhaled air and the time of its exposure to the body.
Symptoms of poisoning
The nervous system is most sensitive to changes in oxygen levels in the blood. The degree of damage can vary from mild, reversible to generalized, leading to temporary or permanent disability, and in especially severe cases, death of the victim.
In addition to the nervous system, the respiratory (tracheitis, tracheobronchitis, pneumonia) and cardiovascular (dystrophy and necrotization of the myocardium, degenerative changes in the walls of blood vessels) systems are most often involved in the pathological process.
Depending on the concentration of CO in the air and, accordingly, carboxyhemoglobin in the blood, several degrees of carbon monoxide poisoning are distinguished.
Symptoms of mild poisoning (carboxyhemoglobin content in the blood does not exceed 30%):
- consciousness is preserved;
- squeezing, pressing headache, reminiscent of being tied with a hoop;
- dizziness, noise, ringing in the ears;
- lacrimation, copious discharge from the nose;
- nausea, vomiting;
- mild transient visual impairment is possible;
- difficulty breathing;
- sore throat, dry cough.
Moderate poisoning (develops when the concentration of carboxyhemoglobin in the blood is from 30 to 40%):
- short-term loss or other disturbances of consciousness (stunning, stuporous state or coma);
- difficulty breathing, intense shortness of breath;
- persistent dilation of the pupils, anisocoria (pupils of different sizes);
- hallucinations, delusions;
- tonic or clonic seizures;
- tachycardia, pressing pain in the chest;
- hyperemia of the skin and visible mucous membranes;
- incoordination;
- visual impairment (decreased visual acuity, flickering spots);
- decreased hearing acuity.
In case of severe poisoning (carboxyhemoglobin concentration 40-50%):
- coma of varying depth and duration (up to several days);
- tonic or clonic convulsions, paralysis, paresis;
- involuntary urination and/or defecation;
- weak thready pulse;
- shallow intermittent breathing;
- cyanosis of the skin and visible mucous membranes.
In addition to the classic manifestations of carbon monoxide poisoning, atypical symptoms may develop in one of the following forms:
- fainting – characterized by a sharp decrease in blood pressure (up to 70/50 mmHg and below) and loss of consciousness;
- euphoric - sharp psychomotor agitation, decreased criticism, disorientation in time and space, hallucinations and delusions are possible;
- fulminant - develops when the concentration of CO in the inhaled air is 1.2% or more, the content of carboxyhemoglobin in the systemic circulation in this case exceeds 75%. The death of the victim occurs quickly, within 2-3 minutes.
It has neither color nor smell. But he is deadly.
Experts
Sergei Musselius
Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, Toxicologist, Lecturer at the Faculty of Fundamental Medicine
A survey of homeowners in 6 cities by the Romir-Monitoring agency showed:
81% of respondents do not realize the danger of carbon monoxide poisoning;
60% - do not know that such poisoning can lead to death;
27% believe that they will smell carbon monoxide if it leaks;
94% do not have carbon monoxide detectors;
52% believe that when carbon monoxide appears, it is enough to simply ventilate the room to avoid poisoning.
How is carbon monoxide formed?
From the school curriculum we know: combustion requires oxygen. Carbon monoxide is formed when there is not enough oxygen and carbon-containing fuel (firewood, peat, paper, coal, briquettes, gasoline, natural gas) does not burn completely. It is impossible to get poisoned on the street, say, near a fire. There is a lot of oxygen around, as a result of combustion, low-toxic carbon dioxide CO2 is formed. And even if the fuel burns poorly or smolders (coals in a barbecue), carbon monoxide instantly dissolves in the air. Dangerous carbon monoxide CO is formed indoors when there is a lack of oxygen (fuel smolders, but does not actively burn). Many people believe that carbon monoxide can be felt with the nose, like the one that burns in the burners of gas stoves. As you know, it is specially “flavored” with the so-called mercaptan, a strong-smelling substance that is added to natural gas in gas storage facilities in order to detect leaks by smell. It is impossible to do this with carbon monoxide - because it forms itself.
Sorry for the bird!
The very first indicator of carbon monoxide was... canaries. At the slightest increase in CO concentration, they immediately fell silent and fell off the perch.
To protect yourself and loved ones from carbon monoxide poisoning, experts advise keeping equipment in good working order, ventilating the area, and not being in the garage with the doors closed while the engine is running. And also install inexpensive carbon monoxide detectors. If the carbon monoxide content increases, the sensor will begin to emit intermittent signals; if the alarm threshold is critically violated, it will emit continuous signals.
What is the danger of carbon monoxide?
