What we call carbon monoxide is the result of a wide variety of combustion processes, from a conventional gas burner to car exhaust. At the same time, this gas does not give out its presence in the surrounding space either by smell or color, which makes it especially dangerous. You will not notice any changes in the house until the state of health begins to give alarm signals.
Don't forget to open the fireplace damper
Cozy in the house - a wonderful remedy for both dampness and cold. But fireplaces and stove heating are also an increased source of carbon monoxide in the room. A sign of the absence of carbon monoxide in the stove will be an even bluish flame, but if the wood in the fireplace began to smoke, a reddish tint appeared - this indicates the appearance of carbon monoxide.
It is often a mistake to close the damper prematurely. Assuming that the fuel is completely burned out, stove owners often close the chimney damper to save heat. Smoldering coals with a lack of air form carbon monoxide, which enters the room through leaky sections of the furnace structure. If there are a few unburned firebrands left in the firebox or stove, it is better to extinguish them or give them time to burn out completely. When the coals darken and there are no flames above them, after ten minutes the valve can be closed. Finish the operation of the fireplace or stove furnace should be 2 hours before bedtime.
Use electric heaters in rooms more carefully
Even an ordinary electric heater can be a serious test for health. It would seem that they turned on to warm up for only a couple of hours, what could be dangerous here? they regularly test various models of electric heaters, and the results make you think before turning on such a device for a long time. For example, already after half an hour of operation of the spiral heater, the humidity in the room is reduced by 3%, and the oxygen content in the air - by 3%. And if such heating works in the room longer, for example, from evening to morning, or all day, then after a few hours people may become ill. This type of heater, if it can be used, is only for a short time.
A ceramic electric heater showed the best results - in half an hour of its operation, the humidity in the room dropped by only 1%, and the oxygen concentration by 0.1%, such a device can be used for 3-4 hours, but then you still need to ventilate the room.
Grilling indoors is a risk factor
Modern equipment for allows you to install a grill indoors, but you should not be limited to this. If the kitchen uses an open fire, be sure to combine the grill with a powerful exhaust system. Carbon monoxide must be quickly removed through the ventilation system from the room so that it does not spread from the kitchen to other rooms.
Avoid using a gas stove or oven for heating
Warming up an apartment a little with a conventional gas stove seems to be a simple and cheap option. But, unfortunately, this is what very often leads to carbon monoxide poisoning. Very little heat is released from the gas burner, it will take a long time to keep the fire on. With poor oxygen access in a closed kitchen, incomplete combustion occurs, resulting in the formation of CO from carbon compounds contained in natural gas.
Use proven heating systems
Any heating system in the house requires preparation for the long cold season. The efficiency of heating the house and the favorable atmosphere in the rooms depend on good draft in the system. If the chimney is dirty, foreign objects got into it, cracks and destruction appeared in the masonry - all this leads to a violation of traction. Gas combustion products enter the house and poison you with carbon monoxide. Any deterioration in the weather - freezing of the tips, strong wind or fog can become additional factors and reduce the draft level in the chimney to critically low.
Air CO level sensor
An indispensable assistant in maintaining clean air in the house, especially if you use a fireplace, grill or stove heating, will be a simple device - a carbon monoxide level sensor in the air. Such a device constantly monitors the level of CO in the air and will give an alarm at any time of the day if the concentration of carbon monoxide in your rooms is too high. In the event of a leak, carbon monoxide, which is lighter than air, rises to the ceiling of the room. Therefore, the carbon monoxide detector is installed in the upper part of the room. The device is installed 5-15 cm below the ceiling, at a distance of at least 1-2 m from a potential source of carbon monoxide.
Watch out for symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning
Depending on how much time a person has spent in a room with a high level of carbon monoxide, he may first feel tired, weak, and then dizzy. You should not wait for more serious symptoms; at the slightest discomfort, it is best to immediately ventilate the room and remove the source of carbon monoxide, for example, turn off the heater.
If measures are not taken, more serious manifestations of carbon monoxide poisoning may occur - nausea, redness of the skin, convulsions, up to loss of consciousness and coma. This is due to the inhibition of the respiratory center and the human cardiovascular system by carbon monoxide.
Long-term exposure to small doses of carbon monoxide is also very dangerous, which can occur even in an ordinary kitchen, while cooking on a gas stove without ventilation. Pay attention to a headache, especially if it occurs simultaneously in several people in the room.
