THE energy industry’s trade association Energy UK has rolled out a campaign with alarming statistics highlighting the number of homeowners who still haven’t installed a carbon monoxide detector in their property.
Its research, released this month, showed one in three people don’t have a CO alarm in their home, suggesting at least 17 million Brits are at risk from the carbon monoxide poisoning.
But the figure was even more startling with regard to Manchester where 42 percent of households admitted failing to ensure they were safe from the deadly gas in their homes.
Energy UK’s ‘Be Alarmed’ campaign also revealed that many homeowners are still perilously unaware of the warning signs which indicate a boiler is leaking carbon monoxide into their home.
In response, Cosy Abodes Boiler Installation has catalogued all those warning signs in this blog post so you can quickly detect if you or your family are in danger of breathing in the gas dubbed ‘the silent killer’.
Although you cannot see or smell carbon monoxide, it is possible to identify the signs it is present in your property before it is too late.
Recognising the tell-tale clues around gas burning boilers and the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning could prove the difference between life and death.
To know if your gas boiler if faulty and leaking carbon monoxide, look out for the following danger signs around your boiler:
- Excessive condensation build up in the room where your boiler is installed
- Yellow or brown staining, or ‘sooting’, on or around your boiler
- A sluggish yellow or orange coloured gas flame rather than a vibrant blue one
- A pilot light that frequently extinguishes itself
If your boiler is exhibiting any of these indicators then it’s at least time for your boiler to be repaired and serviced and most likely time for your boiler to be replaced by a Gas Safe engineer.
To know if you are suffering a degree of carbon monoxide poisoning as a result of a faulty boiler or other gas burning appliance look out for symptoms which are essentially the same as those associated with flu, viral infections and food poisoning. They include:
- Headaches
- Dizziness
- Nausea
- Breathlessness
- Lapses in consciousness
- Collapsing
If you think you are suffering from any of these symptoms, monitor their prevalence when you are in your home against when you are outside of your home. Also, observe other people in your household to see if they are experiencing a similar reaction.
But remember too, carbon monoxide can impact a person’s mental clarity and capacity before they are alert to any symptoms or signs in their home.
The surest way to avoid succumbing to carbon monoxide poisoning is to have an audible CO detector fitted in your home and have an old boiler replaced with a modern one by a Gas Safe engineer.
For more safety advice around the risk of carbon monoxide leaks and poisoning or to give your home the dependable boiler appliance it needs, speak to Cosy Abodes Boiler Installation on 0161 444 3615
