Inspecting Your Home Heating System Before Winter Could Save Your Life

Many people are getting ready to turn on the heat for winter. But before turning on the heat, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) urges homeowners to have their fuel-burning home heating systems inspected by a qualified service technician. Such an inspection could help prevent the more than 230 deaths attributed each year to carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning associated with fuel-burning home heating equipment.

CO is a colorless, odorless toxic gas which is produced when fuel burns. CO can escape from faulty furnaces or room heaters, or through rusty or cracked vents. It can also be trapped inside homes by blocked chimney flues. Because of its "invisible" qualities, CO can go undetected. Symptoms of CO poisoning are similar to symptoms of the flu and include dizziness, fatigue, headaches, nausea, vomiting and confusion. At high levels, CO poisoning causes loss of consciousness and death.

A qualified service technician should check your home's furnace including its electrical and mechanical components, such as thermostat controls and automatic safety devices. While chimneys and flues normally may not be checked by heating technicians, CPSC recommends asking that any inspection include venting systems. Possible blockages such as birds' nests and debris may prevent toxic gases from escaping and could result in CO poisoning. The inspector also should make sure flues and flue connectors are tight and secure and that there are no signs of rust or cracks that could allow toxic gases to enter your home.

Chimney inspections are especially important for oil systems converted to gas. After conversion, chimney sweeps should clean the chimney of accumulated soot and debris to prevent CO from being trapped inside the home. Then, the chimney should be inspected yearly.

Currently-manufactured unvented gas-fired room heaters are required to have a safety shut-off device called an oxygen depletion sensor (ODS) that shuts the heater off when there is not enough fresh air. Currently manufactured vented space heaters are equipped with a vent safety shutoff system to turn off the appliance if the vent is disconnected or blocked. If your room heater does not have these safety features, you should replace it. If you have an unvented gas-fired room heater, be sure it is legal in your community and that you open windows sufficiently to be sure you have an exchange of air in the room so there is no build-up of CO.

"This year, CPSC has an important new addition to the annual home heating inspection message," said CPSC Chairman Jacqueline Jones-Smith. "CPSC urges homeowners to purchase and install CO detectors that meet the requirements of Underwriters Laboratories (UL) standard 2034. These detectors provide another line of defense against CO poisoning."

The new standard requires detectors to measure both low CO levels over long periods and high CO concentrations over short periods. "These new detectors can save lives. They are as important to home safety as smoke detectors," Jones-Smith said.

CPSC is issuing this notice as part of its mission to protect the public from unreasonable risks of injury and death associated with consumer products. The Commission's objective is to reduce the estimated 28.5 million injuries and 21,600 deaths associated each year with the 15,000 different types of consumer products under CPSC's jurisdiction.