All these conveniences 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, there is a potential danger to health and life. There was a long period in Sevastopol when two people died every year due to the misuse of gas equipment.
Before installing a geyser or boiler in an apartment, the special services of Gorgaz conduct a briefing, to which people, as a rule, are superficial. “It can happen to anyone, but not to me,” they think.
Why can a boiler with a column be dangerous?
“The apartment is like a vessel with air,” explains Igor Evgenievich. - If all windows and doors are closed and the hood is working, where does the air come from, which this same hood pulled out of the apartment? The draft in the smoke and ventilation ducts "overturns", changes direction, and all channels begin to supply air from the street to the apartment. And if a column or boiler works nearby, carbon monoxide begins to enter 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. The first dose of poisoning is usually given to pets and small children.
“Several years ago we had poisoning,” says the head. - The child and the father died. The reason is that the gas boiler, exhaust hood were turned on and all the windows were closed. At first, the cat became ill, he began to feel sick. The animal was kicked out onto the balcony without even thinking that these were symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning. The child felt the second poisoning. He breathed this gas, received a critical dose and fell, losing consciousness.
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 its normal working capacity, becomes intoxicated, and the person ceases to adequately perceive what is happening - he feels bad, but he does not guess 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 stopped in the evening and decided to take a bath. Outcome - two corpses. We go in - the gas column is working, the windows are closed. A young girl is lying in the hallway 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 column 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 was found the corpse of a young guy. The cause of death is a lethal dose of carbon monoxide in the blood. The apartment has double-glazed windows, a dense, rubberized metal entrance door, when you turn on the light in the bathroom, a fan built into the channel is turned on, sucking 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, the ventilation in the bathroom running, the draft in the smoke and ventilation ducts disappeared. The experiment showed that while using the gas column, the window in the kitchen was closed. This violation led to the death of the guy. By the way, he died already in the hospital, when they brought him, it turned out that they didn’t even have syringes, and, in general, the doctors don’t know why he feels bad. Help not provided in time, the result is the death of a person. And everything happened like this: the guy went to wash, turned on the light and, accordingly, ventilation. In less than ten minutes, the draft in the channels of the apartment changed direction, carbon monoxide went into the apartment. After washing, the guy went to bed and never woke up again.
To avoid such cases, you need to follow a few simple rules:
1. Every day, before using the boiler and dispenser, it is necessary to check the draft in the flue and ventilation ducts.
This can be done by bringing a piece of paper to the ventilation grill, a match fire under the smoke extractor cap of a gas appliance, or by opening an ash pan - a technological hatch with a draft check door, which is located under the chimney and should be in every boiler. Under normal circumstances, it should always be closed.
If a sheet of paper sticks to the ventilation grill, and the flame of the match deviates towards the channel, then there is a draft.
Please note: draft in apartments is much worse in summer than in winter.
2. During the operation of the boiler or column, be sure to open the window for at least 2-3 fingers: for their normal operation, there must be 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, ventilation at the same time as the boiler or column 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 column for no more than half an hour. After - 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 to old gas water heaters, which are almost 50 years old,” Igor Evgenievich reports.
“In Sevastopol, not a single fatal poisoning was recorded in an apartment where a window was open at the time the gas column or boiler was used,” 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 fumes returning back. And if it is cool outside, the mixture of carbon monoxide with outdoor 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 be saturated with carbon monoxide.
“Many people say: “Why then the boiler, if you open the window in the cold?” But it's supposed to be, it's your guarantee against an accident.
The air for burning natural gas comes from nowhere other than a window. Carbon monoxide is an element of underburning, that is, natural gas in a gas appliance does not burn properly. When natural gas burns normally, combustion products 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 is very dangerous for life.
There were cases when people entered the apartment, wanting to help, began to pump out the victim without opening the window and also fell, breathing in, ”says Igor Evgenievich.
Why check traction?
It happens that pigeons and rats get into the canal, fallen leaves, a package can fly in. It is quite possible that today the stove service checked the draft in your apartment and found that everything is working fine, and tomorrow a foreign object will fall into the chimney. This is all very serious: “There was a case when a rat made a nest in a warm place and completely clogged the chimney. People from this only slightly poisoned, and, fortunately, no one, except for 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 a new type of gas equipment has recently 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 homes. “When using it, you can turn on the hood, ventilation, and not open the window at the same time,” the specialist summed up.
