Breathing low levels of the chemical can cause fatigue and increase chest pain in people with chronic heart disease. Carbon monoxide poisoning can kill without warning, as your family sleeps. Because CO gas has no warning properties, even at toxic or life threatening levels, it is considered a silent killer. Dangerous levels of CO can be prevented by proper appliance maintenance, installation, and use. Timely inspections of potentially CO-producing equipment, and the use of CO toxic level concentration alarms, are also key to avoiding a CO fatality.
Proper installation is critical to the safe operation of combustion appliances.
All new appliances have installation instructions that should be followed exactly. Local building codes should be followed as well. Appliances designed to be vented should be vented properly, according to manufacturers' instructions. Adequate combustion air should be provided to ensure complete combustion. All combustion appliances should be installed by professionals.