When carbon monoxide enters the lungs and then into the blood, it binds very tightly to hemoglobin. This produces so-called carboxyhemoglobin, a toxic substance that blocks the flow of oxygen into the blood. As a result, oxygen starvation occurs: brain cells suffer, hypoxia increases. The most dangerous thing is that the first signs of poisoning are usually mistaken by the person himself and those around him for fatigue. Subsequently appears
Headache and dizziness, shortness of breath. A person may lose consciousness, develop heart failure, heart attack, ischemic stroke, and in severe cases, coma and death. All organs suffer - heart, kidneys, liver, lungs. Smooth muscles relax. As a result, a person, even if he understands that he urgently needs to go out for air, cannot take a single step due to muscle weakness. The arteries also relax, losing their elasticity. If the victim lies down, the arteries are pinched, which completely blocks the access of blood to the organs.
AFTER POISONING.
In case of severe poisoning, even if a person survives, he may remain in a vegetative state and never fully recover. In other cases, recovery may take weeks, months or years. If the poisoning was not very severe, its signs may appear after 1-6 weeks. About a third of victims partially lose their memory, they develop headaches, impaired movement functions, deteriorating character, and deteriorating ability to think abstractly and self-critically. Vision and hearing are impaired.
Who is at risk:
Residents of country houses with stoves, fireplaces, gas and diesel water heaters. Poisoning is often caused by poor draft due to improper installation of a stove or fireplace or a chimney clogged with soot. Recently, cases have become more frequent when adult children buy country houses for parents who previously lived in the city and simply do not know how to heat properly;
City dwellers who came on vacation (a frequent case is the New Year holidays!) to rented country cottages and, not really knowing how, decide to heat the house. The stove lights up, the house becomes warm and cozy. And at this moment someone decides that all the heat is leaving through the pipe, so you need to close the damper of the stove or fireplace and the window.
Couples secluded in a car in a closed garage. Having turned on the car heater, they maintain a romantic mood with alcohol and the effects of carbon monoxide are usually mistaken for intoxication. To recover, they decide to take a short nap. Many don't wake up;
Car owners who repair cars themselves with the garage doors closed;
People who smoke in bed. Falling asleep with an unextinguished cigarette does not necessarily lead to a fire. The blanket and carpet begin to smolder, but there is no flame. If the windows are closed, CO poisoning is guaranteed;
Owners of gas stoves. If the burner is blown out during operation, the gas will not burn completely. Carbon monoxide may also occur if you cook food in a container with a very wide bottom. . In this case, the flow of oxygen to the burner is disrupted and carbon monoxide is formed. For the same reason, you cannot cook on all burners at once or heat the room using a gas stove. In the kitchen, when 3 burners burn for 2 hours, the CO concentration increases 11 times!
Residents of modern apartments, disrupting natural traction with redevelopment. During renovations, they install interior doors without gaps at the bottom, destroy air ducts to increase the kitchen area, and install plastic windows that do not let air through.
THE FORM OF POISONING DEPENDS ON THE CONCENTRATION OF CARBON MONOXIDE.
3rd, mild, degree: CO in the air is no more than 0.08%, the content of carboxyhemoglobin in the blood is no more than 30%. The victim has a headache, dizziness, nausea, and vomiting.
Help from others: open windows and doors, take the victim outside. Hospitalization is not necessary.
2nd, middle, degree: CO in the air is no more than 0.32%, the content of carboxyhemoglobin in the blood is 30-40%. The victim loses consciousness, his blood pressure rises, his pulse quickens, and hallucinations are possible.
Help from others:
Put on the victim an oxygen mask or gas mask with a special hopcalite cartridge (increases protection against CO).
Connect the victim to an oxygen cylinder for 2-3 hours. Hospitalization is required.
1st, severe, degree: CO in the air is more than 1.2%, the content of carboxyhemoglobin in the blood is 50% - intermittent breathing, decreased blood pressure up to collapse, severe cyanosis (blanching) of the mucous membranes, convulsions, coma.
If the CO concentration is very high, 1-2 breaths are enough to die.
Help from others: open windows and doors, take the victim outside, call rescuers and doctors.
It turns out that rescuers and doctors: put on the victim an oxygen mask or a gas mask with a hopcalite cartridge (increases protection against CO). Connect the victim to an oxygen cylinder for 2-3 hours.
Hospitalization is required. Upon delivery to the clinic, mechanical ventilation is performed.
In all three cases, the victim is given an antidote to carbon monoxide, which was developed in Russia. It reduces intoxication, accelerates the removal of CO from the body, reduces the need for oxygen, and helps increase the resistance of the organs most sensitive to hypoxia.