Signs that carbon monoxide (carbon monoxide (II), carbon monoxide, carbon monoxide) has formed in the air in dangerous concentrations are difficult to determine - invisible, may not smell, accumulates in the room gradually, imperceptibly. It is extremely dangerous for human life: it has a high toxicity, excessive content in the lungs leads to severe poisoning and death. Every year, a high death rate from gas poisoning is recorded. You can reduce the risk of poisoning by following simple rules and using special carbon monoxide sensors.
What is carbon monoxide
Natural gas is formed during the combustion of any biomass, in industry it is a combustion product of any carbon-based compounds. In both cases, a prerequisite for gas evolution is a lack of oxygen. Large volumes of it enter the atmosphere as a result of forest fires, in the form of exhaust gases generated during the combustion of fuel in car engines. For industrial purposes, it is used in the production of organic alcohol, sugar, processing of animal meat and fish. A small amount of monoxide is also produced by the cells of the human body.
Properties
From the point of view of chemistry, monoxide is an inorganic compound with a single oxygen atom in the molecule, the chemical formula is CO. It is a chemical substance that does not have a characteristic color, taste and smell, it is lighter than air, but heavier than hydrogen, and is inactive at room temperature. A person who smells, feels only the presence of organic impurities in the air. Belongs to the category of toxic products, death at a concentration in the air of 0.1% occurs within one hour. The characteristic of the maximum permissible concentration is 20 mg / m3.
The effect of carbon monoxide on the human body
For humans, carbon monoxide is a deadly hazard. Its toxic effect is explained by the formation of carboxyhemoglobin in blood cells, a product of the addition of carbon monoxide (II) to blood hemoglobin. A high level of carboxyhemoglobin causes oxygen starvation, insufficient oxygen supply to the brain and other tissues of the body. With mild intoxication, its content in the blood is low, destruction in a natural way is possible within 4-6 hours. At high concentrations, only medications work.
Carbon monoxide poisoning
Carbon monoxide is one of the most dangerous substances. In case of poisoning, intoxication of the body occurs, accompanied by a deterioration in the general condition of a person. It is very important to recognize the signs of carbon monoxide poisoning early. The result of treatment depends on the level of the substance in the body and on how soon help arrived. In this case, minutes count - the victim can either recover completely, or remain sick forever (it all depends on the speed of the rescuers' response).
Symptoms
Depending on the degree of poisoning, headaches, dizziness, tinnitus, heart palpitations, nausea, shortness of breath, flickering in the eyes, general weakness can be observed. Drowsiness is often observed, which is especially dangerous when a person is in a gassed room. When a large amount of toxic substances enters the respiratory system, convulsions, loss of consciousness, and in especially severe cases, coma are observed.
First aid for carbon monoxide poisoning
First aid should be provided to the victim on the spot in case of carbon monoxide poisoning. It is necessary to immediately move it to fresh air and call a doctor. You should also remember about your safety: you need to enter a room with a source of this substance only by inhaling deeply, do not breathe inside. Until the doctor arrives, it is necessary to facilitate the access of oxygen to the lungs: unfasten buttons, remove or loosen clothes. If the victim has lost consciousness and stopped breathing, artificial ventilation of the lungs is necessary.
Antidote for poisoning
A special antidote (antidote) for carbon monoxide poisoning is a drug that actively prevents the formation of carboxyhemoglobin. The action of the antidote leads to a decrease in the body's need for oxygen, support for organs that are sensitive to a lack of oxygen: the brain, liver, etc. It is administered intramuscularly at a dosage of 1 ml immediately after the patient is removed from the area with a high concentration of toxic substances. You can re-enter the antidote no earlier than an hour after the first injection. It can be used for prevention.
Treatment
In the case of mild exposure to carbon monoxide, treatment is carried out on an outpatient basis, in severe cases, the patient is hospitalized. Already in the ambulance, he is given an oxygen bag or mask. In severe cases, in order to give the body a large dose of oxygen, the patient is placed in a pressure chamber. An antidote is administered intramuscularly. The level of gas in the blood is constantly monitored. Further rehabilitation is medical, the actions of doctors are aimed at restoring the functioning of the brain, cardiovascular system, and lungs.
