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CO prevention has to include the application of common sense. However, common sense for some might be different than for others. If what we think is common sense isn’t actually common then we need to be equipped with combustion sense.
Combustion Sense: A collection of simple principles about fire, heat, and corrosion. Applying combustion sense, professionals can ensure there are no flaws in how flue gases are safely directed outdoors.
Together we can help make combustion sense common!
First, we need to better equip the public professionals – individuals who keep the public safe - particularly HVAC technicians, medical personnel, first responders, utility workers, hotel staff, maintenance personnel, and apartment management with combustion principals:
Hot air rises
Fire in a building causes CO-filled smoke: People will die unless the toxic CO has as escape route out of the building. The normal exit mechanism for toxic hot gases is through a chimney or flue, where the hot air rises, naturally or through mechanical ventilation.
Fire requires oxygen: Complete combustion requires sufficient oxygen. We call the oxygen that an appliance uses combustion air. It is essential to provide a pathway for this oxygen to reach the flame. If the flow of oxygen is obstructed, you get incomplete combustion – carbon monoxide. Similarly, if the draft carrying flue gases out of an appliance is disrupted, it will likely disrupt the flow of oxygen into the appliance.
Appliances are Machines with a Limited Shelf Life: They break, wear, and periodically need to be replaced. If an appliance is allowed to run past its useful life, carbon monoxide exposure will eventually be the result.
Run to Failure Maintenance Programs Kill: They result in appliances that silently kill by producing dangerous levels of CO before failure. CO poisoning results in hypoxia (a lack of oxygen), injury to every organ including the heart and brain, and even death.
10 Examples of What Not to Do - based on real-world cases and with the above principles in mind:
DO NOT use a stairwell to vent a portable electric generator. While a stairwell can make a great chimney funneling air upwards, the exhaust will get trapped at the top floor resulting in a pooling of CO.
DO NOT use a generator indoors to power a rock band. (300 people were poisoned)
DO NOT fail to install the orifice that converts a natural gas boiler to a propane boiler.
DO NOT avoid servicing your furnace within its recommended service window (for example, do not go 30-40 years without having your appliance serviced).
DO NOT, as an HVAC company, refuse to help your customer move boxes so you have a clear view to inspect the vent pipe that you are servicing. (to see obvious holes)
DO NOT store pool chemicals in a pool boiler room. (they cause metal rust creating leak paths for CO)
DO NOT allow a wooden fire door to rot on its hinges in a public school. (it becomes an ineffective barrier)
DO NOT replace the thermocouple on a furnace and leave the spill switch disconnected.
DO NOT complete temporary emergency repairs and then forget that they were temporary.
DO NOT completely seal an active boiler vent with a piece of sheet metal at a 119 room major Hilton Brand hotel. This has the same effect as using a stairwell as a chimney. Hot air rises up but, it doesn’t leave the structure.
You now have the power to help save lives. Teach combustion sense within your community, to your colleagues, followers family, friends, and neighbors.
King the CO Safety Dog: “Meet my new friend Legal Beagle”
Gordon Johnson and the Brain Injury Law Group advocate and represent survivors of traumatic brain injury, including those caused by carbon monoxide. Attorney Johnson has been proving brain damage in the Courtroom since 1992 and has devoted all of his professional time to CO for nearly a decade. He has represented more than 200 survivors of CO in that time. He is the author of http://carbonmonoxide.com The Brain Injury Law Group partnered with NCOAA to help spread awareness about preventing and recovering from CO poisoning.
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