If the instantaneous water heater is working properly, the fuel burns mixed with oxygen in the required proportion. During the combustion of fuel, ordinary carbon dioxide (CO₂) is released, which is harmless to humans. CO₂ is chemically similar to the air that people exhale when they breathe. Carbon monoxide from geysers is CO (carbon monoxide, carbon monoxide). The gas is toxic and can accumulate in blood cells and cause serious poisoning of the body.
Causes of carbon monoxide from the column
The main catalyst for the appearance of CO: a lean gas-air mixture; the fuel burns with a small, insufficient amount of oxygen. During the combustion process, extremely toxic carbon monoxide is released. The causes of disturbances and CO production are:- Faulty water heaters- clogged jets, lack of a carbon monoxide sensor, attenuation of the pilot burner (in semi-automatic models). In the latter case, poisoning occurs not from the combustion product, but directly from the methane itself.
- Violations of the rules for connecting a water heater- the most common cause of tragedies. Carbon monoxide poisoning during operation of a gas water heater occurs:
- if a forced hood is installed in the kitchen;
- smoke ducts are damaged or littered;
- there is no sufficient (according to regulatory documents triple) air replacement;
- insufficient traction.
How to check a column for carbon monoxide
First, remember that carbon monoxide is odorless. Accordingly, its leakage can be determined only with the help of special sensors and alarms. If the latter are absent, you should pay attention to the following obvious signs of a column malfunction:- No traction- there are special holes in the speaker housing through which air from the room enters the burner. As a result of circulation, sufficient pressure is created to remove combustion products. You can check the draft with a burning match. When you bring it to the slots on the casing of a flow-through gas boiler, the flame should be drawn inward.
- Changing the color of the flame on the burner- a bright yellow flame, a sign of dirty jets. With the correct proportions of the gas-air mixture, the color should be “blue”. After a few minutes of operation, the water heater often turns off.
Despite the existing indirect signs indicating a boiler malfunction, only a carbon monoxide sensor will accurately indicate the existing problem. The device will alert you to high CO levels.
Installation of the alarm is not necessary, but once connected, it ensures peace of mind and safety for residents of a private house or apartment using instantaneous or storage water heaters.
Why is carbon monoxide dangerous from a water heater?
The harm from CO lies in its detrimental effect on the human body. Carbon monoxide has the ability to penetrate into the blood, preventing hemoglobin from carrying oxygen vital for the functionality of the human body. The danger is due to the fact that CO remains in the bloodstream for a long time. There are common cases where a person died a few days after poisoning.The second reason for the high toxicity of CO is due to the fact that there is no smell of carbon monoxide in the apartment or house. The poison penetrates into the body unnoticed by humans.
Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning from a gas water heater:
- vomit;
- confusion;
- bluish skin tone;
- headaches and dizziness;
- impaired coordination and ability to navigate in space;
- irritability for no apparent reason.
If symptoms of poisoning appear, it is necessary to shut off the gas supply and ensure unimpeded access of oxygen to the victim. It would be good to ventilate the room. If the victim is conscious, you can go outside to get some fresh air. Call an ambulance!
All these amenities individually are harmless and do not pose a danger to humans. But when using electric fans in bathrooms or electric hoods in kitchens with closed windows together with working gas water heaters and boilers, a potential danger to health and life arises. There was a long period in Sevastopol when two people died annually due to improper use of gas equipment.
Before installing a gas water heater or boiler in an apartment, special services of Gorgaz conduct instructions, which people, as a rule, treat superficially. “This can happen to anyone, but not to me,” they think.
Why can a boiler with a column be dangerous?
“An apartment is like a vessel with air,” explains Igor Evgenievich. - If all the windows and doors are closed and the hood is working, where does the air that this hood pulled out of the apartment come from? The draft in the smoke and ventilation ducts “overturns”, changes direction, and all ducts begin to supply air from the street to the apartment. And if a water heater or boiler is running nearby, carbon monoxide begins to flow into the apartment along with the street air.”
Carbon monoxide is colorless, odorless, and the primary symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning are similar to food poisoning. Pets and small children are usually the first to receive a dose of poisoning.
“Several years ago we had a poisoning,” says the manager. - The child and father died. The reason was that the gas boiler and hood were turned on and all the windows were closed. At first the cat felt bad and began to vomit. The animal was thrown onto the balcony without even thinking that these were symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning. The child was the second to feel poisoned. He breathed this gas, received a critical dose and fell unconscious.”
A person can detect only the mildest stage of poisoning - general malaise, dizziness, nausea. The poisoned person cannot determine the next stages and their signs - the brain loses normal performance, becomes stupefied, and the person ceases to adequately perceive what is happening - he feels bad, but he does not know how to turn off the gas appliance and open the window.