Effects
The impact of carbon monoxide on the body can cause serious diseases: brain performance, behavior, human consciousness change, inexplicable headaches appear. Memory is especially affected by harmful substances - that part of the brain that is responsible for the transition of short-term memory to long-term memory. The patient may feel the consequences of carbon monoxide poisoning only after a few weeks. Most victims fully recover after a period of rehabilitation, but some feel the consequences for a lifetime.
It has no color or 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 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 so as not to get poisoned.
How is carbon monoxide formed?
From the school curriculum, we know that oxygen is needed for combustion. Carbon monoxide is formed when there is not enough oxygen and carbon-containing fuels (wood, peat, paper, coal, briquettes, gasoline, natural gas) do not burn completely. Poisoning on the street, for example, by the fire, is impossible. There is a lot of oxygen around, as a result, low-toxic carbon dioxide CO2 is formed during combustion. And even if the fuel burns badly or smolders (coals in the grill), carbon monoxide instantly dissolves in the air. Dangerous carbon monoxide CO is formed in the room with a lack of oxygen (fuel smolders, but does not burn actively). Many believe that carbon monoxide can be felt through 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 a leak by smell. It is impossible to do this with carbon monoxide - because it forms itself.
Pity the bird!
The very first indicator of carbon monoxide were ... 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 the equipment in good working order, ventilating the room, and not being in the garage with the doors closed when the engine is running. And install inexpensive carbon monoxide detectors. If the carbon monoxide content rises, the sensor will start emitting intermittent signals, if the alarm threshold is violated critically - continuous.
What is the danger of carbon monoxide?
When carbon monoxide enters the lungs and then into the blood, it binds very strongly to hemoglobin. This produces the 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 by the person himself and those around him are usually mistaken for fatigue. Subsequently, it appears
Headache and dizziness, shortness of breath. A person can lose consciousness, he can develop heart failure, a heart attack, an ischemic stroke, in severe cases, coma and death. All organs suffer - the heart, kidneys, liver, lungs. Relaxes smooth muscles. As a result, a person, even if he understands that he urgently needs to go out into the air, cannot take a single step due to muscle weakness. Relax, losing elasticity, and arteries. If the victim lies at the same time, the arteries are clamped, which finally blocks the access of blood to the organs.
AFTER POISONING.
With severe poisoning, even if a person survived, he may remain in a vegetative state and never fully recover. In other cases, recovery can take weeks, months, or years. If the poisoning was not very strong, its signs may appear after 1-6 weeks. Approximately a third of the victims partially lose their memory, they develop headaches, movement functions are disturbed, their character deteriorates, and the ability to think abstractly and self-critically deteriorates. Vision and hearing are impaired.
Who is at risk:
Residents of country houses where there are stoves, fireplaces, petrol and diesel water heaters. Often the cause of poisoning is poor draft due to improper laying of the stove or fireplace clogged with soot from the chimney. Recently, cases have become more frequent when adult children buy country houses to parents who previously lived in the city and simply do not know how to properly heat;
City dwellers who have come to rest (often New Year holidays!) in rented country cottages and, not really knowing how, decide to heat the house. The stove is kindled, the house becomes warm, cozy. And at this moment, someone decides that all the heat leaves 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. Turning on the car stove, they maintain a romantic mood with alcohol and exposure to carbon monoxide is usually mistaken for intoxication. To recover, they decide to take a short nap. Many do not wake up;
Car owners who fix cars themselves with closed garage doors;
Smoking lovers 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;
Gas stove owners If the burner blows out during operation, the gas will not burn completely. Carbon monoxide can also be produced if you cook food in a pan with a very wide bottom. . In this case, the flow of oxygen to the burner is disturbed and carbon monoxide is formed. For the same reason, you can not cook on all burners at once or heat the room with a gas stove. In the kitchen, when burning 3 burners for 2 hours, the concentration of CO increases 11 times!
Residents of modern apartments, violating natural draft by redevelopment. During repairs, they install interior doors without gaps from below, destroy air ducts to increase the kitchen area, and install plastic windows that do not allow air to pass through.
THE FORM OF POISONING DEPENDS ON THE CONCENTRATION OF CARBON MONOXIDE.
3rd, mild, degree: CO in the air is not more than 0.08%, the content of carboxyhemoglobin in the blood is not more than 30%. The victim has headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting.
