Carbon Monoxide Poisoning From Boiler Breakdowns: 5+ Tips To Protect Your Family

Carbon monoxide leakage is one of the most harmful and brutal effects of boiler breakdown. The colourless, odourless and tasteless gas is hard to detect until the symptoms become severe.

Every individual wants to keep their family safe. Certainly, you would go to any extent to protect them from any risk. Believe it or not, sometimes the essential household equipment around you can be deadly. One of them is the boiler.

Boilers are essential in every UK household. Boilers help you combat the freezing temperature during the winter. Most household owners are careful about boiler servicing to avoid sudden boiler breakdowns in North East.

Though accidents can never be predicted.

What Leads To Carbon Monoxide Leakage In The Boilers?

Carbon monoxide gas is produced in the boilers when the boiler fuel burns insufficiently due to low oxygen levels. All the fuel-run equipment produces a certain amount of gas waste naturally. The waste is carried to the outlets via the flue or waste pipe. However, the gas waste or carbon monoxide is expelled more than usual in a leaking boiler.

Apart from leaking boilers, some of the common boiler problems that are responsible for carbon monoxide leakage are:

• Blocked flue pipe

• Failed carbon monoxide detector

5 Tips To Protect Your House From Carbon Monoxide Poisoning During Winters

1. Take Precautions During Winterising Your Home:

Winterising the home is a fairly common practice. Albeit, you need to prepare for the winter separately. Some of the places in the UK experience heavy snowfall while it rains incessantly in some areas.

An important part of winterising your home is getting a quick renovation. Are you thinking of getting a new programmable thermostat or installing insulated hot water pipes?

If yes, then make sure that the boiler outlets are not harmed in any way.

Once you notice the signs of damage, you should think of boiler repair immediately. Specialists never recommend DIY boiler repairs.

2. Allow Optimum Ventilation Inside:

The winters can be merciless sometimes. In order to elevate the cosiness factor, every householder seals every passage for ventilation tightly. You often open the windows and doors. You need to change this habit as soon as possible.

No matter the temperature, there should be a ventilation passage. Even if the gas starts leaking, will get some extra time in hand to escape.

How to do that?

• You can think of installing a single-room heat-recovery unit

• Extraction fans or intermittent extraction fans are a good idea

• Portable high-efficiency particulate air cleaner if you have an HVAC system

In case of a situation where there is already carbon monoxide leakage:

• Switch on the exhaust fan in the bathroom and kitchen

• Use reverse fans

3. BBQs Are Best Cooked Outside:

Cooking delicious food items for your family members is an adorable idea. It gives you a chance to bond with your loved ones better. Moreover, you can also earn rounds of appreciation by proving your proficiency.

BBQs can help level up the fun. However, BBQs are better cooked outside your home. You should not carry even the portable BBQ cookers inside. Apart from boiler breakdowns, the charcoal used in cooking proteins over direct fire also generates carbon monoxide in excessive amounts.

Leave the BBQs even when it is completely cooled down. You can only bring back the cooker inside your home after discarding the burnt charcoal.

4. Restrict Igniting Incense Sticks Or Lamps:

Many people use incense sticks, oil lamps or candles during meditation. A great way to bid good riddance to stress, meditation is also a form of exercise that enhances positivity.

The incense sticks smell heavenly and fills your home with good vibes. Do you love these aromatic elements too?

However, no matter how much you favour the incense sticks, you should put a restriction when igniting them inside your house.

Follow the same rule for candles and lamps. Using aromatic candles may fuel your romantic mood, but this is high time to be cautious.

You can limit the time. This means that use these only while meditating. Put out them immediately after the activity.

5. Place The Carbon Monoxide Alarm Wisely:

A carbon monoxide alarm should be treated as a utility item in every household with boilers. The smoke alarm detects a high level of carbon monoxide in the air.

According to the guidelines issued by the government, a carbon monoxide alarm should be installed in every room of your house. Some boiler companies also provide the alarm complimentary with every purchase.

The actual challenge is to select the correct placement for the alarm. There should be at least a 300 mm distance from the walls for ceiling-mounted alarms. If you are installing a wall-mounted alarm, maintain a 150 mm distance from any height.

The Most Useful Tip For The Housholder

This tip can turn out to be the most useful tip to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning in your home.

Never procrastinate boiler repair and service schedule. Time-to-time inspection by a licensed boiler expert can keep your troubles and such incidents away. Timely servicing also reduces the chances of boiler breakdowns.

In Conclusion

Carbon monoxide does not induce a fire-related hazard. However, it can be even more toxic. Some of the signs of carbon monoxide poisoning are nausea, breathlessness, dizziness and losing consciousness suddenly.

If you or any of your family members experience any such symptom, switch off the boiler and open the windows. Once you move to a safe space, call a local and expert boiler specialist in North East.