“There was another case: two young people came from Kherson and rented an apartment. We arrived late at night and decided to take a shower. The result is two corpses. We walk in - the gas water heater is on, the windows are closed. A young girl is lying in the corridor and a guy is in the bathroom. The elderly owner of the apartment cries: “I told them, open the window!” And in the kitchen, the rules for using the speaker are written in huge letters,” said Igor Evgenievich.
Carbon monoxide quietly and imperceptibly kills a person: literally 10-15 minutes with its two percent content in an apartment is a lethal dose.
“Several years ago, in a house on the street. Kievskaya, the body of a young guy was discovered. The cause of death was a lethal dose of carbon monoxide in the blood. The apartment has double-glazed windows, a thick, rubberized metal entrance door, and when you turn on the light in the bathroom, a fan built into the duct turns on, sucking the air out of the room. We conducted an investigative experiment in the apartment, repeating the conditions of what happened. With the doors and windows closed and the ventilation in the bathroom running, the draft in the smoke and ventilation ducts disappeared. The experiment showed that while using the gas water heater, the window in the kitchen was closed. This violation led to the guy’s death. By the way, he had already died in the hospital; when they brought him in, it turned out that they didn’t even have syringes, and, in general, the doctors didn’t know why he was feeling bad. If help is not provided in time, the result is the death of a person. And it all happened like this: the guy went to wash, turned on the light and, accordingly, the ventilation. Less than ten minutes had passed when the draft in the apartment's ducts changed direction and carbon monoxide began to flow into the apartment. After washing himself, the guy went to bed and never woke up.”
To avoid such cases, you need to follow a few simple rules:
1. Every day before using the boiler and the boiler, it is necessary to check the draft in the smoke and ventilation ducts.
This can be done by placing a piece of paper near the ventilation grille, lighting a match under the smoke eliminator hood of a gas appliance, or opening the ash pan - a technological hatch with a door for checking draft, which is located under the chimney and should be on every boiler. Under normal conditions it should always be closed.
If a sheet of paper sticks to the ventilation grille, and the flame of a match deviates towards the channel, then there is draft.
Please note: the draft in apartments in summer is much worse than in winter.
2. During operation of the boiler or boiler, be sure to open the window at least 2-3 fingers: for their normal operation there must be an air flow. In an apartment with tightly closed windows, there is simply nowhere for air to come from. And if the window is open, there will be no danger.
3. Do not turn on the hood or ventilation at the same time as the boiler or water heater is running.
The electric fan in the bathroom works on the same principle as the hood: it also sucks air out of the apartment.
4. You can use the gas water heater for no more than half an hour. Afterwards, turn off the equipment for twenty minutes and you can turn it on again for half an hour if necessary.
“If a person fulfills all these requirements, then nothing threatening to health will happen even with old geysers that are almost 50 years old,” reports Igor Evgenievich.
“In Sevastopol, not a single fatal poisoning was recorded in an apartment where the window was open at the time of use of the gas water heater or boiler,” the specialist shares. “This is a very important condition.”
Do not rely on the automation of modern gas appliances: it does not recognize carbon monoxide, but reacts to changes in the temperature of the smoke returning back. And if it’s cool outside, the mixture of carbon monoxide with street air remains cool and the sensors do not detect an increase in temperature and do not turn off the gas appliance. The apartment begins to become saturated with carbon monoxide.
“Many people say: “Why a boiler then, if you open the window in the cold?” But this is how it should be, this is your guarantee against an accident.
There is nowhere to get air for burning natural gas except from the window. Carbon monoxide is an element of under-combustion, that is, natural gas in a gas appliance burns incorrectly. When natural gas burns normally, combustion products that are harmless to humans - carbon dioxide and water vapor - are released into the chimney. But if there is not enough oxygen in the room, natural gas begins to burn incorrectly, releasing soot and carbon monoxide, which are very dangerous to life.
There were cases when people entered the apartment, wanting to provide help, began to pump out the victim without opening the window and also fell, having inhaled,” says Igor Evgenievich.
Why check traction?
It happens that pigeons and rats get into the canal, fallen leaves, and a package can fly in. It is quite possible that today the furnace service checked the draft in your apartment and found that everything is working normally, and tomorrow a foreign object will get into the chimney duct. This is all very serious: “There was a case when a rat built a nest in a warm place and completely blocked the chimney duct. People were only slightly poisoned from this, and, fortunately, no one except the rat was seriously injured. And if they had checked the draft before turning on the gas appliance, nothing would have happened.”
Igor Evgenievich said that recently a new type of gas equipment has appeared - turbocharged. These gas appliances, equipped with a closed combustion chamber, are modern and safe: all combustion products go outside through a pipe passing through the outer wall of the house. Such equipment is usually installed in new houses. “When using it, you can turn on the hood, ventilation, and not open the window,” the specialist concluded.