Help from others: open windows and doors, take the victim outside. Hospitalization is not required.
2nd, middle, degree: CO in the air is not 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, hallucinations are possible.
Help from others:
Put on an oxygen mask or gas mask with a special hopcalite cartridge on the victim (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, lowering blood pressure up to collapse, sharp cyanosis (blanching) of the mucous membranes, convulsions, coma.
If the concentration of CO 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 to be 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, hardware ventilation of the lungs 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 excretion of CO from the body, reduces the need for oxygen, and helps to increase the resistance of the organs most sensitive to hypoxia.
Photo: Rauno Volmar
Estonian households use two types of gas – natural gas and liquefied gas, explains .
Natural gas comes to us from Russia through long gas pipelines and is distributed in Estonia to different consumers. Liquefied gas, however, is stored in cylinders and distributed by cylinders. In large areas, special underground gas storage facilities have been installed, from where gas is supplied to users through pipes. Therefore, it is worth knowing that household gas, which is in cylinders, is liquefied gas, and the gas that we receive through pipes, depending on the area, can be either natural or liquefied.
What is natural gas?
· The main component of natural gas is methane - it is a colorless and odorless gas. In order to detect a gas leak, some substances are added to it to enhance the smell.
· Natural gas is lighter than air, so in the event of a leak, it mixes with air and rises to the top. It is always worth remembering that ventilation or other air currents can direct gas to the side. This means that in the event of a gas leak, apartments above are usually at risk, but gas can also move into neighboring apartments.
Natural gas has a suffocating effect on people. It is not a very poisonous gas. Rather, it has narcotic properties. If the gas is filled with approximately 10% of the room, then it causes drowsiness, headache and poor health. If the gas content in the apartment rises to 20-30%, then there is a lack of oxygen, which can cause suffocation.
What is liquefied gas?
Propane is the main component of LPG. Like methane, propane is colorless and odorless. In order for a person to detect a gas leak in the household, a few substances are added to it to enhance the smell. Because of such substances, the gas has a distinct odor.
· Propane is not a poisonous gas, but if released into the air in large quantities and under conditions of reduced oxygen, asphyxiation can occur. Inhaling this gas can cause dizziness, drowsiness, nausea, and weakness.
· Propane is heavier than air and therefore, in the event of a leak, the gas settles on the floor, in the basement, in sewers and other depressions. Therefore, in the event of a gas leak, apartments on low floors and basements are at risk.
What is carbon monoxide?
· Even the usual burning of food at home can cause carbon monoxide, and as a result of this - poisoning. However, in houses and apartments, the main cause of carbon monoxide is an early closed stove damper, a poorly adjusted gas stove or a gas boiler with poor draft.
· According to its properties, carbon monoxide, or carbon monoxide (CO), is a colorless, odorless and tasteless poisonous gas and spreads completely unnoticed by humans. Most often, people die in fires due to the inhalation of toxic smoke.
· Due to the ingress of carbon monoxide into the human body, the blood loses its ability to carry oxygen. Hemoglobin, which should carry oxygen in the blood, on the contrary, begins to carry carbon monoxide. As a result, a dangerous substance, carboxyhemoglobin, is formed in the human body.
The amount of oxygen in various parts of the body is reduced, as hemoglobin no longer delivers oxygen there. The person begins to choke. At one time, the heart pumps almost one glass of blood into the body, and carbon monoxide travels through the lungs to other parts of the body very quickly.
· Poisoned by carbon monoxide, we do not understand the scale of the situation. The person is confused and cannot help himself, although he feels that something is wrong with him. A person may not compare these symptoms with carbon monoxide poisoning, and while in a dream, he may not feel anything at all.
· Symptoms depend on the amount of gas. From a small amount, throbbing in the temples, drowsiness, weakness, headache, loss of balance, tinnitus, weakness in the legs, nausea and vomiting can occur. Later, hallucinations, increased heart rate, increased pressure may occur, weakness, drowsiness, loss of pressure, breathing difficulties may occur. With severe poisoning, a person loses consciousness and death occurs.
· A person can die from carbon monoxide poisoning without an existing ignition. For example, when the stove damper is closed too early, or the gas appliance is operating under conditions of oxygen starvation and, as a result, carbon monoxide is formed. Also, carbon monoxide can seep to you from neighboring apartments.
· The smoke detector is unable to detect carbon monoxide. In order to detect carbon monoxide in the early stages, a carbon monoxide detector is needed.
Typical Cases
There are different types of gas installations. Usually accidents happen with such boilers, the operation of which depends on air. This means that they get the necessary amount of air from the room to work. Often such boilers were installed in closed cabinets.
Also, the insulation of the house can be the reason. Many houses, which originally had natural ventilation, have already been insulated, windows have been changed, and reckless rebuilding has been done. For example, gas installations were connected to each other in unsuitable chimneys. Often such gas installations were installed in closed cabinets. Over time, the chimneys clogged, and the combustible air remained in the apartment.
Every gas installation needs regular inspection and maintenance. It is important to ensure that there are no leaks from the pipe connections and that the chimney is not clogged.
The gas flame is usually blue in color. If the flame is green, then it definitely indicates danger.
Who is responsible?
· In apartments and private houses, the owner is responsible for the operation and serviceability of gas installations. Home gas installations should be checked and serviced once a year.
· Members of the partnership are responsible for the gas pipes on the landings in apartment buildings.
· The company providing these services is responsible for the construction, control and maintenance of gas appliances. Human lives depend on the quality of such services.
· The state supervises the owners of houses and flats, as well as enterprises for the observance of these regulations.
carbon monoxide sensor
· Since January 1, 2018, the installation of a carbon monoxide detector has been mandatory in all dwellings in which a gas appliance connected to a pipe is located.
· First of all, such installations include gas-fired water heaters. A carbon monoxide detector becomes mandatory with gas heating, but it is wise to install a carbon monoxide detector in all living spaces that contain combustion-related equipment, such as a wood-burning stove, fireplace, stove, or gas boiler. The installation of the sensor is voluntary if technical measures have been taken to prevent the leakage of carbon monoxide and its ingress into the living space, for example, if the combustion air for combustion of a gas installation is taken directly from the outside air and the gases emitted during combustion are also removed directly through a specially designed pipe to outside air.
· The carbon monoxide sensor only gives a signal when the concentration of carbon monoxide in the air approaches a level dangerous to human health.
· One carbon monoxide sensor is intended for use in one room, since the device only indicates the level of CO that is distributed near the sensor.
Where to install a carbon monoxide detector?
· When installing a carbon monoxide detector, you must first follow the manufacturer's instructions.
· Unlike the smoke detector, the carbon monoxide detector is mounted on the wall of the room, at a height of approximately 0.5-1.5 meters from the floor. Experienced experts recommend installing the sensor, so to speak, at the level of a person's respiratory tract, or at the level at which a person's face is when he sits on the couch, and in the bedroom - approximately at the height of the pillow.
· The device is installed at a distance of 1-3 meters from the source of carbon monoxide, and the sensor should not be installed near ventilation systems and air ducts.
· If the gas boiler is located in the bathroom, make sure that the carbon monoxide detector is suitable for installation in damp rooms. To do this, the sensor must have an IP designation, which must correspond to the IP44 level.
· Carbon monoxide detectors should not be installed in garages, kitchens, boiler rooms, bathrooms and other places where the temperature drops below 10°C or rises above 40°C.
How to care?
· Check if the carbon monoxide detector is in working order once a month by pressing the test button. An audible signal confirms that the device is in working order.
· Have a professional technician come to the site to help solve the problem. Before the technician arrives, do not turn on the heaters yourself.
If you notice symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning in someone, immediately take the person to fresh air, call an ambulance
Statistics
The Rescue Board responds to cases involving gas:
The main regions where calls are often received are Harju County and Ida-Viru County. The cities of Tallinn, Kohtla-Jarve, Tartu and Narva.
71% of cases occur in residential areas
60% in apartments
25% on landings
Take note!
· Never repair gas installations yourself!
· Domestic gas installations must be checked and serviced by a specialist once a year! Additional requirements may arise from the device's operating instructions.
· The chimney of the gas appliance must be cleaned according to the instructions. If there is no advice in the instruction manual, then this must be done once a year. The chimney may only be cleaned by a qualified chimney sweep who has the appropriate certificate.
· Construction, repair and maintenance may only be carried out by persons who have the necessary skills to work with gas.
· List of companies and their contacts on the page https://www.tja.ee/et/gaasiohutuse-meelespea
The presence of professional skills can be checked by the name of the enterprise on the website
